Audience

On Thursday I asked what you would like to see on my blog, mostly in terms of images. The response was underwhelming in numbers of actual commenters (thanks to those of you who do, I always enjoy your replies), so it doesn’t represent any kind of average (or perhaps silence is agreement), but it raised a question for me:

What do you do if you have an audience and they want something different than you do?

The snarky reply would of course be that there will be a new audience for a different content, but blogging for me is all about communication and not so much marketing myself as being “interesting”. Otoh I want to be me, I can’t see myself getting excited about the things some people expect or like if they’re not on my own list of interesting. I like to take pretty pictures, daily snapshots don’t really give me a kick unless they describe something in the text (not even then – but sometimes you need them). Such as documenting my dinner or the view from the car window – nah.

There’s the subject of being the only one who thinks what you write is interesting, I guess there would probably be instant feedback on that one, so we don’t go there. 😉

I’m still in the process of finding out what I’m doing with this and whether to weed certain things out. Do I want many+short or few+long? (ok, you there at the back shouting few+short, zip it!)

There’s no denying this blog is a “project”, I’m exploring various things about me, you, on and off the record. It’s not just a coffee club where we chat about the latest celebrity gossip. (there might be cake – if I can figure how to make one that is gluten free, non-fattening and still tastes GOOD. Because we do like cake. Alas I don’t have any pictures of it.)

everyday01

An everyday image. This is how I heat my office! And a small rock collection. Incidentally the one in the middle could be a weaving pattern, I have just the plant dyed yarns to match. Office chair anyone?

We removed the electrical heater in the kitchen to give me a safe outlet for the computer. The fuse for the kitchen goes if we use too much machinery in the garage! (well, one specific piece actually)

yarno2

Next week I’ll be contradicting myself entirely and document some of the things I’m thinking about doing, as per request. Useless sketches and all. In one or more installments. How long to you want them? 😉

23 thoughts on “Audience

  1. Just enjoy the blogging process and post what you want, don’t worry about the audience – those who are interested will find you! I have enjoyed what you have done so far. Looking forward to the cake.

    1. You are right of course, but starting over from scratch can be such a drag. I know, I’ve done that all my life. 😉

      Perhaps branching out is the answer.

  2. Bonjour Pia and congrats for your post! 🙂

    speakin’ of “audience”, by the beginning of last November, I changed my blog’s address and its name, as I was fed-up with “traffic hunters” aka “fake&automatic likers” who didn’t read even the title of my posts… 😀 That’s why I mentioned at “about”: I’m thoroughly interested in QUALITY, not in quantity! 🙂 I don’t follow any blogs and I don’t belong to any social networks as my spare time is quite limited… Stay healthy, have an optimistic week and friendly thoughts, Mélanie
    * * *
    P.S. Blogging is about commenting, not just clicking the “like” button… 🙂

    1. It would be the most fun if we all got and made more comments. I do however understand the lure of the Like button, when you have a busy day but still want to acknowledge that you have seen the post “I was here, hi!”. It’s pretty easy to recognize the ones that have not read a single word and the ones that are in fact your “tribe”. Only the last group matters. Happy Sunday to you!

  3. … og mit svar vil ikke gøre dig spor klogere, men du får det alligevel. Forskellige emner kræver forskellig længde tekst, forskelligt mange billeder osv. At skrive en blogpost skal være en fornøjelse, en læreproces, en måde at tænke over et emne … et eller andet, der giver både skriveren og læseren en gave.
    Dine billeder er altid så smukke *misundeligt suk* og så en blå sten! Har du malet den eller er der virkelig tsådanne sten til i denne verden? Og nu jeg er i gang, hvad er “dimsen” der ligger på korkskiverne sammen med lysene?
    Sten og garn passer skønt sammen. Som du selv siger: Naturen er bare den bedste, når det kommer til farveblandinger 🙂 Hvor kan jeg forstå din lyst til en væv, når jeg ser de to nøgler; de næsten skriger på at blive vævet til et stenstribet stykke stof – måske til din kontorstol …
    Forskellighed er fint for mig, jeg glæder mig til at høre mere. God søndag.

    1. Du fik nu alligevel hamret sømmene meget godt i, forskellighed i længde og indhold, forskellig motivation også, ja, det er rigtig meget det, som sker. Og ideen med gaven tiltaler mig meget! Men hvad sker der mon, hvis man helt skifter kurs?

      Den blå sten er endnu finere tæt på, og helt fra naturens side. Jeg kendte en gang en som havde en butik med krystaller og halvædelsten, og jeg måtte jo investere lidt en gang imellem når jeg var på besøg, så jeg har en lille kasse et sted med guf. Og tak fordi du spurgte, for en af de fotoprojekter jeg havde glemt at notere var “udstilling og arrangement af sten”. Den blå er så vidt jeg husker en krysokolla, også kaldet kiselmalakit. Den sorte stjernedims er noget min mor har fundet i ørkenen på en rejse, men jeg kan ikke huske om det er en forstening eller en form for mineralaflejring. Jeg skal gerne lave nogen nærbilleder af begge, hvis du vil se mere.

      1. Ja tak. Jeg elsker sten, og har gerne lommerne fulde når vi vender hjem fra stranden. Uha endnu flere projekter. Stenslibning er på min “skal læres når ungerne flytter hjemmefra-liste”

  4. I love this post today. I love the rock as inspiration for a weaving pattern and then shown with the yarn. Wonderful! I think maybe you worry too much. Just be you…and I’ll be me… and if we comment on each others blogs, how fun! And if we only have time to “like”, at least we’ve acknowledged that we’ve been there. Sometimes I want to comment, but just don’t have the words to say, you know?

    1. I wouldn’t say that I’m worried, but I do THINK perhaps too much for my own good, LOL. And I know what you mean, I too sometimes look and don’t comment even if I appreciate the post. So it’s not that I’m after better statistics, just wondering out loud what would happen if I some day completely changed the topic of my blog or left out the part that has the most readers.

  5. Pia I always love to see a prompt in my email that you have written another post.
    I love seeing what you are up to on your side of the pond. I feel a connection even though I have never traveled there and met you.
    I look forward to the warm months when we are out in the garden and working with plants and would miss your writing about it.
    even though I don’t always comment I always read and look forward to your words.

      1. I just think that you should not pander to the audience. Write what you want to write. People will be interested, maybe more than you think. And others who won’t be, will stop following. That’s OK. But don’t hold yourself back worrying about the reception you might get. Then it won’t be fun for you anymore.

  6. Pia, my husband and I were just speaking about this the other day–how it is almost a requirement to market oneself these days, to create a smooth, seamless identity and to brand it. It is pretty eye candy on the surface to be sure. Very clever. But it is not real, and can only represent a small fragment of a person, I think. Anyway, I come here to read your thoughts, Pia, whatever they are. To hear your voice. It seems more genuine to me if I know you are writing what you want to write, not what you think we want to hear. My two cents anyway. But you’ve seen my blog, lol, it rambles allover the place. 🙂

    1. I always write as me. The doubts I’ve had are about writing other parts of me and tone down the crafty side of the blog. But still me. And the marketing involved is, well, that I really enjoy when the readers enjoy, and comment, and when I’m making friends.

      Not the Twitter/Facebook thing. My heart’s just not in it, so unless I have an actual product that I’d like you guys to give me dollars for, no.

  7. Q – I like the idea that one just blogs about “whatever”. Minds go off into all directions, why not blogs? I like your wide variety of topics.

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