Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Blog Brainstorming

You see although I find my blog sinfully entertaining and cheeky (while occasionally being so truthful and moving we all run for the Kleenex) I have wondered lately why the writers for Stephen Colbert's THE COLBERT REPORT haven't called me yet?
Am I missing something?  Am I only amusing myself here?
I went to Ken.  My harshest and favorite most accesible critic.
He came up with his answer a little too quickly.
1.  Niche
2.  Design
3.  What are people getting out of it?
and
4.  Your title stinks, honey bunny.

I admit I had trouble getting past the thought of Why isn't niche spelled nitch?  Should we spell witch: "wiche"? Honey and Bunny are running the same problem.  I think honey would have to be switched to "hunny" instead of bunny to boney.  You see where that leads us. 
After about a half hour of running around the phonics track I reordered the list.

1.  Niche/Purpose
2.  Title
3.  Design

So the Niche:
I talk a lot about family.  The one I made and the one I am from.  I could talk about parenting... but no one would really want advice from a first-time know-it-nothing-er.
I could write about.... confrontations I get in.  Those seem to come easily enough.  But I'd hate to have to go look for them.  You know?  Could be dangerous getting into a fight every day.  I'm wanting your feedback here.  What is or should be my niche?  What do you like reading about most?

Then there is the issue of the title.  I've never really had a title.  I mean there is something up there but it's never struck a chord with me.
I thought of:
  • Patter Chatter
  • The Patty Melt
  • Chatty Patty
I'm lucky my name is Patty and there is a lot of other patties too.  York Peppermint.  Beef.  Chicken.  The Open Face Patty Melt.  The great Irish Saint. I keep thinking somewhere in all that there is a really great blog title.  Still looking.  Still thinking.  I thought doing "The Chatty Patty" would be fun and having a picture of me looking like the Chatty Cathy doll complete with the pull string and everything.... but that brings me to my last hurdle.

Design.  I can see it in my head.  But there is no button on the keyboard to get there.  I downloaded a trial version of PhotoShop that I am loving.  And hating.  I need to YouTube a tutorial on it.

So my devoted, steadfast, amiable readers... what can I do for you?  To keep you coming back?  Any title ideas?  Design do's and don'ts? 
Help push my lost ship to shore.  P-P-P-Please!

And don't say you just love everything about me.  I'm not in the mood for that right now.


10 comments:

Ru said...

Stuff like this baffles me. I have no idea, honestly. But I read you because you're funny.

Patty said...

Ru. I thought you'd be the goldmine of ideas. Your stuff is solid, creative, and fresh. Thank you for deeming me read-worthy.

Holli Fuhriman said...

I like reading about what you're learning. About the world, yourself, mothering, spelling, etc. I usually learn from it to while being thoroughly entertained. I'm also just so impressed that you are sticking with it! I like chatty patty but I've never been good at titles. Good luck!

Juli said...

I really suck at HTML stuff. It hates me. REALLY hates me. It took me a month to figure out how to download a picture background, and two hours to make a button for Truth is... Thursday.

*sigh*

How about Knick Knack...Patty's Whack! :)

(Whack meaning good, not crazy...sorry, I suck at the hip-hop talk. My kids claim I have no street cred at all...)

Good luck darlin', can't wait to see what you come up with!

Anonymous said...

I like the name "The Chatty Patty". That's a good idea. I also think you need to add pictures to your posts. I LOVE reading your blog, but I am also a visual learner and I think adding a picture makes a story a million times better! I know I do posts without pictures, but I don't usually post a whole lot without them either:) That's just my opinion...

I love reading about what you think of something. About what your day was like and specific incidents that are funny, or not. HTH:)

SkippyMom said...

I like Julianna's suggestion for a title. Cute. I have seen a few blogs called "Chatty Patty" or "Patty's Chatty" so that seems to be popular too.

I read you because I like what you write about and you're entertaining and NICE [very important]. I don't know why you need a niche or whatnot. Keep doing what your doing. It seems to be working. :)

Spencer, Jen, Zoe, and Emrie said...

I read your blog all the time but I have never commented... I thought this would be a good time to comment. :) I love your blog! I love how you are so honest. You can talk about your accomplishments without being braggy/annoying and you can talk about the harder stuff without having a pity party. You can laugh at yourself and I like that. More pictures would be good, but with or without, I will keep reading. :)

Cinderella, the A-Train and Our Little Caboose said...

I like Chatty Patty...because you are such a great writer, and honestly, when I read your blog I feel like you are sitting here telling me a story. I am not sure if story telling is a niche but you are amazing at it.

As far as design, have you tried Blogger in draft? Its awesome, and does most of the work for you - and Picnik.com to make your header. All awesome stuff!

(PS. Is the program you downloaded called GIMP? it can also be very useful!)

Patty said...

@ Holli- Really? You learn spelling from me? *tear* My heart is overflowing. I help in all ways I can. Thank you.

@Julianna- Love the title idea. Hate HTML. What does that stand for? You have blog street cred in my book and I might not have anything for awhile... so I'll just pretened you said "no pressure."

@ Megan- I can definitely up the pictures. Easy Peasy. (as Jonas would say.)

@Skippy- Thanks for filtering the Titles. Glad it works on you.

@Spencer, Jen, and Zoe- Where were you guys hiding?? More pictures coming right up. I have to get all 56,034 off my camera.

@Cinderella- Is that where you make your fantastic blog headers?

Juli said...

Patty, I have no idea what HTML stands for, but I know if you rearrange the letters it could stand for "My terminal hair loss" which is what it causes me.

Because it hates me... really hates me.