She Should Switch to DeCaf

I have recently come across a blog written by a New Yorker, more specifically from Brooklyn, who moved to Connecticut. The description of this blog in a New York Times article leads the reader to believe that this is a blog about her transition from city life to suburban life. But once you get to the site and begin reading her posts, it seems more like one lady's random rambling about her life.

From the handful of postings of hers that I have read, there seemed to be no mention of her life in the suburbs, nor her life in the city. This blog seems to be an amalgamation of many different subjects. She mentions family problems, relationship issues, movie and television show critiques, and even recipes.

There are some things I would recommend changing if she was ever looking to attract new readers. When I first started reading her blog I was very confused. Posts are structured in such a way that she seems to be writing to people who have always read her blog. When a new reader comes in, it is confusing. She refers to her husband as SO, and just expects the reader to know that. It took me reading about 5 or 6 postings before I figured out who SO really was.

This issue is something I think all blog writers should be conscious of when posting. Should they write each post as if their audience was a new reader? Or should they basically isolate any new reader and write only for their main following? I do know that "caffeine girl" seriously turned me off to reading her postings on a regular basis; because I think it will be annoying to have to go back and read her stuff from the beginning just so I will completely understand who I am reading about.

Reading this specific blog did make me realize something. This form of writing can be extremely useful in certain instances. The writer had mentioned the topic of a bone marrow donation in one of her postings. This post had me thinking about all the patients out there in need of a bone marrow donation and what this medium of blogging can bring to the situation. People can post about the needing of a donation or even use a blog as an outlet to write about their situation. A web log can be a greater form of therapy than any person ever imagined. Not only is it free, a person may be more open to a computer screen, than to a doctor who is sitting right in front of them. All-in-all this site wasn't all that terrible.

The best part was I learned how the make the "Perfect Bellini." Need I say more?