I imagine readers looking at this blog and wondering how these things all go together. Most nights I even lose sleep over it. But then it hit me: I’ll just explain my blog!
It seems obvious, but even that idea felt somewhat out of reach. If you’ve read the about Kyle page, you already know a little about me: I am a writer by trade and by heart. (And a full time MFA student and part time job juggler, so please forgive any lags in posts. Although the aim is to have a somewhat predictable schedule –hello, Writer Wednesday).
So what does that have to do with this blog? Everything.
Originally, I wanted an author website to support my book and hopefully build an audience (no shame here). But ultimately I wanted more than that. I wanted an audience that I could interact with, an audience I could help, an audience that actually sought out my page.
In reality, I’m not there yet. I consider myself to be fairly new to the blogging game still, having started out on wordpress.com and only recently making the transition over to here. However, I have big dreams for this blog and its readers (that we’ll get to in a minute).
Let’s take a look at what we’ve got going on right now: Creative Writing, Writing Tips, and Dating Advice. Oh, and the occasional book review just to keep you on your toes.
How does any of that make sense to have on this blog? It does and it doesn’t.
I already told you I’m a writer so having creative writing on this blog probably makes perfect sense. After all, that was sort of the original goal (hypothetical author platform and what not). But I wasn’t achieving, well to be blunt, anything. I was tossing content at readers and expecting them to want to join my little club when really there wasn’t much in it for them. It was tedious and unrewarding for all parties involved.
Admittedly, I sort of gave up on my blog for a little while.
Then I realized that I wanted to help people. Specifically, I wanted to help other writers because I knew the struggle that they were going through all too well since I struggle right alongside them every day. That’s how my Writer Wednesday posts were born. I wanted to inspire, assist, motivate, and tickle the fancy of other writers looking to better themselves and their writing.
Being in an MFA program now gives me a better idea of how to help these writers and I am eager to share some of the things I have learned with you in this coming year. While this obviously doesn’t replace getting an MFA degree, I feel it will give writers a nice boost. For free.
Okay, so writer having a blog about their writing and writing tips makes sense. You’re probably even wondering why I wrote so much on that. Well, I was getting to the third main component of my blog: Dating Advice.
What? That’s so out of place!
Dear reader, welcome to this blog’s curve ball. Just when you think you know what all this blog is about: boom. There’s Dating Advice.
Why is it here? Because I write dating advice for a dating app. Remember, this was sort of supposed to be an author page and I wanted to showcase my range of writing. Then a crazy thing happened: blog traffic seemed to increase because of the dating advice.
That’s not really why I chose to keep it here though. In reality, it would be just as easy to let it remain on the other blog and toss a link to it at the end of my bio. I’m not going to say that’s entirely out of the works (hey, don’t want to rule anything out), but for now I want the dating section here.
The fact is that it does tie in with the other stuff in a looser sort of manner. You see, my creative writing endeavors fall into two main categories: YA and Chick Lit. While it isn’t the only thing at play in my writing, relationships are certainly a main factor of it.
So am I back to throwing content at my readers and hoping for the best? No.
What I am hopefully doing is reaching readers on a new level. Readers of my type of writing read my work because they want to feel something. It’s the sort of literature you pick up when you want to read a lighthearted romance, get wrapped up in someone else’s affair, or mend a broken heart. They might reach the end of a story/poem/novel/Starbucks cup comic and want more. More to read and more out of life.
I feel (and hopefully my readers do too) that the dating advice posts can give my readers the means to change their romantic situation if they so desire. I don’t want my readers to feel like they have settled in a relationship any more than I want them to feel afraid of love. I want my readers to be okay with feeling vulnerable, with letting go when the time is right, and not being afraid to hold on when it is not. I want my readers to feel passionately and travel boldly and to get through the things they didn’t think they could get through…and I believe that starts and ends with love.
At the end of the day, this blog may not work out the way I want it to. I’m okay with calling it a work in progress because that is what I am and that is what we all are. Works in progress. So here is my work in progress for you. I hope you stick around and check out some of the things that are going on here. If you like what you see, please follow, share, comment, or even just check back regularly. Do whatever you feel comfortable with –I’ll be here prepping the next post on A Dose of Kyle.
Got feedback? Even better! Feel free to sprinkle your comments throughout the blog as you see fit or contact me via email. I look forward to hearing from you!