To conform or not to conform,” That is the question …

This is something that I’ve thought long and hard about, and believe that I have finally come to a decision. Well, maybe.

If like me, you read articles on how to be a better blogger, most tend have a common theme in saying that as a writer you need “stay focussed” for your audience.

In general, this here Lonetester HQ blog, is a genealogy blog. Of the 250 or so blog posts I’ve written so far, you’ll find that I write about my family history and the areas my family came from. You’ll occasionally find book reviews. And you’ll also find posts of links that I find useful, and some beautiful quotes and other genealogy funnies. I’ve taken part in geneamemes and blog challenges, and I write about genie events that I’ve been to …  and so on. They are all genealogy-related, but there is a whole eclectic mix of posts on my blog, and each one has brought people to my blog.

Now, I have wondered about being “more focussed” and just putting all my research, family history and local history type posts on one blog, with my link posts and genie-funnies on another and so on. But contrary what others might say, I have decided to ‘not conform’. Those who know me personally wouldn’t be surprised, as they’d know that don’t tend to follow rules anyway (but that’s another story)!

So I’ve come to the conclusion that there are different levels of focussed-ness (roll with me here, I know it’s not a not a real word, but it works!).

There’s 1000s of genealogy blogs out there. If you’re not aware of them just check Thomas MacEntee’s GeneaBloggers wesbite, it’ll blow you away.

Focussed Genealogy Blogs
Here’s some examples of very “focussed” genealogy blogs that I totally love! And they work because of their focussed-ness.
Clue Wagon Kerry manages to always write useful topics posts, but adds in a whole lot of humour
Geneapalooza I’m sure most of you have read and avidly follow this one, but if not do yourself a favour and follow this Esto’s genealogy cartoon!
British GENES Chris keeps readers up to date with the latest genealogy news from the British Isles.
Memorabilia House I’m allowed to mention this one aren’t I? This is my own little “online museum” blog in which I record the meaning and stories of family heirlooms.

Non-Focussed Genealogy Blogs
And here’s some examples of “non-conforming” or “non-focussed” ones that also work extremely well.
Geniaus Jill writes about anything genealogy related: events, products, tech tools, finds in her family and so on.
The Legal Genealogist Judy’s shares with readers legal answers to genealogy and etchics-related queries, as well as sharing with readers finds on her family history.
Geneamusings – Randy shares tips on genealogy software, findings on various websites, not to mention his famous Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (SNGF) posts with readers.

So I’ve come to the conclusion that my genealogy blog is just that. It’s still genealogy-related, and I’m happy with it being the mix that it is. Maybe in time I’ll change, and split them up – but for now LonetesterHQ is my little eclectic mix of genealogy life and thoughts.

So there you go, that’s my thought for the day.  What kind of blog do you have? And what kind of blogs do you like?

Monday last week was a crazy (weird crazy) day. It started off with a call from a guy about some heirlooms another person discovered, and I’ve been traced as being the “nearest relative who is interested in them (and who won’t sell them off)” – but all of that is a story in itself, so I’ll save all of that for another day. But as any genienut knows heirlooms are awesome, so as you can imagine I was on a bit of a high, and yes, felt like dancing.

Then I got the mail at work, and I finally got my copy of Inside History Magazine’s September/October 2014 Issue (No. 24). I’m still a paper copy magazine type gal so had to wait impatiently for Australia Post to deliver it. While I’m into some techy-stuff, magazines and books, the old school paper-ones do it for me. Anyway while I’d been waiting for my copy to

As part of my job I get to do a lot of reading, which for me includes reading blog posts. One blog that I follow, and everyone should too, is Jill Ball’s GeniAus blog.  She keeps her readers up to date on all-sorts of genealogy-related topics. On a recent post titled Positive Reinforcement, she says how someone commented about her Google Hangouts on Air giving some some wonderfully positive feedback, which has spurred her on, or in her words “given me the encouragement to persevere”.

This reminded me of a comment that a reader of my blog sent to me last night. She writes …

How did you get into blogging? It is an interesting question, and one that I do get asked from time-to-time. So today I thought I’d write the story down publicly.

Blogging was something that I never wanted to get into … yes, I know, I know … says she who is now rather addicted to it. But it is true. It was decided (though not by me) that my work needed a blog, and I was given the task of being the writer for it. I did start off very tentative wondering what to even write about, and what would be useful to let people know about, as well as figuring I didn’t have any interesting news to tell people …