One of the reasons many of us blog is to share our experiences and knowledge in an open environment. While doing do, it is helpful to pick a niche to cover. Unfortunately, this can lead to writer’s block as the blogger exhausts what they are comfortable discussing.

This often leads to the blogger broadening their niche. While this can be a healthy way to grow your blog and acquire expertise, it is not always something a blogger feels comfortable doing. So their blogs sit there making them feel guilty.

I would like to help assuage this guilt, by asking you as a current or future blogger to reconsider what you think of a blog.

A blog (a truncation of “weblog”) is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries.

Wikipedia

This definition from Wikipedia is accurate. It describes what a blog should look like and also makes the logical leap of comparing it to a diary. That is where I want to focus this discussion.

We start diaries or journals to keep of record of events and experiences. This perfectly matches what most blogs are about. The problem here is that no one is telling us how long we should be keeping this diary? Is it a lifelong activity? Sometimes, but even when one is a lifelong diarist, each diary, due to its limited number of pages, captures a time in a person’s life.

What if your diary had an infinite number of pages?

This can be a problem with the blog. There is a huge difference between writing a dozen posts on a subject and covering that subject for the rest of your life. The very idea is overwhelming and stops many people from even attempting to blog.

What if there was another way to look at your blog?

It needn’t be a massive diary that sits on your nightstand, demanding to be filled daily. Instead, it can be a slim sturdy volume, a Finite Blog. One that you put on the shelf ready to be read by others, but can also be pulled down and added to when you feel inspired.

This doesn’t mean that your Finite Blog cannot grow. Some people have a boundless ability to write on a subject and have chosen a subject that is a wellspring of possibility.

What if this isn’t you?

That is okay. Just put your Finite Blog up on the shelf and wait for inspiration to find you. Doing this should free your mind and you might find that you want to cover other topics. In that case, why not start another Finite Blog? Or how about a Finite Podcast or Video Series?

Technology has made it possible for us to reach most of the world. We cannot let our perception of a format prevent us from getting out there. So if you are feeling overwhelmed on your existing blog or are worried that you will run out of things to discuss on an idea you have. Don’t.

Instead, allow yourself the freedom to limit the scope of your project and get out their and blog.