Two nights ago on the daily show I saw an interview with Arianna Huffington, “a blogging evangelist†who wrote some book about how to be a great blogger. I don’t normally pay much attention to the interviews (and this was no exception), but I did hear her say that the key to a great blog is to have a secondary interest which adds depth to the author. Her example was her love of cheese.
[left: Courtenay was here for a week before the skies were clear enough for her to see Mt. Rainier. Once she saw it she was stunned, “that thing’s been there the whole time?†Then she took this awesome picture.]
So that raises two questions in my mind:
- Am I more likely to enjoy reading how to blog from a woman who also talks about cheese?
- If so, what’s my cheese?
Is it my interest in Seattle area culture and politics? Is it my new interest in learning to sail? Is it my biochemistry class? Is it my duels with Klepto the Crow? Or is it the humorous people I interact with, like Aaron Scheidies going on nighttime bike rides with his own lack of eyesight as a guide?
Maybe I have too much cheese. It could be that I need to write more about my focus – becoming a great triathlete. After all, the blog’s name is “confessions of the highly motivated†not “stories from the guy with 20 hobbies.†Then again, Let My People Go Surfing, was written by a guy with 20 hobbies, and it’s a great book.
what’s my cheese? is an interesting question. i think its just the idea that you are multi-dimensional. but no one is going to read a blog solely about the side stuff, thats not what draws them in, if that makes sense, but its what keeps them reading
I think aside of your training are all of the people and random stuff that happens to Ben ‘Magoo’ Collins. That is your cheese, or maybe you’re the cheese and that other stuff is the blue mold. I think that makes me mold. But then again, I love that stuff.