Today’s question makes me think a bit deeply because it’s something at the back of my mind when I work on a post – what makes a blog great? What makes me follow or ‘like’ a post? And what makes someone else ‘like’ the post, share it and end up following me as an author?
Honestly? I haven’t the foggiest idea. I have no idea the combination of ideas, script and syntax that pulls one in and stirs all the feelings.
I’m not sure which words are used and which phrases are coined to elicit the emotions that they do.
I don’t know how the bloggers use shorter, briefer paragraphs and eye-catching pictures to hook you into their orbit.
I don’t know how they do it.
I do have one hunch though; they all seem to pour a little bit of themselves into their work – their quirks, humour and personality. I read a piece and my heart smiles and I re-read it to imprint their wisdom inside me.
I believe its one-part science and four-parts heart that turns a blog post from ‘good’ to ‘great’.
And its those flashes of personality that turn a ‘great’ blog to ‘a greatest’ blog.
This is another topic that strikes a deep chord: moments of kindness from loved ones and strangers is something I experience regularly.
The one
that stands out right now is this:
In 2018 I started producing a range of smoothies to sell and my family and friends helped me get it off the ground. I had flavours mixing up banana and soy milk with peanut butter; as well as mango based flavours and a super flavour with bananas and dandelion and dates as well.
It was fun making them and the feeling I got from hearing rave reviews from my customers always made me smile with awe and pride.
But earlier
this year I was in a bad way; my salary at my regular job was threatened by a
circumstance that was largely out of my control, the blender I use for the
smoothies stopped working midway through an order, and I was experiencing a
terrible episode of a toxic mix of anxious thoughts, depression and lack of
self-confidence. This occurred in April and in the weeks leading to my birthday
in May, I teetered between sobbing-in-my-pillow-unhappy nights and God-what-the-hell-am-I-doing-with-my-life
days.
And the
worst part was when my inner bougie princess wanted to drown her sorrows in
super expensive nights out at fancy restaurants that I simply couldn’t afford
it.
As my
Nigerian friends would say “poverty na bastard”
But
then, two weeks or so before my birthday in late May, a friend of mine sent me
a WhatsApp message telling me about a school fair that she wanted me to go sell
my smoothies at. She was supposed to look for two vendors but gave both slots to
me.
For her,
this wasn’t a big deal: I’m her friend, this is a great opportunity for me. But
for me, this was a message straight from God, giving me a ray of light after I’d
been sinking in a pool of my own despair.
For me, it was a “You lifted me from the miry clay, and set my feet on solid ground Psalm 40” moment and after I wiped away my tears and calmed my racing heart, I sent her a text back, thanking her. And she responded with “Oh sis, you know I’m always trying to figure out ways to make your smoothies business successful.”
She said
it so flippantly.
She will
never know how her gesture gave me hope on a particularly bad day.
And how her words showed me that, I may feel all alone with my problems, but in reality, my safety blanket of loved ones is closer than I give them credit for.
Often, our blogs have taglines. But what if humans did, too?
What would your tagline be?
Hmmm.
Probably, “a second cup of coffee never hurt anyone”
Or “you’ve always got a friend in me”
Or “it’s the strong ones that cry the hardest”
Or “I serve an intentional God”
Or “rainy days, chocolate cake and a book”
Or “you can find me at the nearest café”
Or “the feminist, pro-life, pro-LGBQT+ Catholic who can walk and chew gum”
Or “if you’re going through hell, keep going”
Or “bitch better have my money”
Or “I’ve got your back; through hell and high water,
I’ve got your back.”
If I had to have a tagline, it would definitely be a mix of all of these nine options. Why choose one option, when my personality embodies all these things?
Kwakyewa The Storyteller 