One message I pass onto my blogging students that I too have heard is that blogs must have a theme, a focus, a sort of statement that everything revolves around… but how do you figure out what that theme is? 
 

What shall I choose?

How do you choose what to make your blog about? If you don’t want to follow a theme such as party planning, cooking or pets, how do you figure out what to write about? Yourself perhaps?

It may be too specific but a blog about you is obviously harder to promote or find a target audience for than another topic— right?  Or wrong?

Personally I enjoy non-themed blogs and wish there were more of them.  I love going to a blog and not knowing what’s going to be posted there.  Funny stories about life incidents.  Home décor ideas.  Ethnic recipes.  To me a good blog is one that reads like a magazine, curated and edited by someone interesting and, I appreciate funny writers.

Let’s discuss a few problems and solutions of non-themed blogging.

Obstacle: A non-themed blog can miss out on some lucrative themed sponsorship.
We all know certain fashion brands that love the blogosphere, but if you’re not a fashion blogger, they probably won’t come a-knocking.  And if you’re not a beauty blogger, companies like Benefit and Body Shoppe aren’t going to fall all over themselves advertising with you.  When those companies are googling blogs, your URL won’t come up.
Remedy: Add some themed content – and make sure everybody knows it.  You shouldn’t write about something specific to court specific advertisers or readers, but a themed series will give your blog a more cohesive, well-rounded feel. And it makes it more likely that advertisers and bloggers in that niche will link to you and advertise with you.

Obstacle: Nobody knows what my blog is about when they land on my site.
Your friends may review your blog and shout-out: today you’re talking about spirituality and last time you were on psychological family issues. What the heck is going on?
Remedy: Write a clever tagline
Did you know that I’m a professional copywriter? This is where I can place my copywriter hat on for you (think  Sherlock Holmes deerstalker cap).  If your blog is un-themed, then you need a clever tagline.  Something like “Every relationship can be adventuresome” or “On the internet since 2009.”

Obstacle:  My blog looks messy
If you’re writing about everything under the sun things can get visually overwhelming.
Remedy: Stick with a color theme and keep your header and sidebar simple. Unless I’m doing a current events post, I try to choose black and white photos that compliment my red header. I didn’t plan it that way, but instinctively went with black and cream since it exudes classic style and sophistication.  It’s also dramatic. You may choose soft colors, bright colors or neutrals, however if you refuse to be limited to a certain color palette, try a header/template that’s simple and crisp so your images will be bright and engaging, not busy and tacky. Remember—balance is key.

Obstacle: There are a lot of un-themed blogs out there, how can I stand out?
Remedy: The blogosphere is rife with ladies taking pictures of themselves in thrift store outfits, from their bedrooms, showing off their tattoos, and promoting Etsy. Find and amplify your difference. I love travel and wanted to share my smart and solo adventures that I went on in my 20′s and 30′s as an online diary.  At the time I was told, “you have guts.” By sharing them later, I got to travel write.  I also love fashion, so I turned my dresses into conversation pieces, also known as anthropomorphism http://lindalaroche.com/blog/dress-you-up.html  http://lindalaroche.com/blog/bespoken.html.  Perhaps you live in Iceland or sky dive as a hobby.  You don’t have to make your point of difference the point of your blog, but play it up! You’re an expert at one unique thing that others will find fascinating!

The Unfolding of a Life

I've been on an incredible voyage (details are in my Travel Diary) but am content to be home where I am surrounded by the life-affirming green of my garden, and warm smiles. So it is back to work for me, studying my thoughts, observing others, and planning new teaching events.

Soldier feeding Goat

I have had a fascination with World War II, although it may seem to others to be unexplainable- (my parents didn't meet until 1953), to me (my soul) it is familiar. With that in mind, I'm posting these vintage photos from the 1940's along with one that reminds us of how children suffer the ignorance and atrocities committed by their parents.

Girl comforting Doll

Everyday there is news of natural disasters and horror just as great as a War. In the past and now each of us needs to stay centered in the whirl and swirl of nasty collective astral currents, so let us make sure not to overly personalize our dramas since it invites expansion. I'm not advocating to deny or suppress personal pain, but to work to transform it and grow wise and more generous in the process. This is accomplished through the recognition that there is a higher magnetism of love that is tangible and palpable and as we draw up into It, It draws down into us.

Man with Book

As usual your comments are welcome. 

Desperate Mother selling Children

 

The Chain Goes On

One of the great things about a blog post is that it can be published at a later date. I meant to do that with this post but got side-tracked when offered a photography work assignment, then came computer technical problems and a trip out of town. So taking that is stride, here's my post, altered and late as it is.

I believe lessons that our mothers taught us apply any time of year. The mother-daughter bond is truly fragile but unbreakable. Though most women don't acknowledge, they share a very strong bond with their mothers.

A mother brings up her daughter with utmost care and passes down the lessons of self-respect and self-esteem. They watch their daughters grow eagerly worrying about their daughter's survival - physically, psychologically, and socially. They have great expectations for their daughter’s life and hope their daughters won’t have to face a life that they experienced. A mother expects her daughter to be able to overcome difficulties that come her way and be more successful than her.

Daughters have great expectations from their mothers. They look up to her as their role model. And if their expectations are not met they get very disappointed—and it takes many years to soothe the hurt. Until a girl reaches that period of her life when she has to make a life of her own, little does she understand what her mother was to her. Life is like a roller coaster for every woman. And it becomes more complex with age and the best companion she can age along with is her mother.

When I was growing up my mother was not the most expressive or flexible person. Although she had a feminine look, she was and still is very strong when it comes to emotions. Hard-working, she was extremely proficient at handling pressures and handled the most worst of situations. An introvert, she chooses her friends very cautiously. She is private, trustworthy, caring, and has quiet dignity. Something about her seems big; yet she is petite and small-boned, a brunette with fair skin who looks dynamic in the color red. She is conservative by nature— and loves to cook and prefers the comforts of her own home to being elsewhere.

If I were to choose one quality that her example gave me it would be this— she does not believe the first impression is the last impression; instead she lets others behavior speak for them, over time. It took me a long time to heed that message, but now I live by it.

What one tradition or trait did you adopt from your mother that did not come naturally to your personality?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72uUzYqa4xA

Stand my Ground

Today my Blog is four years old, older than my doggie, so with that in mind I’m writing about her.

Yesterday I was in my kitchen baking Linzer Torte with the windows open when I heard kids outside yell out, “That’s Coco’s house.”  Soon the door was pounding.  Bubbling behind the door, you’d think it was the Kaiser’s birthday party.  They had balloons and chocolate leaf cookies and wanted to play with her.  I peered in disapproval at the chocolate but told them she could go out later, when I would be ready to supervise.  The children have always been generous in dispensing gifts to her. Although she spends her time running back and forth as they do, and barks acting as a referee to any injustice, not only do they continue to dot on her but they love her.   

Very few know of Coco’s story.  It reads like a version of Little Match Girl, a short-story by Hans Christian Andersen. Cold and hungry, and left to die alone in a foreclosed home her barks saved her.  She was taken to Lied Animal Shelter, where she most likely questioned the meaning of life and of play.  

There in November 2011, dehydrated at a mere ten pounds, I spotted her.  When I reached in to pet her she immediately licked my hand.  Staring, shining, scintillating… I thought who is that skinny doggie and where did she come from? Was she the darling of some Las Vegas stage performer?

In shades of gray and tan with a black chevron down her back, she’s half-Miniature Schnauzer and Yorkie, what’s called a Schnorkie but looks like a little lamb. Here I thought is my puppy and mistook the thoughtful look of Coco’s enormous pretty brown eyes and long eyelashes for tranquility.

Once out of the shelter, Coco began to make her presence known.  She was energetic, fiery and spunky.  Not anxious or suspicious of either people or animals, she adores new experiences.  As an intelligent, courageous creature; she is the friendliest canine at the doggie park.  At home, she has a hearty appetite, and is subtle and unsubtle, loudly indignant and softly stubborn, sly, sweet, resourceful and interesting all the way. 

As for words... Coco is natural-born linguist. It's enough to talk to her because she understands and will do what I ask. She shows her uniqueness and originality and rarely does anything by rote. On occasions when she demonstrates her ardent temperament she then cocks her head and I see wings and halos circle her head.

Now at a healthy lean twenty pounds, she is a fierce protector of home and hearth, a thoroughly engaging personality, and brings love, friendship, and zest for life to our household, the neighborhood and to everyone she meets. 

Because of her determination to correct any wrongdoing, I tell my husband if she were human she’d be true to her sun sign and be an activist.  She’s also clairvoyant. Meanwhile I’m on a hunt to find her a collar with peace sign logos. 

This is her theme song: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUTXb-ga1fo

 

Everything old is new again

Watching old films is like going on a journey. Last week I happened to watch a TCM classic and began to think that the 1950s are full of movies that are masterpieces.  Vertigo, Rear Window, Diabolique, Strangers on a Train, The African Queen, La Strada, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Ben-Hur and Some Like it Hot, among others are just a few of the best-known examples of this kind of quality. 

The treachery of time — the unwelcome intrusion of the past, the empty languor of the present, the terrifying uncertainty of the future — are many of these old film themes, and part of what makes them good, for all its charming glimpses of a bygone era, they often feel unnervingly contemporary.

And yet the reality of the postwar is often visible in these films as a strong intimation of the direction of cinema in the coming years. With time, these films represent the arrival of something new, and even now they can feel like a bulletin from the future.

The way Directors dissolved narrative into atmosphere, of locating drama in the unspoken inner lives of his characters, one might anticipate the plot.  And the characters manners and modes of dress mark them as creatures of another, perhaps more refined age, are immediately recognizable in their loneliness, their cynicism and their thwarted desire to connect and to feel.

Some of us will never tire of these stories, with their black-tied gloom and elegant suffering, and will therefore relish the beauty and melancholy of the voyage, along with what looks like tourist snapshots in black and white and heart-tugging music.  

What about you? Are you a romantic that reveres old movies or a realist that appreciates contemporary?