A very interesting post. Thanks for sharing, Tim!

This is something I've struggled with in trying to develop a focus for my blog.

Right now, I am using my blog like a free website. It's an economical way to give my writer-name a place on the web. It comes up in searches for my pen name, and it's a unified site I can direct people to. It's a portfolio. I have a bio and a list of my credits, and the posts of the site make up a "gallery" that I update once a week.

Originally my intention was to make all the posts excerpts from my writing. It was a way to give people examples of my work, as well as a way to self-publish short pieces. That's a unique use of a blog.

I've had at least one friend tell me that my blog fits a niche that she loves, but lately I've noticed that my more "interactive" posts get more comments. By that I mean posts where I talk about something (6-word stories, Wordles), give my examples, and then invite everyone else to share their work. These are the kind of posts that give benefit to the reader and put the focus more on them, like this article talks about. Clearly, this kind of post is a better way to generate user interaction and, ultimately, traffic to my site.

However, it feels odd every time I post one of these more casual, interactive posts because they deviate from my original design for the blog. For various reasons, I don't do "chatty" personal blogs (that's what Twitter is for), but I'd be willing to do more "writing theory" style posts if they would be a good way to promote my writing while helping others and exercising my talents. But the question is - do I want my blog to go that direction, or would it be better to start a second blog to keep the focuses separate?

I think KathrineRoid has a blog that's a lot like what we're talking about here. It's story prompts, reviews, and other "tools for writers" content.

@Philli: A lot can be accomplished with Blogger XML wizardry Personally, I'm sort of going the route Tim suggested with my soon-to-come personal site in that I will be sorting things out into writing excerpts, writing tips, faith/Christianity, web design, and then more personal stuff Tags are very powerful (I think they're called categories in Blogger, actually).