What do you do?
I'm a writer.
What do you write?
Anything that pays
(Me at an offline networking event)
This is literally how I answer the everyday, "how do you make your money question." Normally, the conversation stops there, but last weekend, it didn't.
Last weekend I was subjected to an hour-long discourse on why I should pick a niche. I was schooled on why I would not be successful if I didn't write about something I was passionate about. I would fail if I didn't focus on exposing the truth.
Didn't I care??
Didn't I want justice?
You have a gift! You must use it!!
But no one loves a journalist.
I used to have that passion. Back when life didn't involve caring for mini-humans, or hoping I'll be able to stand up in the morning, or that the lights were on.
I had plenty of time to run around searching for a story. I joined AmeriCorps. I wrote for newspapers. I made a difference! Then I got a job, and after 10 years of brain-numbing corporate protocol, I lost my will to give a fuck --
about everyone else
...because they made it very clear that they did not give a fuck about me.
Disgruntled? No. Realistic.
Sure, having a niche would make it more likely for people to follow me. I would become an expert that they could turn to for advice and such. I could milk that expertise into financial security. I could significantly change my life, if I simply focused on one thing.
But this is all based on the concept that I would like to further society with my expert knowledge. Perhaps I'd simply like to further myself? Again, not disgruntled.
So I am not going to focus my writing around a single topic simply because it will provide data for some other interest to profit off of. I am simply not concerned about everyone else anymore. I am concerned about me, and I am willing to share myself (not my research) with whomever would like to listen.
And... I happen to have an interesting enough life to do so.
I blog about me, because that is what I know.
Viva la Blogger!