18 And Life, or Should I Rename This Blog?

Posted by Paul Smith on Sunday, June 12, 2011
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As this blog passes its 18 month birthday, I am haunted by the words of William Tincup when he said,and I paraphrase, "After 18 months, bloggers run out of ideas and fold up their virtual tent. Or they reinvent themselves."

Is that true? In a couple of months from now, will WTTO's life shrivel into nothingness? Has it already? If so, maybe I should reinvent myself/this blog.

The problem with folding up the virtual tent and reinventing is where to begin again. For me, since this blog started with a song title, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to do the same again.

So based on song titles, I have come up with a list of new HR blog names.

You tell me, should I change the name? Or not. Either way, feel free to share these suggestions. Recommend them to your friends, colleagues, whatever. There's no copyright. There's no cost. Feel free to co-op at will.

Smells Like HR
A Groovy Kind Of HR
Policy Of Truth
Me So HR
Walk This Way
Take On HR
Games People Play
Welcome To My Nightmare
Blue Sky HR
RehabHR
HR Shack
Dance This Mess Around
Skills To Play The Bills
Eight Days A Week
HR Onion
Step Into My Office
Crazy In HR
Rock Around The Clock
The Crying Game
Make It With You
"Forget" You HR
My HR Heart Will Go On
YellowHR
BrickHouseHR
StrangeHR
HR Hangover
Days Go By
Welcome To My Working Week
Sweet HR Is Made Of This
HR-licious
HR Drives Me Crazy
Got The HR Beat
Squeezing Out HR Sparks
HR Candyman
Raw HR Power
Court And Spark
I Predict An HR Riot
Til The End Of The Day
HR Gaga
Achilles Last Stand

Or maybe I should rename it 18 and Life...

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3 Comments:

Trish McFarlane said...

As much as I like the name "RehabHR"....I disagree with William. I believe, from experience, if you had enough to say to keep you actively writing and gaining readership your 1st 18 months, you can easily keep doing it. I think that people who are not going to be successful at blogging will decide in far less time that they are not cut out to do it. Also, I found that by the 18 month mark, I was just finding my real groove.

Now the reinventing part can be attractive, but I advise to keep it subtle. It may mean a new theme, spicing up the header, some indicator that you're "growing" and changing. It may mean you've found topics that you tend to have expertise on now and you focus on those. Or it may mean tackling a new topic or even starting a weekly type of post, you know, like every Monday is "Paul's Manic Mondays" or something.

Just ideas. Either way, keep up the great work. I can't wait to see what the next 18 months bring you Paul.

June 12, 2011 8:28 AM
Krista Ogburn Francis said...

Some suggestions from my iPod for anyone starting an HR blog.

For the traditional practitioner:
I walk the line
I know what I know
With a little luck
Mr. Follow Follow
Cooler than me

For the jaded HR person:
The thrill is gone
HR seems to be the hardest word
Don't give that sh*t to me
No HR no cry

For the cutting edge HR pro:
Stir it up
A little respect
Everything you know is wrong
People get ready
Lively up your HR
Turn on your HR light
The bitch is back

Seriously, I think reinvention requires more than a new name. But maybe 18 months is just an arbitrary number and your experience will be more like Trish's and it's all a mute point. Or maybe you find your blog slowly evolving in an organic way. I don't think there are any rules.

As for me, I did find myself hitting some kind of wall around 18 months. It wasn't just running out of things to say; it's that I can't honestly write about my own experience as an HR person because so much of what happens is confidential. There's no way around it. It's felt very limiting and constraining to me.

I have reinvented myself by starting a second blog about stepfamily issues (mysteplife.net), which has been very gratifying though not without it's own challenges.

And the fate of aliveHR hangs in the balance....

June 12, 2011 2:11 PM
John said...

You don't got a hair on your ass if you don't rename this blog "Forget" You HR!

Actually, to quote INXS "Don't change a thing..."

June 13, 2011 11:05 AM

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