Future of Anita Writes

I spent about 10% of my time over the weekend discussing the future of Anita Writes​. Let's see, the weekend has about 48 hours, I spent about 7-8 hours discussing the direction of the blog, why I blog, privacy rights of individuals that interact with me and what I choose to gain from the blog. Mind you this discussion was done with 2 different people, both male, both concerned about the blog.

Anita Writes was started as a hobby. My baby was conceived because I kept having these solo adventures on my own, single gal around Atlanta, my co-worker and dear friend tired of hearing about it at work during lunch advised me to put it in a blog. So I did. This was way back in 2008. I didn't plan to make any money from it. I just thought I could help other single people become comfortable in their own skin, in seeking their own adventure, in shaking off the fear of being single. Plus, I just wanted to talk about my single gal adventures!

I did not plan to make any money from it.

Cut to 2014. I am now living in Nigeria, looking for a job. Blogging may raise some money for me in the interim but so far I have not made squat. I haven't really enjoyed being single in Nigeria to be perfectly honest with you all. Not because of me, it's just because the dynamics here a little different. The culture here doesn't really encourage the single life. It leaves you with little or nothing to do, no hobbies or sistahood. Now I understand why most Lagos girls enter into all kinds of pseudo-relationships just so they can shake off the stigma of being "single."

You would think, here of all places, my blog would be encouraged. Here comes this single gal ready to tell us that we can accept ourselves as single and own our solo life. Not so much. Most people don't even know the theme of my blog and if they do, they are just not interested. So during my weekend brainstorming session over the future of my blog a couple of things were discussed:

1. How do I make money from Anita Writes.
What type of articles do I need to write to engage my audience? My participant said, my Nigerian audience. But I am more interested in my global audience. Nigeria is just a subset. But my participant did not feel so. Felt I should win the Nigerian audience and drive their traffic to my blog. He suggested participating in sensational news, fluff stories. I vehemently refused to do that. I don't want to compromise my artistic integrity. I compared my work to asking Beck or Dave Grohl to collaborate with Taylor Swift or Rihanna. There's popular music and there's music. There's fluff and there's Anita Writes, I do not want to do that. Not even for the money.

2. Privacy. Mine and everyone's.
The second participant was concerned about the privacy of people I meet. He felt that everyone I run into may want to sign a confidentiality agreement with me just so I don't feature them on the blog, even if I use pseudonyms. He emphasized that Nigerians are concerned about their privacy (you don't say) so they may not take too kindly to me putting down our interactions in a blog piece. I understood that but not sure I would follow that too. If you encounter a writer and she's in some way inspired by your interaction well, you take what you can get. Comedians feature their exes, girlfriends etc in their comedy acts, e.g., Kevin Hart. Not really sure why Nigerians are concerned about their privacy...but hmmm.

I keep thinking if Kim Kardashian can make a good living putting down her life for everyone to watch why can't I feature my life and make money from it. One thing my mum (of all people) has constantly remarked is this: You have an exciting life, Anita, you need to write about it. This was the same statement that made me start Anita Writes. So, since I have this "exciting" life (which has come to somewhat of a halt but will pick up soon enough) why can't I write about it? And if I do, would you be interested in reading about it? Would you escape everyday to reading details of my single gal adventures, or would you say, please she needs to shut up that's way too much information. Would you judge me - which I've realised is one thing Nigerians are so good at? Would I turn away the men folk? Would people be afraid to interact with me?

I want to hear from everyone. What do you want Anita Writes to focus on? What would make you read my blog? And if you read this entire update, you totally deserve a prize. Now, you know one reason why I've been nursing writer's block...I'm worried about my baby Anita Writes.