Monday, May 30, 2011

Guest Post: The Big Blog Theory


Hello, wonderful people.

Today, I am going to have another guest post from an awesome blogger. I came across his blog abut a month ago. I was just doing my afternoon bloghop, just surfing the net, searching for some interesting blogs to read. And then, viola. I stumbled upon this great blog. To be honest, his blog's minimalistic design got my attention first. And I was a little bit hesitant to read his posts. Well, he's a seventeen-year old kid.. I expected his posts to be about the girls he adore, the band he likes, the instrument he plays.. stuff like that. I was filled with prejudice. Tsk. Boo me! Well, I began reading his blogs. Did a little back-reading, too. And boy, was I wrong.

His posts are very honest and I'd bet he's not afraid if someone disagrees with him. I admire that. Right there and then, I sent him an email, asking if I could have one of his posts featured in my blog. Lucky me, he said yes. There's this one post that I really like. It is quite long.. wordy. It answers the most basic questions in blogging - What is your blog about? Why do you blog? What do you get out of blogging?

I'd say that you are all excited as I am, to read my guest post for today. So I won't dilly-dally. My guest blogger is Oliver and here is one of his amazing posts.

What is your blog about?

Why is it so hard for me to answer that question? Whenever I tell people that I have a blog and they ask me what it is about and I tell them, “Well… it’s about me,” I see the shine in their faces perish, looking at all as though they don’t want to be friends with me anymore, as if I’ve just told them I’m a die-hard Justin Bieber fan. Let me think about this right now. What is Overville about? The description I tell people may sound rather uninteresting compared to if I tell them, “Oh it contains my poetry. Oh I talk about movies. Oh I talk about my travels.” Unfortunately for me, I don’t put in poetry in this blog. Neither do I talk about movies because I basically hate every movie I’ve watched, with a few exceptions of course, and nor do I mainly talk about my travels since the only travel I do right now is going to the university. I created this blog to share thoughts, experiences, stories, opinions and everything, but whatever I blog about, it must have something to do with me.

The vagueness of my description has a problem. The “About Me” label doesn’t appeal to audiences. Everyone’s gonna be like, “Oh we’re just gonna keep hearing stuff about what happens to this kid’s day in school.” “Oh we’re just gonna keep hearing how much this kid likes this kind of music, this kind of girl, this kind of food, whatever.” I know a lot of people get that kind of impression when I say this blog is about me, but I know myself that this blog I created isn’t solely about me, because if it were, this blog would be fairly useless. Why post up stuff for other people to read if you just keep talking about yourself and nothing but your life at all?

I try to write about experiences that may interest people and about experiences other people could somehow relate to, and by doing this, the “About Me” label becomes less appropriate and even less appalling. It doesn’t become less generic, but the things us bloggers write about surely can be related to one another and that’s what brings about readership, and the things that set your blog apart from the million other blogs out there may keep your readers coming back yet the lack of concrete division from yourself to others wouldn’t hurt you really much as long as you keep writing with your heart and, more importantly, for your readers. I don’t like hearing people say, “I like this blog because it’s not a typical blog.” I don’t even know what a typical blog is. Is it a blog that talks about really personal things? Is it the kind of blog that is 90% composed of pictures of people who 95% of the population doesn’t care about? Is it the kind of blog where people pretend they’re bloggers by posting pictures they “re-blog” from another quasi-blog owned by another quasi-blogger; a blog that is barely even filled by words and sentences?

The blog is very random. It is about anything. Everyone can do whatever they want to do with what they spend some hours with that they like to claim as a blog. We write about things that are about our lives. We write about our most precious experiences. We write about things we feel so much emotion towards. We write about things we like, we hate, we fear, we enjoy. We write about things we have a strong opinion about. We write about basically everything.

With what I’ve said thus far, I can now say that the “About Me” label should not exist at all. This blog is about lots of things. The “About Me” label doesn’t fit any blogger unless you truly just write about things that happen to you everyday. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to talk about your everyday life, but it’s important to remember that we publish our blogs for other people to read. We just share what needs to be shared. It is important to understand that writing about ourselves will never be as good if we don’t write it for the readers.

We write with our hearts. We share our most treasured experiences.

My blog has gone to a transition from being very opinionated to being kinda personal. I created this blog because I left my literary blog. I created this blog during the election period on the last week of May when I had lots of opinions to state. From then on, I wrote opinions regarding some current issues and my favorite show which was then airing its twentieth season. When school started, I began to write about things school-related. I also then started to blog about very random things that just like, popped into my mind like it ignited something inside my head that I just had to write about it right away.

The first semester is over and now I just can think of lots of things to write about in the future. Because I love my readers, my dear friends in the blogosphere, I’m gonna do my best in writing blog posts. I know people have lots of things to say like I do and the blog is a good medium to get our messages across and share thoughts and stories to everyone. I think it’s wrong for anyone to judge a blog as being generic and typical and about nothing but somebody’s life just because it falls under the category “Personal.” Because you know what, those blogs that are listed under that just don’t have a concrete single description of what it is about because it’s so awesome it can be classified under so many things. Blogs are fun to read because they share insights and experiences, and I might have said that a ton of times already, but well, it’s true.

True bloggers write with their hearts and for their readers. I’m lucky to have come across a bunch of fantastic blogs, by brilliant people, which could’ve been classified as personal or generic by some, but to me, they’re simply about their lives and simply about their precious thoughts, memories and experiences… and they’re, to me, all… simply amazing.

Blog on, everyone! The reason I like to blog because I get to read awesome stuff from you, and well, I just want to return the favor, and hey I hope I successfully do!

kudos to you, my blogger friend.
oliver.

We have our own reasons why we blog. We express, we share, we entertain, we teach, we earn, we reach out, we inform, we inspire.

As for me, I write because I want to share what I can share to the world. It makes me feel good about myself. That with every piece of me that I share, I get to know myself a little bit better. That with every experience I share, there's someone out there who could relate to what I'm going through. That with every post I make, I'm able to touch others and that they also learn something from me. That with every article I write, I'd get the chance to read some amazing posts from other bloggers, too. Blogging provides an outlet for self-expression. And I blog, not just for myself, but also for the people who read my posts.

Why do we blog?

As I've said, we all have our own personal reasons why we do. But as my guest blogger had written down, "We write with our hearts. We share our most treasured experiences. And we publish our blogs for other people to read." I couldn't have said it any better myself.

The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. Because I have the greatest respect for the reader. - E. B. White

You don’t write because you want to say something; you write because you’ve got something to say. - F. Scott Fitzgerald


About the Blogger.

"I am Oliver. I am a seventeen-year old student, a chemistry major, a writer, a Survivor fanatic, a music lover, a nature lover, a blogger and a free spirit. I am happy. I love having fun. I often like to believe I don't care. I just want to enjoy life!" - Oliver

Subscribe to his blog and get cool new Overville blog posts delivered straight to your home. You could also send him emails at overville@ymail.com. Do visit his blog OVERVILLE and read his amazing posts.



28 comments:

  1. astig naman.. sana ma feature ako sa blog mo.. hahaha

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  2. Subukan kpng dalawin yan. Mukhang same reason din ng kaunti kami kung bakit ako nagboblog.

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  3. hi oliver! pareho kami ng reasons bkit din ako nagblog..

    para ibahagi sa lahat ang mundo ko at e-share mga ang mga nilalaman ng utak ko.. hehe!

    gud aftrnun miss lEAH..♥

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  4. My first time to visit your blog. Halos pareho pala yung theme ng blog natin, mostly about life experiences. Pati yung ibang words na ginamit to design your site. I'm re-designing my site. May bagong theme kasi ang WP :p

    I like your idea of featuring guest bloggers. I'll try to visit Overville one of these days. :)

    Cheers,
    Enjoy

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  5. I love the new template especially the header pics :P

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  6. grabe at a very young age, may maipagmamalaki na kagad itong si oliver sa larangan ng pagsusulat.

    hayaan nyang mapa woah! mga tao sa paligid nya,be proud. :)

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  7. i think that is exactly the very essence of blogging. it's a great place where we can share our experiences, thoughts, passions, and other stuff that we value. sometimes, consciously or not, blogging allows us to think and reflect. and more importantly, it's also a great way to meet and make new friends.

    kudos to oliver! keep blogging! ^_^

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  8. I write what's inside my heart..i write not to please others....

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  9. astig! ang mga blogger na katulad ni Oliver ang dapat ginagawang ehemplo ng mga nagsisimula palang sa larangang ito

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  10. it's true, you write with your heart !

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  11. nice post. galing naman ng guest mo..

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  12. Nakaka-inspire naman para sa tulad kong 17 year old teen..Itayo mo Bandera natin at let us show them that us teens can also blog and rock the industry :)

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  14. YAY!!! I'm glad to guest post. Leah, thanks for the awesome commentaries! And those White and Fitzgerald references are perfectly fitting. You have made my post like, a thousand times better! Cool!!! Thanks a lot for cross-posting this. =]

    You know, I have always wondered how the heck you came across my blog. Oh, the beauty of the internet. . . =]

    I'm glad you got interested in my blog. And just a little footnote, since I posted that on October last year, I was just 16 when I wrote that. But that's only because I turned 17 on November. LOL. XD Oh, never mind, that was unnecessary. LOL.

    Thanks again, Leah. =]

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  15. weee... sana ako din mafeature.. hehehe

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  16. This is an excellent post by Oilver!
    Congrats dude.
    I shall pay a visit to your blog soon :).
    Keep bloggin'

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  17. Oliver sounds awesome possum.

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  18. ako? nagsusulat ako para sa sarili ko! yun lang. im selfish pagdating sa pagsusulat.

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  19. Those are noble reasons for blogging and I love your blog too. I find it sincere and your writing style is simple, but soothing.

    I, on the other hand, am a sellout. I write what people want to read, which means I do weird things and blog about it.

    Oh, well.

    Keep up the good work!

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  20. we share the same sentiments ate leah :)

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  21. ang galing naman ng batang ito! he has good points actually! tinamaan yata ako sa ibang points e... i hope to follow his example. thank you leah for dropping by! have a happy week ahead.

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  22. Galing naman nya mas matured pa siya sakin mag isip kahit bumaha ng dugo habang binabasa ko imbaness!

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  23. same reasons i have when i started blogging last year..but right now, i'm kind of losing track..

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  24. nice read. Feeling ko ang talino ko nung binasa ko to. :)

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  25. Wow. Same thing here! I am a new blogger and till now hindi ko pa alam kung ano talaga ang magiging focus ng content ko.

    Actually inopen ko yung blog ko kasi I really wanna share a lot of things lately. I want to share my bloody experience this school year, pero other than that, narinig ko din kasi na may pera sa blogging.Pero what I want is for people to read my content kasi alam ko na may maishashare ako.

    Cheers! This post gave me a lot of inspiration. :)

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  26. Wow. Same thing here! I am a new blogger and till now hindi ko pa alam kung ano talaga ang magiging focus ng content ko.

    Actually inopen ko yung blog ko kasi I really wanna share a lot of things lately. I want to share my bloody experience this school year, pero other than that, narinig ko din kasi na may pera sa blogging.Pero what I want is for people to read my content kasi alam ko na may maishashare ako.

    Cheers! This post gave me a lot of inspiration. :)

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