My Place in the Blogosphere- Musings

In the wake of my recent immersion into the wide world of the Blogosphere, I've struggled a little with my blogging identity. It seems like most of the folks out there who've got more than a handful of readers on their blog are comfortably settled into a very specific niche: Food Blogger, Mommy Blogger, Tech Blogger. I haven't found a niche that suits me. No kids yet, terrible cook, proficient enough in technology to do what I need to, but no more.

There's a set of 'writing bloggers,' which seems a little redundant, but that's who I mostly follow and where I see myself fitting in best. Still, it's not a perfect fit by all means. I started my personal blog originally as a place that friends and family who cared could follow the ups and downs of my attempts at freelancing, and as a place that I could unload my thoughts on occasion without thinking to myself, "is this post in line with the theme and purpose of my blog?"

I'd love for my posts about my adventures in writing to be helpful to other aspiring writers. That niggling little hope is one of the reasons that I post about my failures, along with the little victories. Maybe, another struggling, aspiring writer out there will learn from my mistakes and avoid making the same ones themselves. Or perhaps they'll find relief seeing that someone else is facing the same challenges as them. I'd love to be seen as a resource, or have my blog be a rallying point for a little community of self-starters, all enthusiastically cheering each other on and sharing ideas. But, I don't kid myself into thinking I have the experience or expertise in this area to try and tout myself as a 'newbie-freelancer-guru.' There are plenty of sites out there, with veteran writer-contributers, who do a much better job than I ever could at gathering resources and rallying a community of input on writing issues. I am indebted to these sites for the help and resources they provide. I'm not, at this point, capable of providing a service of the same magnitude, or even close.

So I've been feeling a little bit down. I mean, who's going to bookmark your site if it's just a jumbling of your thoughts and feelings? If someone wants to browse a bunch of randomness, they'll just turn inwards to their own thoughts, right? No one's going to digg or buzz or return for further reading if you haven't firmly ensconced yourself in a niche, will they?

In the spirit of my last post, however, I'm not going to let these little rumblings get me down. I do feel like my posts on this blog, in the past few weeks, have evolved a little and gained more of a sense of purpose. I'm going to think of my site as dynamic and organic- ever changing, little by little, is ok here. I have faith that eventually I'll find the right combination of content and ideas that will optimize this blog for both readers and myself.

I think I'll even do a little food blogging (maybe I can inspire some other non-cooks out there to abandon their microwaves for an evening), and a tech review or two (every writer needs a digital voice recorder- post to follow), and even some mommy blogging (cats are practically children, if you ask me). And I'll continue to reflect on the bumps and the thrills of pursuing my writing dream. One day, maybe I'll have "made it" and I'll get a comment from someone just like me *right now*, thanking me for a little guidance in getting started on the freelancing path. I'm looking forward to that day.