As I hit my stride heading into a third year, it occurred to me that blogs reflect the writer’s interests, unique perspectives, and writing something that will appeal to a niche market. Several bloggers have written to me in the last two years to tell me they have enjoyed my writing, and also inviting me to read theirs, which I have. That inspired me to describe for you a few that I’ve read, and honestly, a number that I haven’t but I’ll speculate anyway on what they’re all about.
Lifestyle Blogs These are informative and advisory – I presume they’re what you’d get from a life coach if you worked with one. There are methods for relieving stress, healthy eating, different types of exercise (to supplement this, you should review my “No Impact Aerobics” piece from a while back), colors for interior décor that make help you kick back and relax. These are all things that invite health, peace, and serenity in your life. These folks, I must say, have some wonderful, thoughtful suggestions to assist the reader in achieving true nirvana. (Though, so help me, if one more person recommends avocado, I’ll . . . . . ok, I’ve taken a deep breath and I’m calm now. Now if I can just find my yoga mat.)
Travel Blogs I happened to see one of these writers on House Hunters International. She and her young partner – I’d guess they were both between 18 and 22, were moving to some place for location for her writing, like the Czech Republic. She wrote the blogs, while he was the photographer, recording all of the presumably blissful experiences as they circled the globe. Curiously, she mentioned that she did this “part-time”. It was never revealed what she did the rest of her time to fill out full time employment. This was one of those where they really couldn’t make a rational decision, and typically had one or two large dogs. I’m not certain, as I didn’t research her blog to see what it was like, how the dogs fit into the travel picture, nor did it appear that they knew anyone in their new destination who could keep the beasts in their absence. There must be folks that do the blog version of Rick Steves, folks that are knowledgeable about the places they visit, and can provide valuable guides for us “ innocents abroad”, to quote Mark Twain. For this pair, I’m not entirely clear on how this worked, because, if this apartment-hunting adventure was anything to go by, their base levels of experience, knowledge, foresight, and decision-making were on a par with Hansel and Gretel. My thought, too, is that, if she’s making any money at this, by all that is holy, I should be raking in enough cash to live in a beach-front mansion on a tropical island, dangling my feet in an Olympic-sized pool.
Political Blogs These are big, particularly in election cycles. Everyone has a point of view and the constitutional right to express it, apparently, even if it doesn’t reflect mine. Political blogs are interesting in that they break down issues and candidates, typically holding candidates and parties responsible for their quotes, speeches, tweets, and other public utterances. Some are balanced and objective, others not so much. They do, like standard media outlets, make for some really interesting reading and thoughtful discussion. But as always, just because it’s on the internet doesn’t make something necessarily true, so readers, beware!
Food Blogs These make a bit more sense to me. Again, the discovery was made on House Hunters, as the blogger in question required extensive high-end counters and an island to display and photograph the exotic dishes about which she was creating and writing. I presume that she’s making them, although they might be from the bakery down the street. What with the current climate of cooking shows, competitions, train-wreck diners in need of restoration, and the like, I can certainly see the appeal of these blogs. Perhaps I could feature some of my signature dishes in my blog some time, and pull in some big advertising money from the Food Network or General Mills. I could also share some of my cooking philosophies, like “If it has more than four steps, it’s not worth it”. Don’t you love those cooking columns that tell you to “Make your own – it’s so easy!”, followed by a twenty- six step process that takes hours and requires every cooking appliance ever built and ingredients from a Turkish market?
Vacation Blogs Written by those that take exotic vacations, they’re akin to the travel blogs by people on too much caffeine. They plan extensively, research in excruciating detail, and then feel a compulsive need to share it all. There is information about what can go wrong – usually because it has, pitfalls to avoid, as well as happy circumstances that through quirks of fate, met or exceed expectations. (The vacation travels of our dear friend, Lady Peacock, don’t often fall into this category. On the plus side, she’s become quite adept at getting refunds.) Reading the magazine versions, I can’t help thinking that many of these folks will need a rest from their action-packed vacations.
Special Interest Blogs Particularly geared to the person with an interest or hobby, there are bloggers writing about cars, woodworking, design, gardening, climate change, yogurt-making, building log cabins, or specific locations, whatever peaks one’s interest. These blogs are available to those with multiple or overlapping interests but are generally too cheap to subscribe to the magazines.
Dog Blog Here, and I swear I’m not making this up, came from a young couple looking for a house in Houston. He did something that I assume is fairly respectable, while the wife is a “dog blogger”. Yes, apparently it is a thing. This couple had two dogs of their own plus a cat and a ”foster” dog. She required, and again I must repeat that I’m not making this up, special doggie bedrooms, an open space for feeding, of course a large, fenced back yard, and a room where she could photograph the dogs on what looked like large beanbag chairs. Now again, I must state for the record that I Don’t Understand. How is this a viable business model, and how the heck does it make money? Their house buying budget was, like, six hundred thousand dollars, so somehow, this must be paying off. First, what is she finding to write about day in and week out? And who (in their right mind) is paying to read it? Is she getting kick-backs from the dog food people? Pet supply stores? The animal shelter? I’m baffled.
So, that brings us to my blog. I consider it in the category of Comprehensive Life Observations. I comment on the good, the bad, and the ugly, bringing fresh and entertaining insights to everyday life experiences. Some may see these as the written versions of the grumpy old man in the porch rocker and, ok, that’s not unreasonable. My Irish Catholic background does not usually propel me into a comprehensive, global Pollyanna outlook of sunshine and rainbows. With me, you get what you get, and if it regularly highlights the foibles and quirks of human existence, then so be it. One of my highly developed skills, refined over many years in the classroom, is recognizing and shining spotlights on the faults of others, and then expounding on them at length. You may have noticed that that is a recurring theme in these writings – from those that can’t use a car directional to people that can’t put their Christmas decorations away in a respectable time frame. It is my duty as a responsible citizen and a connoisseur of aesthetics to let people know when they’ve gone astray. Sadly, my readership is not such that the word is universally spread on any communication superhighway, and therefore my perspectives and valuable insights are often smothered in the incubator stage. But it’s all part of the larger life vision that I call, “I’m thinking . . . . . no.”
I'm Thinking...No! 