Defining yourself as a blogger

Defining myself as a blogger is something I struggle with. To be honest, I struggle with the label 'blogger' at all, I don't feel like keeping a blog and being 'a blogger' are the same thing. It's like the difference between keeping a diary and writing an autobiography. So when it comes to the question 'What type of blogger am I?' I just...don't know.

Am I a Mommy Blogger? Well, I'm a mommy. And I blog about my kid sometimes. In fact when I started out I just seemed to blog about being a mom. But I don't feel like it's enough a driving force in my blog to really define me.

Am I a Breastfeeding Blogger? Not really, although I have blogged about breastfeeding and how that works when you're dealing with other problems.

Am I a Disability Blogger? I'm disabled, and I blog quite a lot, quite consistently about my disability. But I don't actually blog about being a Disabled Person. I blog about being Arienette Who Also Has A Disability. I suspect that those of us with disabilities will understand the difference. There's no activism drive behind my blog, I'm not trying to spread a message (except maybe 'You're not alone! You're normal!') or change anyone's minds. If minds were changed that would be nice, but it's not my driving force. I don't blog about the disabled community or the threats we face, I leave that to more experienced, articulate bloggers with the sort of audience that reaches more people than I can. Occasionally I'll blog about the sort of problems I face as a disabled mother, but I still don't feel like I'm 'saying anything' here.

Am I a Humour Blogger? Er. No. Much as I would love to be, I will never be Sara, of Sara Swear A Lot. I may do the odd post where I try to be funny but I'm not very good at it, and I usually go back to being tiring and pondersome the next time.

Am I a Feminist Blogger? Definitely not, although feminist issues do get touched on now and again (there's a post in the making which talks a lot more about feminist issues and myself as a woman and what that means for me and has meant for me).


It seems to me like a lot of the community in blogging comes from having a somewhat narrower description than I do. I have friends from a couple of communities but the blogs I follow are strangely eclectic in their subjects, and I don't feel like any of those circles are really where I'm at. So I drift from one to another and I dip my toes in and then I come back to my blog and I feel like I'm trying to catch fish with a torn net. I have no focus for my blog but PICKING one feels disingenuous. It feels like I'm trying to force myself to be something for the sake of being able to call myself 'Arienette, Disability Blogger' or whatever. And that kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?