How personal should your blog be? I’m a horrendous over-sharer so this is something I’ve wrestled with with during my blog writing life. I’m tempted to post acres of private detail – but should I? Is it relevant? Is it a legitimate move? Will it swamp an otherwise decent blog with appalling drivel? As ever – it depends.

What’s Your Brand

It’s a bit icky to think of yourself as a brand. It’s one short step away from thinking of yourself as a product, and then it’s all up for sale. But if you are publishing anything online, then you are propagating a view of yourself. There is a facet of your life or work that you want to turn to the world. You might have a brand.

It’s a useful way to think of your work. What are you trying to say? What are you hoping to achieve or influence? What is your blog’s purpose? If you know the answers, then you’ll have a good idea of what, if any, personal information you should be sharing.

What’s Your Blog

The nature of your blog will dictate how much information you want to share. Some blogs will be personal no-go zones and others will be an over-sharer’s paradise.

Professional

Ask yourself would you be happy for shared personal information to be read back at you during an interview. If the answer is no then don’t publish it. Generally the less personal information the better. Excessive personal information could be a sign that you’ve run out of ideas. On CodeBuckets I aimed to have less than ten percent personal posts, and even then they were mostly linked to the blog’s purpose – coding. 

A little sprinkle of personal information at most for these types of blogs.

Hobbist

Your job (probably) doesn’t depend on your hobby, but unless the personal information has a direct bearing on your blog’s topic, don’t bother. Adding personal information will just weaken it. As above – just a sprinkle.

Humour

This could be quite personal. If your private life is a source of constant amusement and you don’t mind sharing then put it up. If you are mired in tragic circumstances then a lightly humorous blog probably isn’t the best place to air your personal concerns. Depends on context.

Writers

An interesting one. You are the writer and you are the brand. So, is it game-on as far as unrestricted access to your personal life goes? Maybe not. If you are a horror writer then sharing your love of your pet dog isn’t hugely relevant. Conversely sharing details of a particularly horrific medical procedure you went through as a child might be totally in your lane. Stephen King did that in his brilliant book On Writing, and I still wince when I think about it – and not only do I wince, I’m reminded what an excellent horror writer he is.

The amount and type of personal information very much depends on what aspect of yourself you are trying to promote, which leads us on to…

What’s Your Share

If you are going to share personal details, then not all those details are born equal. Generally politics and religion are out and the latest film you liked are in – but it does depend on the topic of the blog itself. But everything being equal here’s a rough guide.

Out of bounds

Stay away from religion and politics, unless your blog is specifically about those subjects. Posting from one side of the political divide is the quickest way to alienate half your readership, and depending how weird your current religion is, blogging about your spiritual journey might alienate a whole lot more.

On the edge

Your family might be an bottomless pool of funny anecdotes, but if you blog about it, then that’s an invasion of their privacy. You might not have much of a family left after your fifty-two part series on how crazy your sister is. Best to check with your crazy sister before you do that. 

Your medical issues are another on the edge topic. Revolting details of your bodily fluids are probably out for all but the most hardcore of horror writers. On the other hand, a summary of your five year journey in counselling may be very interesting to a particular kind of reader. Steady though – your mental health journey could be desperately dull, like describing your dreams minus the colourful fantastical elements. Be careful with this.

Safe as houses

Hobbies, sporting achievements, and favourite books are all pretty safe topics for the personally inclined blogger. They might not be very interesting, but at least they are unlikely to be offensive, unless your favourite book is Mein Kampf. Keep that one under wraps.

How Personal Should This Blog Be?

As a worked example and because I’m obsessed with it – how personal should timothypatrickbrown.com be?

The Brand

An emerging (I hope) writer of sweet and slightly offbeat romantic fiction.

The Blog

Somewhere between hobby and professional. The aim is to

• Document my writer’s progress from my first novel until I give up, or die.
• Promote myself as a writer.
• Have another channel to practice my writing craft.

The Personal

I’m happy to share personal details but they’ve got to support the brand (sorry marketing haters – that’s the reality).

Out of bounds

• Politics – I’ve got my political viewpoint but it’s not a big part of who I am and it’s totally irrelevant. Steer clear.
• Science Fiction – I’ve a love of old science fiction but it’s completely off topic. That could change if I start to delve into romantic science fiction or decide that it does support the offbeat part of the brand.

On the edge

• Family – my family are a big part of my life and I like to mention my wife and daughter in passing. But out of respect for their privacy, it should be no more than that. The exception is my father. We have a shared love of books, and I’ve already posted about our book club of two. I probably shouldn’t have posted a picture of him without asking though. But I have. Sorry Dad.
• Religion – a weird one. Generally this should be completely out of bounds. I’ve been a Buddhist for about twenty years but that’s irrelevant and boring to most people. However, I do have a regular Buddhist meditation practice, and Softening is a book about a meditation class, so that’s hugely on-topic. I’m aiming to steer clear of Buddhism, while blogging about my meditation practice and meditation generally.
• Work – I like my day job, but it’s not massively relevant. Balanced against that, Perry’s working life is central in Softening. I don’t think I’ll post about my work, but it would probably be OK to do so.

Safe as Houses

• Medical – neurodiversity is a significant theme in Softening and will be central in the next book I’m planning. So expect posts about ADHD, ASD, RSD and the variety of medication that I’ve tried. Turbo-charged oversharing I’m afraid. Nothing else medical though. All my others ailments can stay under wraps.
• Amusing events and bizarre happenings – anything quirky or slightly unusual that I get up to is fair game. The Boxing Day dip was a good example, and I’ve a yearning to play Dungeons and Dragons which could be surprisingly on topic with some of the future books I have planned.

Rules of Thumb

So, before your next super personal post, ask yourself

• Is it something I’m happy for everyone to know – including my partner, my children and the person interviewing me for a job I really want
• Is it on-topic / on-brand
• Is it acceptable to my readership – or will it offend them terribly

And if the piece is also something that people might want to read then that’s a bonus – post it!

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash