This question is from a recent interview. I liked it so much I wanted to share and ask YOU the same question in return.
Question:
What do you think sets you apart from so many bloggers out there? Why do you think you have succeeded as much as you have online?
Answer:
I’ve had my share of failures along with the things that have worked out, so that is one thing right there-working through and learning when things don’t go as you planned. Like most people will tell you, a lot of online success is simply sticking to it. There’s hard work, luck, networking with other wonderful people and a dose of writing ability that have to occur, too. It also helps if you are able to turn on your computer.
Many people have those qualities so I think my biggest strength is simply the way I think. I have such a wild imagination and my point of view is just odd and entertaining. Being in my head can be like constant partying like it’s 1999 or like the darkest chapters of Grapes of Wrath with a Dante’s Inferno chaser. Most people could write adequately about the bigger issues in my life, it’s the little day-to-day stuff that will bite you.
I’m good at making boring, little things and moments interesting because THAT IS HOW I SEE THEM in my head.
For example: say that I overcooked the carrots for dinner one night. If my Vulcan-like husband wrote about it, it would be rather prosaic, short and boring. (Sorry, honey. You KNOW I’m right.*)
“Loralee cooked carrots that were soggy and bland.”
Yawn.
Though it’s concise it’s too dull. I would be board to tears even thinking like that all the time, let alone writing like it. So, I would make it a PARTY OF WHEEE!!! instead.
“My carrots turned out like flaccid Oompa-Loompa penises that are in desperate need of some produce Viagra so their Willies can get Wonking!“
It is still the same conversation, still about carrots, but TOTALLY different. If you can’t make the mundane interesting and put your own personality on it, you probably won’t last long as a personal blogger.
So, what about all of you? How would you answer this question?
**
*To illustrate this point, I had my husband read my blog and he shook his head (he shakes his head a LOT at me) and said, “Do you REALLY want to devote an entire sentence to weird, vegetable, Oompa Loompa sex?”
Um…
DUH?
Nuff said.
Whining. I am really, really good at whining.
And hilarity in comments. Heh.
You really are looney. :) Dude. That’s where you came up with all this crazy stuff, you’re head? I thought for sure you were reading it off the back of some strange cereal box. Kidding. Love you for your imagination. My biggest online strength. I’m stalkerish in my blog love affair. I’m there, I’m here. Every where you turn you can’t get rid of me. Really, should probably turn off the computer once in awhile.
I certainly have my own slant to things for sure. :)
And babe…being a stalker, obsessive, always online, is FINE. Whatever you need to get you to the next day right now is FINE.
I used to be that way but had to shut a lot of it down to have a life and not burn out to death.
I loves ;-)
Ummm… I’m loud and bumbling and silly and I say y’all and I’m unashamedly willing to cook with butter, lard and garlic (mmmm garlic) I have moments of brilliance and moments of idiocy.
I’m in love with our community oh wait… this is all why I love everyone else.
SHoot.. I got nothing..
Okay, I’m honest.. :-)
You have a way of writing about food that makes my ass expand 5 inches just from reading about your amazing yummy goodness. (Drool).
Well I guess since I ruined flossing for you I can allow you to ruin carrots for me. ;-)
And I hope you were talking full sized carrots and not baby carrots. Because if you were talking baby carrots and they reminded you of “man bits” then you obviously need to get out more. ;-P
Yes, baby carrots because DUDE…OOMPA LOOMPA PENISES ARE TINY.
(Not that I would know from actual experience.)
(Or anything.)
(For reals.)
(PINKY SWEAR!)
(WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF?!!!!!)
Is there such thing as Oompa Loompa porn? Because this post and comments are borderline… ;-)
Heck… they let Sarah Palin’s daughter’s baby daddy on Playgirl… maybe they will have a Willie Wonka edition with the Oompa Loompas.
Okay… I should really stop now.
You guys, I’m crying here.
They can call it “The Orange Edition” and sell limited editions that have chocolate scratch and sniff pages.
And now?
I have made myself hurl.
Heheheheh.
Uh. You’ve kinda stumped me with this one. The first thing that comes to mind isn’t really an online strength only, but it’s something that comes up again and again in my life: I am really good at not taking things personally. I am confident and I like who I am (most of the time) and I have family and friends who love me and that’s enough. If random strangers online don’t like me or don’t like what I write or say nasty things about me, I’m really good at shrugging that off and moving on.
That seems like a lame answer, but it’s all I got. Other than, “I have good grammar,” which is true but even lamer. :-)
Please teach me how to be like that. (IN BOTH AREAS).
I was going to say grammar and spelling if you didn’t. You should hire yourself out: Will proofread your blog posts and then tell you what you did wrong in the nicest way possible. Payable in yarn and ceramics. :)
YES! Thanks to Ms. Actually I will no longer throw around phrases that are ENTIRELY WRONG AND MAKE PEOPLE MENTALLY SCREAM INSIDE!
It’s a relief to know she’s around. :)
I think most women are going to have a hard time commenting on this one because most of us suck at saying anything good about ourselves.
My biggest online strength by far – I’m funny. (Resisting urge to qualify statement with “at least that’s what people tell me” and “I’m only funny online though” etc., etc., etc.) That’s what keeps people coming back to my blog, I think. It makes me happy to think that something I wrote might cheer someone up.
I think the crazy/skewed/goofy/nutty ways a blogger processes ordinary life events are what makes or breaks a blog. Pointing out the ridiculous is a bonus. So I would give the same answer as you did, Loralee. I wrote a longer than usual, whiny post tonight, but ordinarily it’s relatively short and sarcastic. Just like me.
Your wonky penis carrot reference got me thinking. Newborn boy penises look like little baby carrots. Until we turn them into mushrooms.
I’m still trying to figure out what my strengths are! But I’ll tell you, one of the reasons I keep coming back here? You talk about baby’s first words and limp Oompa Loompa veggie penises (penii?!) in a 72-hour span! Heck, you could probably work it into the same paragraph!
I think I want to strive to use that sentence in my real life. You know, the oompa loompa penis one. Unfortunately I’m not sure I know any situations that require it right yet. I’ll think of one though.
Your wild imagination and odd and entertaining point of view is what keeps me coming back for more and more.
I don’t have a clue why people waste their time reading my blog. I think it may be the same reason why they love to watch shows like America’s Funniest Videos – it’s fun to watch people get hit in the junk, stumble and fall and still be able to laugh about it all.
I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to eat limp carrots again without thinking of flaccid Oompa-Loompa penises that are in desperate need of some produce Viagra so their Willies can get Wonking.
Hmmmm, this is a hard one. I think my biggest strength is my honesty? I try to write about real stuff and tell the truth. But I also like to be funny.
I think TheOneTrueSue is right, this is very hard for me to answer. But clearly I’m doing something right because people keep coming back for more…
Things just happen that beg to be reported…I really have no control.
Oh! And I am totally on your side…of COURSE carrots are limp penises. Enough said.
Today? Today I say I have zero strengths and I don’t know why I continue to do it. On a better day, I’m a good writer who can tell a great story. I know that; but it’s hard to embrace that when no one reads and you can’t figure out how the HELL to market yourself and attract readers. You would think I was smart enough to figure that out.
Talent, who said I had any of that? I AM different though. In my little teensie corner of the great big worldwide web, I try to touch a wide variety of things. Photography, cooking, poetry, funny stories, sad stories, politics, god, my cat, my kids, and so on. And speaking of carrots, I prefer mine never get past al dente. just sayin….
my kids are ridiculously hilarious and you couldn’t even make up the material they give me. Without them my site would be CRAP. heh.
I don’t like or eat carrots. I’m just sayin’. Annie, however, will go out of her way to nuzzle down a carrot. Cooked or otherwise. I’m thinking of painting my …. perhaps that’s going to be TMI.
seriously, DUH, mr tunes. *rolleyes*
I don’t think I have a bloggywriting strength so much as a weakness: not opening myself up enough. I’m really not as funny as you people, and I’m sure most people are not entertained by my non-surface-scratching whining. All of my best posts (like, what, maybe a handful) are ones where I actually open up and show myself.
There are three barriers to that:
1) time
2) thinking of the things to actually share
3) not wanting people to know my shameful secrets, or not wanting to put things that matter to me out for everyone to see and possibly misunderstand, underappreciate or even scorn.
So, I’d like to add that another of your strengths is your bravery.
i dont know-i am so new at this. i think i am a decent writer sometimes and i occasionally stumble upon a topic that gets my little gang of followers talking. i guess i am still knocking out my niche. :)
I honestly haven’t a clue what my online strengths are. I’m opinionated (but so are most others). I can write in complete sentences and punctuate properly. Ok, now I’ve eliminated a small percentage. Uh, ok, now I give up. Perhaps I’ll make that a post. “I don’t know what I’m doing right. You tell me.”. Of course, I have so few followers, that the response might not be much more than the sound of lonely crickets chirping.
You’re funny. You’re funny. Oh, and did I mention you are funny? Also you are very deep and real. Those are the strengths in my book, but I can probably come up with more.
Myself, I don’t really write. I’m more of a photo blogger but I think that the way I look at things contributes greatly to what I do as well.
I don’t have much to say about my online strengths, but I had to leave you another comment. I left you one on your previous post very casually. I had seen your picture on the CBC website and decided to check you out. (Your blog that is.) I recently cracked open my highly anticipated February edition of Parent’s magazine and proceded to read an article about moms online. There YOU were! I was so inspired and so honored that you blog from my same state. Thank you for the inspiration. Mom bloggers rock.
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