The other day, I mentioned trying out the e-book 31 Days to Building a Better Blog by Darren Rowse in order to refine my blog and hone it into a space that is more authentically mine. This is mostly to prep my blog for its switch to self-hosted WordPress and finally get the place on the track I’ve wanted it to be on for so long. I probably won’t do all of these on my blog, but I thought this one was particularly useful to use as a blog post since it deals more or less with the foundation of what I want the place to be about. The first day in the e-book instructs bloggers to write an elevator pitch. A few weeks ago before I’d bought the e-book and remembering from earlier emails about the elevator pitch from Darren’s site, Problogger, I started brainstorming ideas for my pitch. But before I get into the pitch, I want to share some taglines I’ve thought of or used over the years.
My current one:
“The beauty in misguidance is acquiring the ability to pave your own path.”
This one has a lot of meaning to me as I came up with it my sophomore year of college when I first started blogging seriously. I remember sitting in my cousin’s room as she created her own blog thinking of what my tagline should be on my Blogger profile page. The phrase just came to me. It seemed to fit everything I had gone through and continued to go through as I grew from teenager to adult. The only reason why I want to change it now is because firstly, I used it on my old blog and secondly, I don’t feel misguided anymore. These days, I know what my beliefs are, and I’m more in the position of aligning my actions with them and using them to figure out the world.
My past one:
“Always waiting for the next transition.”
I used this tagline when I changed my first blog from “Her Silent Musings” to “Lauren in Waiting.” At the time, I felt like my life was a series of episodes in waiting for something to happen, like I was stuck in a never-ending transition into something more interesting than what I was doing at the time, which was work and school. I quickly outgrew that renovation as I didn’t like sticking myself to the idea of always waiting on something. It made me sound and feel passive, a horrible personality trait I try to shake myself of everyday, and the fact that I’d structured my blog around the idea of being passive just reinforced it.
Ones I posted about on Twitter:
Now, if I were making my blog about me finding my prince charming, I would totally use this one. Several people loved this tagline, and while I loved it as well, it just didn’t fit what I wanted my blog to be about.
I didn’t actually like this one at all. It felt too serious, sappy, and sentimental, and I wanted my tagline to be something more honest, yes, but also funny, because I am a generally amusing person.
I liked this one, but when I read it to Emily last night she was like, “Uh, that’s not really you. That’s more like what you wish you were and what you’re still trying to be.” Of course, I knew this as I was writing it, but a girl can dream.
What I really wanted to put was “Shit just got real,” but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be associated with a word associated with taking a crap, and while I think it’s really funny, it would be better suited for someone like, say, Nicole of Nicole is Better. I could totally see her with this tagline.
The last one with the cloud around it is the tagline I ended up going with. I mean, doesn’t it pretty much sound like me? I loved it, and when I read it to Emily and commenced to laugh out loud about it, I loved it even more. It shows my funny side while still getting across what I’m doing with this blog. I may still be stoic and serious in my posts on occasion, but I have moved on for the most part from my angst-y teenager days. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m going to be a goofball in every post. I still want to write about serious things I go through, even academic things sometimes, but I also want to convey more of how I really act and think away from the blog in real life. This involves being both silly and contemplative.
What I really need is a place that is more of an outlet for me. I started blogging to meet new people, and in doing that I formed an affinity for social media, networking, and making new friends. All of these things force you to be more compassionate as you spend a lot of time, not necessarily writing about yourself and your own interests, but reading about others and their interests. It takes patience and efficiency and understanding, three things that the world of blogging has only enhanced in me as a person.