---
title: "Being irrelevant (Sins of blogging)"
date: 2009-10-04
description: "Seven deadly sins of blogging   1.0 Being fake (Sins of blogging)  1.1 → Being irrelevant (Sins..."
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/2009/10/04/seven-deadly-sins-of-blogging-2-being-irrelevant/
---
# Being irrelevant (Sins of blogging)
A few years ago, I was talking with a guy named Clyde about blogging. He wasn't sure what topic he wanted to write about, and I encouraged him to pick a topic he was passionate about and stick with that focus. Clyde was interested in two things: music and tech comm. So he actually started two blogs, one for each topic. He also planned to start a podcast and so ordered a podcasting kit.

After a while, his music blog faded (before he even wrote 10 posts, I think). And his interest about tech comm also faded, leaving him looking for a new direction. Gradually he moved toward the psychology of well-being, which I believe is learning to feel good about life, yourself, and those around you. He stayed with that focus for quite a while before [blog-fading entirely](http://feelinggood.wordpress.com/).

Clyde's story is typical. We often think about our interests and passions, and they have little to do with technical writing (or whatever our day job is). So we start writing about those side interests (for example, one of my side interests is basketball). But we soon realize a couple of problems: first, to write well about a topic, you have to be immersed in knowledge about the topic, both reading about it and having personal experiences (coupled together, these two make a strong combination). If we don't have any new knowledge we're constantly acquiring or daily experiences we're having about the topic, we lose substance in our writing. So in the end, regardless of the topic we choose, we gravitate toward writing about what we know or what we're experiencing.

When new bloggers ask me for advice about what to blog about, I tell them not to worry about their focus for the first month. Just crank out a couple of dozen posts. Then, after you've done some writing, analyze your trends. What topics are you naturally moving towards? What topics do you keep coming back to again and again? Okay, now brand your site with that focus.

Sometimes people who lock themselves into a focus feel trapped. One person told me that if he narrowed his blog's focus to tech comm., he would only have 28 posts to write (he could think of no more). It's okay to move outside your natural path at times. Like a hiker, you can take side trails to go look at a scenic vista or lake, but you always return to the main trail, the trail that takes you toward your destination.