Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Relevant Notes on February 16, 2011 at 5:46pm

I definitely don't think you need a theme. Most of my favorite bloggers just write about their lives.

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Permalink Reply by livcrab01 on February 16, 2011 at 6:10pm

What is wrong with my comment box?

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Permalink Reply by livcrab01 on February 16, 2011 at 6:12pm

I feel the same way as you guys. But I feel like there is so much negativity about not having a theme! I'm glad some people think its unnecessary. I appreciate the comments!

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Permalink Reply by nicopolitan on February 16, 2011 at 6:51pm

Actually, most people's blogs are that of living and learning from life in general. There's a word for those that blog like a public journal called "escribitionist" - a portmanteau of "exhibitionist" and "scribe" (look it up on Wikipedia!  It's a real thing!), but that word sounds funny and doesn't roll off the tongue, so I'd go with 'storytelling' as a theme, or if you're daring, 'nonfiction' or even 'autobiography.' 

 

Our point is, most of us don't have a 'theme' and we write for the sake of writing. It's not that we don't have anything to say, it's that there isn't a genre yet for blogs that are simply community-oriented journals. 

 

Maybe it's up to us, 20SB, to think of a name for this genre of blog, because no one else has given us one.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Benny on February 16, 2011 at 8:29pm

I say, don't contrive a theme, but DO think of something about yourself to play up. Something to do with your lifestyle, or where you live, or just a somewhat specific subject you write a lot about...

 

It's strange, this whole "personal branding" thing. I feel like we, as humans, would rather hear a person pitch themselves and then be able to say "Oh, this is the person who does THAT thing," and then see them do a bunch of random things than have them be honest. It's almost like, especially on the great big internet, we have terribly short attention spans and don't want to judge anything for ourselves.

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Permalink Reply by The Real Post Grad on February 16, 2011 at 8:55pm

I think it depends on what your goal is for the blog. A theme helps if you're trying to get noticed or sponsored but if you are just writing for you then writing for you is perfectly acceptable.

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Permalink Reply by Clair on February 17, 2011 at 10:28pm

I  blog about my life. If I had to say I have a theme it would be 'geeky' because I post about geeky things and WoW a lot, but it's only because that's part of my life...if that makes sense.

 

No real theme in play. But then, I don't have a ton of readers either...

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Permalink Reply by Tim King on February 21, 2011 at 3:08am

I have to agree with the popular sentiment that there's nothing wrong with not having a theme.  Of course I'm a theme-less blogger myself, so I might be a bit biased.  Good writing will speak for itself, and if someone wants to place a stigma on the fact that there is no central thread to connect everything, then they're only depriving themselves of enjoyment.

I guess it's really all about your expectations though.  A friendly rival from college runs a blog completely dedicated to life at my alma mater, and while his blog is much more successful than mine because of it (I think somewhere around four times the page views), I think a lot of times his posts can be pretty lame, simply because he has to shoehorn the idea that he goes to college into everything, and the artificiality can be really bothersome.  That's what made me stray away from themed blogging.  I'm constantly worried that one day I'm going to up and run out of ideas so I wanted to leave myself as many outs as possible.

If it really bothers you, definitely accept the "my life is my theme" thing as legitimate.  Inject enough personality and originality into every post, and nail down a strong literary voice.  Making yourself the theme might be a little narcissistic, but it works very well when done correctly.

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Permalink Reply by dhpotter on March 4, 2011 at 2:52pm

If your life is your main topic of your blog I'd say that's theme enough. I try to incorporate humor into mine, but it's not a humor blog. I like to write about things that have changed my life, but it's not any kind of advice blog. I write about my life, what’s going on, my thoughts, my feelings, anything and everything that is my life because I'm dammed important and don't need to have an underlying theme other than if you like me, you'll read me. Plain and simple.

When people ask you what your theme is just tell them it's about your life, your journey, every single day as you're experiencing it.

What I love about a personal blog is that essentially it's an auto-biography, but you aren't writing it years later, or after the fact. It's all right here, right now, when your face is in it and it's all you know. That, the freshness, the rawness (be it heartache, pain, happiness, small or large victories, everything) is why blogging is satisfying to write, and also to read.

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Permalink Reply by Alexandra Tsaritsa (call me Tsa) on March 4, 2011 at 3:02pm

I don't feel like you need to have a theme to have a good blog. I blog about all sorts of things, the only thing tying it all together is my point of view. Make your blog about you and what you like and it will be good.

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Permalink Reply by Allison on March 4, 2011 at 4:31pm

I'm a life blog. I write about my life and all that it encompasses. I definitely started out as a diabetes/health blogger and I'm still heavily invested in that community, but I write about a lot of stuff now, and I think that community actually appreciates it. We are not just "one thing" so unless you're writing a blog that's supposed to be a "professional opinion" blog (like marketing or something), don't sweat it.

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