Should My Blog Be More Serious?

Over the years, I have sometimes asked myself if I needed to change the blog’s direction: Should I challenge myself with more topical posts? Should my posts be more serious? Should I use my blog for stronger opinion pieces?

When I listen to my conscience, the answer is an easy no.

From a very young age, Erma Bombeck was my literary hero. I was inspired by her books that shared her insight and observations on suburban family life, with joy, love and a healthy dose of self-deprecating humour.

She connected with tens of thousands of readers through laughter and humanity. For me, that is admirable and serves a definite purpose.

Deep down, there is a little bit of Erma inside of me that inspires and informs the way I write, but my writing style and choice of topics are stamped with my own writer’s fingerprint:

I enjoy the fact that I can talk about subjects to which many can relate, whether the post is about cats, getting older, running, writing, travel, TV, movies, music, solving life’s little problems or discovering life’s serendipitous moments.

I enjoy the fact that I can write about things that resonate with people on a human level without getting too heavy.

I enjoy the fact that I can share my unique perspective on topics, only to find out that it is not that unique after all when people tell me that they can relate to what I wrote.

I enjoy the fact that people can turn to my blog for something light, something funny, something quirky or something informative. To me, that is a valuable mission, when life is quite serious as it is.

Writing a more upbeat and positive blog has even lifted my own spirits at times when I had a hard time finding positivity.

I enjoy the fact that I can use my blog as a safe environment to try out different writing ideas and even to test the waters with some creative pieces, given my aspirations to make the transition from corporate writer to novelist or screenwriter.

Writing the blog has allowed me to share my enthusiasm for life and its many funny and fascinating moments, without making points at anyone’s expense.

Has it been hard to stay within this mandate? At times, it has.

But on a few occasions I did get a little deeper in writing about personal challenges, but always from a positive perspective, and with the aim to help spread the word that we all sail through choppy waters at one time or another and that’s OK. Things do get better with time.

I have never thought of myself as a hard-news journalist, nor do I feel a need to take up the charge. There are more than enough news outlets to deliver the different perspectives on world events, my blog does not need to be one of them.

Could I use my blog to be more topical and more serious? Sure, I could. But it’s great to know that I don’t have to and that I can just be myself and offer a pleasant diversion, to get a break from life’s seriousness and to promote the many joys of living.

I’d like to think that blogging from the heart rather than from the mind is the most authentic way to go.

I think Erma would have approved.

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Sincere thanks for reading!
Have a great day,
André