I find this prompt interesting. How, indeed, do we know what people want to read? I’ve started several posts lately that I’ve ended up deleting because I’ve found that what I’ve written doesn’t even really interest me. Generally speaking, that’s my guide–if it interests me, I trust it will interest other people.
Okay, not everything I’ve written will generate an enthusiastic response from all my followers. I know that. Not long ago Word Press started a feature where they show what you published on this date in years past. I have to laugh at some of those. For example, nine years ago today I wrote about the shocking cost of some toothbrush holders. Turns out you can spend hundreds of dollars on these things, and seriously, that’s ridiculous to me. You wouldn’t think there’s enough to that topic to generate a whole blog post, but I did, and based on the number of comments, it hit a nerve. But some of my past posts have gotten fewer comments, and I can only assume they didn’t interest people as much.
I recently tried writing a blog post on how frustrating it is to buy something that says “standard size” only to discover, once I got home, that there’s nothing standard about it. But honest to God, every time I approached the topic, I struggled with the post and found it bored even me. So I trashed it.
Most of my past blog posts have been about something a little–or a lot–deeper than the price of a toothbrush holder or the size of a pillow. When I started this blog, I was going through a difficult time in my life, and I found that writing helped. Not just writing about what I was going through, but about lessons I’d learned in my life. I published two to three posts a week, and most of them seemed to be well received.
I’ve been working on a novel, and nearly all of the people in my writing group seem to like it. There’s one woman, however, who clearly doesn’t see its value. While most of us in the group hide our distaste for various genres, she seems to find it difficult to do so with my novel. So I take her comments with a grain of salt. I don’t really care for her novel, either, but I do see its value and I express that in my critiques.
I sometimes wonder how my favorite authors discovered how audiences will respond to what they write. How did they know this story or that would strike a chord? Is it the same as a blog post–if it interests me, it will interest others?
It’s both an easy and a complex question to answer.
Image Credits: Header © Bulgakova Kristina; Pillow © adobe king; Typewriter © Maryna; all–stock.adobe.com
