The Seventeenth Line

In an earlier post, “The Purpose of The Seventeenth Line is to Connect with Readers Around the World,” I talked about the reasons why I decided to relaunch The Seventeenth Line. At the time I was finding it hard to concentrate on reading and I wanted to start a reading related project.

As I started to update this blog I made the decision to be more purposeful than I had been in the past.

Previously, I used The Seventeenth Line to keep track of my reading experience with my bookclub but I didn’t organize things very well. I had lots of categories, many of them with single, stand-alone posts, and dozens and dozens of tags, some of which were redundant. This made things look messy and it hard to find anything. Plus, the blog felt unfocused and lacked a clear point of view.

Focus of this Blog

Now, I am being more deliberate in my approach. I want to use this platform to meet my needs, which are to be an active reader, a better writer and to connect with other readers around the world.

Being more thoughtful about the purpose of this blog has helped me to figure out what I want to focus on and that in turn has helped me to clearly identify categories for The Seventeenth Line. This creates gives me structure for my writing.

Having an organized blog with a small number of categories and clarity around what’s included in each category also helps you, the reader. Now readers will know what to expect from The Seventeenth Line.

5 Categories for Blog Posts

That said, this blog is still a work in progress. While I’ve identified categories to start with, I’m also pondering a couple of additional categories.

Here are the 5 categories I am using to organize my blog posts and a summary of what you can expect to read in each category.

(1) Authors and Writers: I’ll share posts about my favorite authors and writers who inspire me. Once in-person readings are part of my life again I’ll share highlights from those events.

(2) Book Reviews: What’s a book blog without book reviews! Here you’ll find my reviews of books I’ve read along with a basic star rating.

(3) Library Love Letters: I make no bones about my love of public libraries! I plan to share my memories and personal experiences with the library, along with news and events related to libraries. (3)

(4) Reflections on Reading: In this category I plan to share more personal thoughts on my experience as a reader and what reading brings to my life.

(5) Thoughts on Writing: Here I’ll explore my feels around writing, including how I am processing establishing this blog and, hopefully, my growth as a writer.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I most want to explore for myself when I think about reading and books, what I want to capture in writing and, hopefully, what would be interesting to other readers. I hope these categories fit the bill!

2 Categories Under Consideration

I mentioned I am considering a couple of additional categories for the blog. Let me tell you what I’m thinking about. Here are the 2 categories I’m considering adding and my current ideas on what would be included.

(1) Questions with a Reader: One of my goals for this blog is to connect with readers around the world. One idea I had to help me build those connections is to do a Q & A with another book blogger. I’d like to model it on the New York Times, Book Review, By the Book column where authors are asked a set of standing questions about reading and writing.

(2) Where Books Take You: This idea draws from a number of different things. I think a lot about place and how place shapes our perspectives, experiences and opportunities. I like learning about different places in the world through reading. Plus, as I shared, I am very interested in connecting with readers globally. This category could help me think more deeply about place, travel, and culture and how reading can introduce us to new places.

As you can see, I’m still mulling these categories over.

What are your thoughts?