On (Lack of) Blog Type

"What do you like to do in your free time?"

This is the second most common question I get asked when meeting with new people. (The first being "What's your major?" - though now that I've graduated college I expect that to change.) My answer is always the same:

"I like to read and write."

"What do you write?" is usually the question that follows.

"Oh, you know," I'll say, "whatever. Short stories. Long stories. I like to blog."

"What type of blog?"

This is the question that always throws me. Why do I need to have a blog type? Does this blog even have a type? I would say it doesn't, and that's just how I like it.

I once tried to explain this concept to a well-meaning coworker. This isn't a fashion blog or a history blog or a travel blog (all blog types I've tried and failed at in the past). It's kind of just... whatever I feel like writing.

I've tried blogs that stay within one topic in the past and do you know what happens? I get bored of them. I can't hammer myself into a tiny hole for too long. It gets boring and exhausting. If I try to write only about history, what happens when I want to do an entry about aliens? About this cool restaurant I tried? About a short story I wrote?

"Ah," she replied. "A lifestyle blog."

I don't think that's entirely accurate, either. When I think of lifestyle blogs, I think of those typical white "bohemian" girl blogs where they post instagram-worthy shots of yoga positions and Starbucks drinks and manicures and write about how Coachella was just so inspiring you guys. Maybe that's not entirely fair but it's what I think of.

I don't think this blog is that. Or else where do my entries that aren't about my life fit in?

See, I don't think this blog needs a label. Moreover, I don't want one. I kind of like having a blog that defies labels. It's freeing.

If that's what my young coworker wants to call this blog, I won't stop her. Some entries do fit into that box. Not all of them. But some.

However, to me, this is just my blog. Not a lifestyle blog or a travel blog or a history blog. Just my blog. And that's enough.

-Nym-