Let’s Talk Bookish: Blogger Identity Crises

Today’s topic comes from Rukky, who asks “Have you ever had a blogger identity crisis?

Have you ever had a blogger identity crisis? What triggered it? How did you get over it? Has an identity crisis ever led you to significantly change the direction for your blog? Do you think having an identity crisis every once in a while can help you become a better blogger, or is it just a sign of insecurity?

At first, I thought that my answer was going to be a quick “no”, because this blog is so new that there really hasn’t been time for one.

But then I realized that this is my…eighth or ninth blog, so I guess I have been beset by enough identity crises to have completely reinvented my blog, kind of over and over again.

I started out on Livejournal (because I am older than the mountains that raised me), but that was pretty restrictive, so I registered a domain and found a HORRID template I could live with, but wow…that was one UGLY blog. So, my late husband built me something way less ugly, and we hosted that at loripiper.com until…well, I let the domain lapse after he died.

Then there were the brief flirtations with tumblr, with a grief blog, a medition blog, and a pre-insta photo-blog.

Then there was the original book blog, which I think I wrote in twice before he got sick (and whose posts have been repurposed for fifty-two.) One or two diet blogs.

So, yeah. My blogging has been all over the place.

I’m sure I’ve thought this before, but this is the first blog that feels like home and not some weird, performative experience where I try to be cooler, or funnier, or more introspective than I actually am.

I will say that I was very careful with this one to not pigeonhole myself too much. Yes, it’s a “book blog” because, well, books are kind of 80% of what I ever want to talk about, with, you know, anyone. But I didn’t pick a “book name” and I have been careful from the start to say that I will be talking about stuff not related to books, as it comes up and I want to. I’m kind of done with blogs that are so narrowly-focused that you feel bad for writing what you actually want to write. Cause sometimes, I might want to write about a movie, or a tv show, or my health, or what it’s like living with an infuriating disability. All that stuff belongs at fifty-two, too.

So, yeah. So many identity crises.

If you are a blogger, have you written many different blogs, or just one? Do you like your blog to be narrowly-focused, or is it just a reflection of your inner monologue? I’ll happily be your therapist in the comments.