A year in the life – twelve months of blogging
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 02:10AM Cup weekend a year ago was when I started blogging. Why? Mainly, it was desperation to get my stuff out there and read.
Partly, it was talking to somebody I respected who suggested that I be less snooty about the new media. That the new technology could be really good for writers because we were no longer entirely dependent on the whims of publishing houses and newspaper editors.
Partly, it was in response to nice people asking me where they could read more of my stuff.
Partly, it was having seen the movie Julie and Julia and wondering if I could pull off the same trick. For those who haven’t seen the film or read the book, they tell the story of Julie, an American who spends a year cooking her way through the recipes of culinary legend Julia Child and blogging about it. A few weeks in, she writes plaintively ‘Is anybody out there?’ And then her blog takes off. She has hundreds, thousands of readers, she turns it into a best-selling book, there’s a movie…
Did I really think this would happen to me? No, but I was hoping for a slowly increasing audience.
A year on, the best thing my blog has done for me is provide a regular deadline. It has forced me to write something most weeks. Since last November I have posted 40 times, and I might not have done that if I didn’t have an outlet, if I hadn’t had the sense that I didn’t want to disappoint the fans.
The fans, such as they are, have been modest. Readers are lovely, and tell me they appreciate what I put out there, but they are mostly my friends and family. Who I appreciate no end, but I was kinda hoping to broaden my audience.
The most ‘unique visitors’ I have had in one day has been 42; the same day there were 93 pages viewed. Generally, when I put a post up, I get about 35 unique visitors. Which, in terms of blogs, is probably pretty pathetic.
I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. I don’t facebook or twitter, and I have been told that’s the way to publicise a blog. I’ve also been told I need to have a more focused blog – one that has a clearer, less diverse topic.
Maybe there’s limited interest in my reflections on my middle-aged, middle-class life, on trying to find depth and meaning in a largely fraught and superficial world. And I guess there is a limit to the number of blogs out there in cyberspace that people want to read. I don’t read anyone else’s blog – why should I expect anyone to read mine?
Maybe the writing is too old school: too long-winded, not chatty or cool enough. The times I have repeatedly tried to get posts on other blogs, I have had no luck, and great difficulty working out quite what they wanted. Their feedback was polite and even encouraging, but just didn’t make sense to me.
Maybe, the writing’s just not good enough.
So, will I stop the experiment, now that I’ve completed 12 months and it hasn’t exactly taken off? I don’t think so. The blog makes me write more, and that’s gotta be a good thing - for me at any rate. I love the discipline of weekly writing. I appreciate hugely the people who bother to read my blog – thank you, and keep doing it if you can bear to. I would love to have a lot more readers – tell anyone you think might be interested to have a look.
I’ll keep at it, and see how it goes.
Reader Comments (14)
Keep at it Clare - love hearing you. Great way to keep in touch but sorry it's so one-sided - just wish I had your talent for writing. Love keeping in touch with family members and their interesting lives. Catch up soon I hope..
Hang in there, Clare, for all the reasons you have mentioned.
I'm neither family nor friend - but I enjoy reading your weekly posts, and look forward to them - for the same reason I've enjoyed your books. They're gentle reminders of the minor triumphs and failures we all experience, amongst all the hype ond over blown excesses of the rest of the media - even the ABC. There's lots of us middle-class, middle-aged people out there and it's great to have someone who speaks to us about the lives we lead. I hope you keep posting for a long time yet...and I'll keep reading.
Clare if your words touch just one person then it is worthwhile. Your words touch many people. We can't all have the huge Julie and Julia following, but that doesn't mean we should not value our craft.
hugs Tricia
Clare please don't stop. I love reading your thoughts, even more because I know the family. You keep me inspired to write myself, something I don't do nearly as much as you do.
Dearest Clare, so often it's hard to find the right quick words when my thoughts in response are many and varied - from total understanding, or amusement, or nods of agreement, or cause for a deep think or two, or even the occasional tut-tut! I admire your gift of "putting it out there" as you say. Keep writing, because we keep reading. Just jog us along every so often!!
Please don't stop blogging Clare! I comment at a few blogs and I've found with a couple of exceptions only that most of them are of the "birds of a feather" variety. You bring a much-needed perspective. You are a talented writer and a humble person - and I don't 'know' you from a bar of soap, not family but I hope, in our shared love of Christ, a friend.
They're gentle reminders of the minor triumphs and failures we all experience, amongst all the hype ond over blown excesses of the rest of the media - even the ABC.
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Don't stop!!
I have only recently found your blog after buying, reading and enjoying The Whole Shebang. I reckon you should keep going. I enjoy your writing. It is a conversation with the reader. If you get in the New York Times you might get a Julie and Julia audience but if you do I hope you don't end up like Julie! I also think it is worth reading other people's blogs - we all read books and articles and they help us with our writing. So can blogs. But then again I don't have a blog. Not yet, anyway.
Clare, if you like doing it, don't stop. You might not get thousands of readers, but if you reach or even help just a few that makes all the deadlines worth it, There are lots of ways for you to drive traffic to your site. You don't have to do them all, just choose one or two that interest you. Look forward to seeing if you continue.
Clare, until you started blogging, I had never bothered to read other people's blogs. Now I enjoy reading yours and am very loyal - yours is the only one I read! Don't stop as I love your writing style and your topics, and just maybe - having read how your blog has become part of your writing life - I might be brave enough to write one too! Please keep it up.
Clare, don't stop, weenjoy it.
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