You People and Your Blogs

My brother has a blog, and he never posts anything. He claims it's because he doesn't know what to write, then proceeds to entertain me with daily emails on a variety of hilarious subjects, attaching pictures for me to show to Mom. I try to explain that those are the very things he can put on his blog, and then he won't have to wonder if he remembered to send the pictures to everyone. He worries that his wife's second cousin's girlfriend might not "get" the post about Steve Vai, or that Gina doesn't want to read about hockey. I say screw it- they'll just have to enjoy the next post. If you keep posting, there will be something for everyone. Your audience will come to understand you, and your regular readership will grow.

Perhaps my brother is intimidated by the fact that so many bloggers, people who don't even have enough material to post every day on their main site, have felt the need to start more than one blog. A blog for their pictures, a blog for their work, a blog for their meals, a blog for their kids' art. It's dizzying, and must cause Shannon to worry that his sports posts belong on one blog, and his wine posts on another. It's what my blog roll is telling him, and I can't blame him for being confused.

Shannon, let me tell you how I approach the idea of blogging- I just throw stuff out there and see what sticks. We started this blog to show pictures of and tell stories about our kids. Then we just started posting about whatever we thought was interesting that day. It was still mostly about the kids, but okay if it wasn't. Sometimes we just put up pictures and let them tell the story. Sometimes we give our opinions on politics or sports or TV shows, sometimes we put up a funny list, sometimes we brag about the good meal we fixed when the kids spent the night at Grammy's. I don't worry that there's not really a theme, because the theme is "us." And no one complains, because if today they aren't entertained, they know they might be tomorrow.

And just to prove this theory, my next post will be about makeup. Come on, Shannon- I know you can find something better to write about than that!