Well, it’s been almost two months since I’ve posted anything here, and I’m sorry for that. I read an article a few weeks ago on blogging, and niche blogging in particular. The author argued that niche blogging is a difficult thing to do over time. You start out with a ton of ideas about your specific topic, you write about a lot of them, and then you either begin to move toward more general topics or you run out of steam. You basically run out of stuff to talk about, and that is what happened to me.
When I began this site, the idea was to discuss two things that I love: learning Italian and traveling in Italy. My goal was to write at least two posts a week, and I was able to do that for a while, but I simply ran out of steam. Other things got my attention, as I’m going to school full time, starting another business, and working on some other projects. But the thing that really got me, the thing that started to bother me subconsciously and contributed to my writer’s block, was the traveling in Italy part of the site. I had covered my favorite cities and places in Italy, and there are some other places and areas I could write about, but I knew that pretty soon I would run out of places I had actually been to, and I can’t write about a place I haven’t been to.
So I’m announcing a change here. I want to start this site up again, but the focus will be a little different; it will be more on learning Italian. I have always loved learning other languages, particularly Italian, so I don’t think motivation will be an issue. I plan on posting more lyrics to Italian music videos because I enjoy the music and the lyrics and sharing music with others, and I also want to write more posts that hopefully will help people learning Italian. I may still post occasionally on traveling in Italy, but only when something catches my interest.
So for people who were reading Dreaming In Italian regularly, I apologize for the time off. Hopefully, you’ll still enjoy the content here as the focus shifts a little bit. I’ve met some really cool people in the short time I’ve been doing this, and I hope to continue that. Thanks for reading.
Molto fico! Glad you are back and looking forward to your posts!
(You are right, too narrow of a blog premise can be limiting and effect creativity. My strategy is to blog about everything and anything, what ever strikes me that day about something I’ve read or heard on the radio…but with a common thread being Italian language learning. I bounce all over the place…but it’s ok because I’ve already added the disclaimer that I am la studentessa matta and to expect the unexpected!)
Ciao Melissa! I think your strategy is a pretty good idea.
Now this is interesting. I just started a blog and my wife asked how she could find it without my providing a link for her. So I googled it and – egad. There is another blog with the same title and a slight difference of construction of the domain name (www.dreaminginitalian.com). How funny. I think it would be fun to trade information. Since you have my email please contact me. I’d love to talk to you further about your blog (which I really like).
Joe
Wow! Looks like lots of us are starting (or re-starting) blogs on Italy! I’ve just started, and like you, I did a few posts and then I started looking around and realized that there’s a whole italophilic blogosphere out there!! I’ve almost stopped blogging as I’m just reading everyone elses!!
I have to say I really like (what I’ve seen of) your blog, and I look forward to your next posts!
So how long have you been learning Italian?
As a follow-on, have you learnt any words in dialect? (if so, why?) One of my favorites is andiamo. In Roman, it’s ‘namo’, in Sant’Orestesi (from Sant’Oreste) it’s ‘nyamo’, and in Civitebesi (from Civita Castellana) it’s ‘namio’. All that in about 60km! I’m sure I’ve missed a few as well. It certainly keeps you on your toes when talking (or simply listening) to Italians when they slip in a few dialect words!