Visit NaBloPoMo
I guess I thought it would be more like "Facebook for Bloggers." Like there would be this highly-searchable "community" where I could find all these great new blogs to follow -- maybe see who else was doing it from my city? Or state? So far, I only know about my friend Ali and my friend Mick, but that doesn't count. I already know them in-real-life, and I was already following both their blogs. Though I am glad they're posting every day.
I clicked on Groups, and I literally could not find ONE that fit, at all. I do see a lot of blog-advice, most of which tells you to find a niche of expertise and then be useful in that niche. But I don't have a niche. I love food; I write about it; I talk about it; I garden and cook; I'm pretty damn devoted -- but I'm not a food blogger. I know a lot about big dogs, but I'm not a dog blogger. I work in Media, old and new, but I'm not a Media Blogger.
This is a sampling of the Groups I found, just to further reinforce how badly I didn't fit, in a Universe where there is clearly something for everyone (and I do mean, everyone):
- video bloggers
- library bloggers
- Indiana bloggers
- diabetic bloggers
- self-portrait bloggers
- Scottish bloggers
- artist mamas
- parenting
- on a diet
- string players
- bloggers in Los Angeles (same number as string players in group: 14)
- music bloggers
- getting boys to read books (two members)
- breastfeeding and mothering (81 members)
- Florida/NewEngland/Northern California/Georgia/Pennsylvania bloggers
- EpiscopoBloggers (for Episcopal/Anglican bloggers)
- Christian moms
- work at home moms
- Bloggers who love stale peeps (17 members -- so they outnumber the string players)
- Queer Canada Blogs! (that's their exclamation point)
- the Dead Dads Club (presumably misspelled as Dead Dad's Club; assume it doesn't belong to one dead dad)
- scrapbooking
- friendly and fun Christian bloggers
- Suzuki Moms Unite! (again: their exclamation point; again, I don't know what a Suzuki mom is)
- quilting bloggers
- Beagles Rule! (again: their exclamation point; I had a Beagle as a child, and she was pretty great; she was afraid of rabbits. OK. That's all I have on Beagles.)
- horse lovers
- bloggers with ADD/ADHD (can't just have it; you gotta blog it...only two members...which begs the question...)
- Lady Gay
- A Fine Wine (not for wine bloggers; it's for "moms of tweens and teens"... who probably... need wine?)
- que sara sarah ("join only if your name is Sara or Sarah" -- 27 members)
- the Circle of Jens (if you're named Jen, Jennie, Jennifer...you get the idea)
- fat bloggers (their word, not mine; I don't believe in that word)
- babywearing bloggers (there's a photo that's pretty self-explanatory)
- Bloggers with pet rats
I even looked to see if there was anything on funnelcakes (that list is pretty damn specific) but there wasn't. There was one on corn dogs... but my heart just wouldn't be in it.
You're not doing it wrong (or ur not doing it rong in LOLspeak). You don't have to fit into a category. Such was the reasoning of a blog friend a couple of years ago, when she started IndieBloggers. That has since evolved into IndieInk. Perhaps you can find a niche there? Or you can just know that it's okay to be uncategorized. That's how I'd like to be known. "Oh, Alison? She was uncategorized."
ReplyDelete