What I Do (and Don’t) Blog About

Writing a daily blog, it often might seem like I blog about anything and everything under the sun. There are certainly a whole slew of things I pick as topics, from top ten candy lists like yesterday to weighty matters of faith and everything in between. But believe it or not, there is at least a bit of a filter when it comes to me deciding what to write about each day.

First off, I’ve kept the blog as diverse as possible from a topic perspective. I know if I wanted to have the blog increase in readers, it would be wiser to narrow its focus. Tighten it around a theme: movies, for example. Or media in general. Writing. Or keep it faith-centric. Having a centralized theme you build around lets your audience find you and find each other.

But the closest I’ve got to a theme on this blog is “Stuff Bryce Wants to Talk About.” And since it seems kind of, I don’t know . . . conceited to say that my theme for the blog is myself, it’s easier to just view it as “I don’t have a theme.” Still, that’s worked out for me over the years. I try to mix things up, spreading out movie and book and television reviews and throwing in posts about religion, politics, personal observations, writing news, local happenings, and more. My blog is like a box of chocolates.

And yet there are definitely things I choose not to post about. There have even been times (believe it or not) when I’ve written a post and not published it. What sort of stuff gets cut? For one thing, I try not to post about people who don’t have a platform to respond. So I avoid writing about other people’s experiences, especially at a local level. When I do write about what someone else has done or had happen to them, I try to do it from a general angle, avoiding “They really should have done __________” posts. I try to remember not everyone has a microphone, even a modestly sized one like my blog. It’s easy to write to your regulars and potentially get them riled up about something. Just because it’s easy doesn’t mean you should do it, however.

I also don’t write anything that might be embarrassing to people. That means anything about my kids’ lives for the most part now. Any struggles the family might be having, though sometimes if you read between the lines, I’m sure you can make some connections about things that are happening that might have inspired a blog post. (Though there’s no guarantee that thing would have been something that happened to a family member. I’ll read articles that spark topics just as easily.)

And while I do delve into some matters that trouble me or that I struggle with, I think I generally avoid anything that doesn’t rise to a certain level of angst. If something gets particularly upsetting, it often gets a blog post, but anything below that line doesn’t get one. The net result of that is that I think I have a lot more positive posts than I have negative ones, which in turn might portray a more positive outward face to my life than might actually be the case. This isn’t to say there are any deep dark secrets I’m hiding, but rather to reassure people who read the blog (and view my social media feed) that yes, everyone has problems. Including me.

One thing I’d love to do more of is reader requests. Sometimes a friend will ask me to blog about something in person, and that sparks a really good post. It’s rare, but I like it when it happens. There are some days when I sit staring at the screen, wondering what I might come up with today. Sooner or later, there always seems to be something to write about.

As I’ve said before, I enjoy the blog these days primarily for the way it makes me organize my thinking. It’s helped me think through many a tough topic, and I’d like to think it’s helped others do the same. I’m really grateful to my blog patrons who chip in some money each month to give me the needed funds to justify the time I put into these posts. It’s definitely appreciated.

And thanks to you to reading the posts and commenting on them!

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