How to pick a topic for a blog?

OK, I think it's hard to have a gardening blog if without being able to add pictures of your plants as they grow. I suggest getting eight pieces of paper and writing the eight interests that you listed on top. Then try to rapidly write down ten thoughts you have on each topic. After brainstorming, are you interested in writing something about some of those bullet points? Are there questions you want to find answers to? Then turn the paper over and do ten minutes of googling (each) to find out what the top existing blogs are on those topics. Are the topics already thoroughly covered so that you feel your blog would be in the shade? Is there one topic that you ended up spending extra time on? (That's a hint where your strongest interest lies.)

First, you will become an expert on your chosen topic by writing about it. It will take months, even years, but that's okay, it's part of the process. A blog can be like a learning experience in public. Readers will appreciate your honesty. A blog is easy to start. Just create a quick one and start writing. Don't have so many hesitations. Later down the road you can self-edit, reshape it, redesign it. Once you get a little bit of respect from your topic community then begin inviting other experts for interviews and whatnot. Think of it journalistically and it will naturally build your network. Second, of the topics you've listed, it's the lifestyle stuff that will likely, eventually, get you paid. You can sprinkle environmentalism into the lifestyle mix. Whatever topic you choose, have a clear point of view. If you don't know what yours is yet, study other blogs you like, i.e., the pov of Real Simple is xyz.

I think you need to think about this as a more multilayered thing. Like: Okay, I want to talk about food but I want to do it to connect what we eat and how we live to our environmental footprint and social justice in the food business. Or: I want to talk about the paranormal in a way that is respectful of the people who experienced this stuff but also brings real science to the discussion, not to be dismissive and insulting but to try to explore possible explanations (which can be respectful if you genuinely allow for the possibility of ghosts and psychic phenomenon and so on). There are always more facets to a well positioned and well written blog than "it's about food!" or "it's about the paranormal!" Talking about controversial topics and expressing strong opinions or positions can be done without it being a shitshow. It has a lot to do with framing. So "People who blah (buy coffee from Starbucks, believe in ghosts) are all evil cretins who should be put death" is bad but something like "Doing blah has thus and such known negative consequences that add up to much more signifant impact on the world than you would think. Thus, I no longer do blah. Here are some alternatives for making blah less evil if you just cannot give up your blah:..." Can be perfectly fine.

I once considered trying a whole bunch of crafty things that were new to me, and blogging about the process. I started a list: tatting, basic embroidery stitches, rug hooking, weaving on a pin loom, netting, soap making, hand sewing - pretty much all the things they cover in the kind of early 1900s books that new brides were given so they could develop all the skills a housewife of that era would need. It would basically be a blog of watching me suck at a whole succession of interesting things. I thought it would be fun and liberating if I didn't expect myself to be good at them all.

Oh and this: Would I be better served by just trying to publish one-off articles on these subjects in existing publications? Publishing anything in an established venue, particularly one that pays its writers, is a big help (I had a couple of credits already when I made the transition). But I would look at it as an as-well-as rather than an instead-of with regards to the blog.

One way to choose a blogging topic is to choose the topic among your interests that has the highest Google AdWords rates. In the distant past, I read about a blogger who made a living writing about asbestos lawsuits because advertising on that topic was especially lucrative.

I wrote a blog for several years that was very well received and was eventually turned into a book. Here are my tips: 1) Don't write about your work, or anything related to your work. Someone will try and get you sacked, even if you do nothing wrong. Bitter experience. Use a pseudonym, but remember that if people really want to find out who you are, they will, so don't say anything that could get you in trouble. 2) Don't avoid controversy too much. I mean, obviously don't say anything that you know that will cause widespread offence, but you do want to get people talking, even if they're not all agreeing with you. 3) You don't have to be an expert on your chosen subject. If you were, you'd write a textbook, not a blog. Write about something you know a bit about and are learning more about. Let your readers learn with you. 4) Make it personal - not as in boring details like what you had for breakfast but bring in experiences from your own life. A blog is basically a diary. 5) Pick a topic that has legs and that you won't get bored of writing about. 6) Get publicity by linking to other bloggers and hoping they will return the favour, adding your blog address to your signature, pimping yourself everywhere you can, etc etc. 7) If it doesn't work out, shelve it and move on to another topic. Experiment with what you enjoy and what other people like to read.

I was also thinking disaster in the kitchen could work pretty well. There's so many foodie/gourmet blogs out there, maybe a learning to cook blog could be a good area that's not overdone. I did a quick search of the phrase disaster in the kitchen and there's a fair number of stories on other sites about the topic but the specific name seems pretty unused (and googling "Kitchen Disaster" comes up with Kitchen Nightmares). There is one "Disaster Kitchen" blog but it doesn't seem to be about learning to cook and hasn't been used since 2013. A humorous approach may be useful so long as the writing is really good. And you could incorporate subtle animal/environmental issues in it, learning about organic produce maybe or vegetarian cooking aspects or similar. Good luck!

Pick a topic you *really* enjoy, that you can do DAILY, or at least 3-4 times a week. And you can always blog under a pseudonym for now.