Recently I was asked about how to generate ideas for a blog. If you've been following along for the past few months, you might ask yourself why I would be asked such a question. Well, I was available at the time and purported to have some experience in the subject.
The truth is, I have only read a wee bit on blogging, and mainly suggested that my friend go and read the same. I read a LOT of blogs and can extrapolate from the content generated therein, but as a blogger myself, my only experience has been personal anecdotes & diary-style updates on DiaryLand, LiveJournal, and several now-defunct Blogger & Wordpress blogs.
When I started up this blog, about a month or so into writing it, I reached out to some of my fellow Library Science students, and asked them what sort of things they would like to see in a librarian (in-training) blog. Uniformly, the answer was articles about issues & trends in the library world. When I read that, I groaned a wee bit. Not that those topics aren't interesting... THEY ARE. There are several great blogs (Hack Library School leaps to mind) that cover these topics, and because they are written by students or newcomers to the field, they are fresh and at times above and beyond what the American Library Association or the Library Journal might cover in terms of honesty and applicable-to-YOU material.
Briefly, I didn't feel competent in those areas, nor did I feel that there would be any point in competing with such material. Hence my groan.
However, in talking with my friend about his blog, I thought more about what I was writing, and why I was writing it. Why, I thought, should I ignore those topics, just because I don't feel qualified to write about them? I'm a student, aren't I? Why should I turn away from something just because it's difficult or unnatural to me? The sort of silly nature of my writing shouldn't exclude thoughts on more serious subjects, nor should serious subjects prevent me from talking about BARF (har har har) or zombies. Just because this is a personal blog as opposed to a professional one doesn't necessarily mean that it can't be BOTH.
That said, I have been giving a lot of thought as to what this blog IS and what I want it to be. Giving room for a certain amount of growth and change, at the onset (that is, NOW), I would like to offer the following topics as the things I care about in writing:
1. Library Science, or Being An MLIS Student
What it is: Issues in librarianship that interest/provoke me, issues faced through schooling, reading, and classes, any struggles or realizations along the path of getting my degree and becoming a real life library lady, comments from a library user vs. librarian
What it isn't: Bitching about coursework & professors, uninformed inflammatory ranting.
2. Books
What it is: Book reviews, hauls from the library / bookstore, BARF, personal library thoughts, occasional silliness & honest opinions. Occasional movie, theater, or music comments as necessary.
What it isn't: Again, inflammatory ranting, personal attacks, unbiased. (I want to offer my personal preferences opinions, including criticism)
3. My Life
What it is: Travel, hobbies (anything that is taking up a good chunk of my brain & time, such as running, language learning, knitting) and anything that comes up through BARF or applying a book to real life.
What it isn't: Gossip, my day job, family. Anything in my life not explicitly covered above.
Is that the sort of thing you want to read?
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