Hey readers… one month down the road from the launch of my blog and I just want to get something off my chest.
Here it is:
I am conflicted about how to handle my content.
I don’t want to spend all my time thinking and writing about all the sadness in my life. Anyone who knows me certainly knows that.
After all, people are always commenting about all the interesting stuff I am doing, all those amazing trips I go on, my never-ending energy, my constant curiosity, just the “fabulous” way I live life.
(Thanks guys, you know that I try hard to live my best life despite the shit family circumstances.)
So, yes, I would say that sitting my ass down and writing about the dark stuff in my life isn’t something that I always want to do.
I can imagine it’s not something that you want to always read about either.
But I force myself to do this, because when I launched this blog exactly one month ago, I told myself that this needs to be real. I need to tell these depressing, real stories of people living with mental illness, whether I feel like it at the moment or not.
And whether my audience feels like reading it or not.
(I am always so concerned about pushing out stories at the “right time”. And I am concerned with hanging a big cloud over someone’s head when they are just trying to get home after work or attempting to have a relaxing weekend.)
But as I said before, this isn’t meant to always be a feel-good, positive blog either.
It’s just real – the good and the bad, all rolled into one.
A friend, who recently accepted my invite to follow the blog, told me that she looks forward to quality content.
But that’s precisely it.
As a content marketer, I find myself thinking too much about how and when to roll out “quality” content.
I don’t want to turn people off with a constant barrage of the dark, but I also don’t want to be some manufactured site either.
Part of me feels that I should just write whenever and whatever it is, because that is authentic.
But then the other part of me is constantly thinking about my formula for quality content.
REV.
Is it relevant, entertaining or valuable?
I feel like for every depressing story I write, I need to have some 5 Tips to Get Out of the Funk type of story. Yes, I wrote that one as an antidote to my sad posts.
I have read other blogs by people who are dealing with mental illness. And there’s certainly no formula in there, that’s for sure.
They are really the ramblings of someone who just writes for the moment.
They probably aren’t even thinking about whether anyone is actually going to read their content.
They may not even be promoting it via Facebook or whatever channels.
And a lot of it is just, as I said, ramblings. Not much “value”.
But, as a marketing and communications professional, I feel as though I should seek your forgiveness for this post.
This sounds like a post that’s going nowhere, I’m not sure what the value of this is… but well, it has been one month since the launch of this blog, I have had such good feedback on how authentic and brave this is, so… maybe I am writing this to remind myself to continue to just be super real.
And just write. Whatever, whenever.
Oh, I just thought of a “point” for this post. Maybe it’s about, sometimes, just do what you want. And don’t give a shit what others think. 😊
On my one-month anniversary, I would like to thank you all for supporting me thus far!! Remember, if you have a story to share, you can do so (anonymously, if you like) as well. Just write to me at yazz@notaprettypicture.com or hit the Contribute link.
