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Finding a Topic to Blog About

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I really want to start up a new blog. A focused blog. A blog about something I know about, something I have a passion for, something that can provide real value to those who have the same passion as me.

So whats the big hold up, why have I not started this blog? Well the real reason is I’m not totally sure what my real passion is. And if I think I know what my passion is, why do I not have any results to back it up.

For example, I thought, “Hey, I’ll start a blog all about writing. Sole purpose of the blog is writing.” Okay, I think this is one of my passions. But where is my results to back up anything I say. I don’t have a published book. I haven’t actually worked on a book in a long time. I have my SQ Serial as my only real project, and it is nothing meant to be professional. More of a writing exercise for myself and a good way to get some awesome memories written down.

So starting a blog about writing really isn’t a good idea until I have backup that I know what I’m talking about. So then what. I was thinking, how about a blog about playing the fiddle. I always thought that is something I really like to do.

But I don’t even have a fiddle near my right now. Mine is back home across the country. I’m rusty. I don’t have the skill I once did and I would have to do a lot of practicing. So I have no backup results, nothing to prove I know what I’m talking about in the world of fiddle music.

Lets move on, any other ideas. I was thinking hey, I could start a blog about video games. But to tell you the truth, I don’t play video games a lot. Definitely not enough to compete with all the other avid gamers out there. I once again do not have the backup skills needed to prove I know what I’m talking about.

Where are my skills. I know I have writing skills, just no work to backup the skills I have accept this blog, and some stories in files on my hard drive. I’m currently taking a military school course to become a vehicle technician. But that is not my passion. I mean I think eventually it may become a passion to work on vehicles. I’m starting to like what I learn and could see how I may want to actually work on vehicles outside of the workshop. But right now, once again, no back up results.

I was thinking about electronics. Write a blog about electronics, reviewing them, recommending brands. But I have no passion for that. It would be a quick project to generate some money. I wouldn’t have the heart and therefore would be half assing my work. People would see this, and I believe I would not succeed.

So what can I do? What is something I could start a blog about and really enjoy writing about on a regular basis. This blog is the only blog I actually write on regularly. I like writing on it. But this blog has no focus. It’s a personal outlet for myself that people find interesting. I have an average of 4 visitors a day. On this blog I really don’t care if I have results to back up what I say. I say whatever I want on here, and I really don’t care if people like what I say or not.

But on a blog where my focus is talking about something I enjoy, and providing useful information for people, I need proof that I know what I’m talking about. If I have proof, people will listen to what I have to say. If they like it, they will tell others about it. As a result I will gain more and more traffic. This traffic I can monetize and finally achieve my dream of being self employed with freedom to do what I want.

But I still need to find that topic I feel comfortable writing about. I also can’t be to controversial in my topics either because of my military occupation. If I write things I shouldn’t somebody of higher rank could see it, and then I’ll be in shit.

So what should I write about. I have thought of some broad topics which I can then maybe go a little bit deeper into. These are topics I have experience in. I just need to find out what I can blog about in them, and if I have the proof to back up what I want to write about.

They are:

Religion
Philosophies
Farming
Military
Outdoors
Health and Fitness
Quitting Smoking
Mechanics
Fiddle
Internet Marketing
Pet Care
Building Computers
Writing
Personal Development
Learning Another Language-Project Where People Follow Me As I Learn.

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As I was writing, the last topic on my list really hit me as a great idea. I went to the warriorforum to run the idea by the people there. I thought my post could be really helpful to this article.

Here it is:
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I’ve been having a real problem trying to think of a topic to blog about. I want to start up a blog and have a real passion to write about the topic I choose. There are millions of things I could write about, but If I didn’t want to write about it, the process will really not motivate me to achieve my dream as an internet marketer.

My problem is really trying to find something I’m interested in, and having proof that I know what I’m talking about when I write about it. I’m a younger person, I do have skills, but I’ve grown up learning things kinda forced on me as work required. I grew up on a farm. I was taught that we must work. So I learned skills that let me work, but nothing I was really passionate about. I have always wanted to learn german. I used to know enough to speak with friends as I grew up, but it’s been a while since I have used it and have almost all but forgot it.

So check out this idea, it might be a solution to my problem. Say I start a blog that is all about me learning how to speak german. as I learn the language, I teach my readers what I’m learning. So they learn and get value from my blog. This way I actually don’t need to have proof that I know what I’m talking about, because obviously my readers know I’m learning myself.

Now to monetize, I can use adsense, amazon to promote books about how to speak german, and donations.

Now I also need to learn to speak Quebec french because being in the Canadian Military it will be something I eventually have to learn if I want to rank up faster. So I could do german or french.

But how does this sound. It might also help any of you out there who are having the same problem as me. You don’t really have any skills you are passionate to write about. So why not pick a skill you have always wanted to learn, and write about it as you learn it, providing value that you can monetize.

Let me know what you guys think?

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So the topics I have mentioned are those that I believe I can write about. The obstacle is having proof that I know what I’m talking about. I have the knowledge to write it, just not the results of actually using the knowledge. And that is what people want to see before they will listen to what you have say.

But the idea of letting readers follow your progress in developing a skill they themselves are interested in, may be a great idea. I’ll explore the idea more and see what results others have received following the same method.

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Written by Cali

April 11th, 2010 at 10:48 pm

The Value Of A Story

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What is the value of a story? How can you measure it’s worth? Maybe not it’s worth in money, but it’s worth measured by the impact it has on the reader.

I have realized that my stories don’t have much worth. They are shallow. I think the messages in my stories are almost unattainable. My stories are interesting for a younger audience who seek to find an adventure. I suppose they are worth something to younger people. People that haven’t quite matured and are fascinated by the adventures of a protagonist. Whether that be surviving battles, riding eagles, spying on orcs, or surviving harsh climates.
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The Creation Of World Heroes

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My buddy Gerry Sigurdson and I pulled out of the Canex here on base. Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” softly played through my car speakers.

“Now that is one man I would like to meet,” I said. “More so then any other musician out there, I want to shake the hand of Johnny Cash.”

We talked a bit more. I said, “he is a real hero.”

“He is,” Gerry confirmed.

“We don’t have any more like him. I don’t know any more real musical heroes like Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley.”

“You mean like any other musicians that touched so many people all over the world like Cash and Elvis?” Gerry asked.

I stopped at a red light, before turning right. “Ya, exactly like that. It seems like the chance for us to ever have heroes like that are gone. Music hasn’t really changed in the last twenty odd years except for some technical advances. Oh, there is The Beatles too.”

“True, true,” Gerry said.

We continued talking about musical heroes, then I asked, “What happened to the heroes of today? It seems like we haven’t had a hero in a long time.”

We talked about that question some more. After much discussion we came to the conclusion that Hero’s are created when a great change is in the making. When new areas in land, thought, society, or any other element are pioneered.

Think about it. When Europe went through great changes, and society, and new countries where conquered and pioneered, we end up with heroes. King Arthur was created when he pioneered the idea of just ruling and freedom of men. Richard the Lion Heart became a hero to Europeans during the crusades. Caesar became a hero to the roman people during his great conquests and expansion of the Roman Empire. Robin Hood became famous as he pioneered the rebellion against unfair leadership- whether he did this in a good or bad way remains debatable, but he has made it to today’s story books.

The idea of a hero doesn’t mean the hero is necessarily a good person. It means the hero has made it into the stories that are passed on from person to person. It lets us to wonder more about who they are. We research them, we want to know more about them. King Arthur was thought to be a man who wielded a magical sword and had a real wizard named Merlin who taught him how to be a good king. He pulled his sword from a stone, or retrieved it from a lady in the water.

We all know now that is far from the truth. He was just a good man, but his deeds led people to widely exaggerate the stories until we have what we do today.

Lets look to more recent days. When the American West was being pioneered, we get heroes like the bandits Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Butch Cassidy, and Sundance Kid. These famous bandits are the heroes in many western stories. Why? They weren’t good people.

They were bandits, they took advantage of a lawless society while the United States was in development. But they came to be heroes during a time of pioneering. They pioneered the bandit society of the time. From them, many others rose, but they didn’t reach the lime light, as the original notorious bandits had already stole it.

American West crime had been pioneered but later during 1930′s 40′s and 50′s crime once again was pioneered and from that rose Al Capone, John Gotti, Lucky Luciano, and Frank Costello. Since then, though, crime has not really evolved in theory, but rather in technical means.

From the new land that needed discovering, and frontiers to conquest, we get heroes like Paul Bunyan, Daniel Boon, and Davy Crockett. All these men have stories told about them that are greatly exaggerated, but none the less, these where real people who helped conquer the frontier, and pioneered their way to becoming heroes for the rest of our species existence.

When entertainment was pioneered during the history of man, we recognize heroes such as William Shakespeare, Buffalo Bill, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas. Other musical heroes that will never be forgotten are Mozart, Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus. Famous writers such as Charles Dickens, Hans Christian Andersen, J.R.R. Tolkien will forever be in the hearts of people forever.

You can look at great religious change and you get the heroes from the bible: Jesus, Moses, Noah, Adam and Eve. These are the most known heroes from the bible, as they did the greatest things that passed down until today. If you ask any person out there to name of somebody from the bible, these five people will be the most mentioned.

What Gerry and myself realized is that it is the pioneering of new areas that heroes arise. The music industry was pioneered and from it arose The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley. Unless somebody is able to pioneer music again, we may never have another great musical hero ever again. Land was pioneered and discovered and we get Christopher Columbus and his stories of mutiny and the battle of sea monsters. Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox, King Arthur and his Magic Sword.

If this world desires a new hero we have to be prepared for a drastic change. What Gerry mentioned to me was that maybe today, because we are all so connected by phone, internet, and email, that maybe if somebody pioneers a new area in science, society, ideas, or art, that we don’t see it as something special. We know about it as soon as it happens, right from the source, or very close.

These people who do something amazing will never be seen as world heroes because their stories never get a chance to be exaggerated as the story is passed on ear to ear. It’s broadcasted to the world instantly. The story fades faster, and is eventually forgotten. Famous people from the 80′s are almost forgotten today. Today’s famous actors will be forgotten in twenty more years.

This world is in want for a hero for lack of a global change. Maybe in the future we will have a global change. But will that global change be good or bad?

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Written by Cali

November 30th, 2009 at 7:57 pm

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