Changing the "Voice" of a Blog

As of late-- in part because I have been sick, and largely unable to focus on my regular work-- I have been contemplating what to "do" with my various blogs and web properties... some of which are approaching 20 years of age.

20 years!

That's the equivalent of "the history of the world," in the world of the Internet.

One of my mainstay blogs is about to get an overhaul or makeover-- or at least a ""Change of Voice."

What I mean by that is that the blog was originally built mostly around personal experiences within a specific niche (starting in 2002), but as time progressed I allowed the "personal" aspect to give way to a more scientific, 3rd person approach. Eventually, the blog progressed to a point where I had pretty much written "myself" completely out of the picture.

Whereas that may be good, bad or whatever... fact remains that the blog stopped serving me, and simply became a vehicle for transmitting information,

And something was lost, in the process.

I get the sense that this kind of "progression" happens to more than a few niche writers. We get trapped in a pattern of focusing excessively on "writing properly," and lose sight of why we started writing, in the first place.

Being in the business of writing is never static. We may talk ourselves into believing that we get to "publish, and then we're done" but that's seldom 100% true. And so... I will start the process of evaluating those many venues and taking a hard look at what their intent truly is.

If you're a writer, I'd recommend you do the same...

I should always write in the mornings

Once again, I am reminded of the importance of writing first thing in the morning.

Could be that I simply lose my focus as the day goes on-- or maybe my brain gets tired-- but I sat here yesterday at 4:00 in the afternoon, realizing that I really had very little to contribute.

At the end of a day of "this, that and the other," the creative side of my brain amounted to little more than noise and mush.

What is your writing practice?

Although I am not exactly what most people would call a "morning person," there is little doubt that I do my best writing early in the day. By about 2-3 in the afternoon, I lack clarity.

According to writing consultant and creative writer Julia Cameron, we are typically at our "cleanest" (in terms of expression) before our heads start to fill up with the tasks of the day and the influences of all the stuff that is going on around us-- family, work, the news, life. And that holds true, regardless of whether we are early risers or night owls.

Of course, there are those who say they write their best late at night... but-- on further investigation-- it typically is true that this "best" doesn't set in until after a "wind down" from their day.