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Sunday, June 3, 2012

Identity Crisis

All over the internet, I read bloggers giving advice that to be an effective blogger, you must "know your niche" in blogging.  Know your audience, know your subject matter.

This is something I have struggled and struggled with.

What if my goal is simply to write what is on my heart?  What if sometimes, I feel like I want to share something that made me giggle, and the next moment, I want to share something that made me sob?  Am I not trying hard enough to be specific?  Will anyone be interested?

I guess, dear audience, that I would hope to identify you as I try to identify my blogger (and non-blogger) self.  A real, raw person who gets from one day to the next by simply living.  A person that, amidst all of that life-living, also seeks out moments of intensity, moments of purpose, moments that make the heart beat life into places forgotten.  I hope you are a person that dreams big dreams with big hopes while folding laundry one minute and putting the dishes aside to read a book the next.  I am guessing that you want to change the world somehow, yet you feel insignificant and busy and but still somehow hopeful.

If you are anything like me, you are looking for people to identify with.  Words to connect with.  Confirmation that being very real is what life is about, and that these moments are beautiful and messy and we all have them.  

I know that God is not mistaken, and that this mess of me and my blog and my heart may not fit inside of a box, of a subject matter.  And I have to believe that there is an audience that doesn't fit inside any of those things, either.

10 comments:

  1. Thank you for being real! :) I always find myself connecting with those who put themselves out there and are truly themselves. Keep it up :) :)

    - "Mandy" (Noyes) Key

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  2. Oh I get this! I often disagree with the whole "niche" thing. It can get mundane. I love to seeing variety in the blogs I follow.

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  3. Amen! I see "knowing your niche" as knowing your voice. And I think you know yours well, Sarah. I see your voice as being about authenticity and connection and community, and I just love that.

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  4. I've been thinking so much on this lately and I don't have a niche either! I'm a mom, I like to blog, I like to share my family and the realities we have day to day living life overseas as real people. So, I'll call myself an eclectic blogger, how's that?! We could make a name for ourselves!! =)

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  5. whole-heartedly agree with you! I am such an eclectic and indecisive person and struggle so much when someone tries to get me to put me in a box. When I started teaching, so many teachers would ask "what's your theme going to be in your classroom?" This drove me crazy....so I went with eclectic. Same with my blog. It's random. The type of posts. The amount of posts. It grows and changes as I do and life moves.

    love your heart! :)

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  6. Oh, more no-niche bloggers! You are all my favourites... After all, I wanna be a wife and mother just like you ladies and there is no niche in that! Mammas are chefs, taxi drivers, soccer coaches, beauticians, organisers, cheerleaders and many more things... You are so right - real is beautiful and messy. Love it. :)

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  7. I'm the same way! My blog usually ends up being about whatever it is that's going on in my life at the time, even if that means I don't post for a week. I don't have the time or energy to TRY to be a niche blogger!

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  8. I struggle with the same thing, and have just recently splintered into another more niche-y blog. I think that's the suggestion by a lot of professional bloggers. Start with a personal blog, find out what types of posts you like the most, and then splinter a new blog for the niches you like.

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  9. I have always struggled with consistently blogging because there is so much pressure to be this or that. So I decided that I will blog when I can and over whatever suits me at the time. Nobody HAS to read! ;)

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Your words make my heart smile.