A Jack of all trades, master of none

Crafts, blogs, language learning, research projects, businesses - I’ve started, so I almost certainly will not finish.

For the longest time I saw this as a personal failing. When I was 18 I was happy to start different projects loudly and publicly, often starting new blogs or dedicated Instagram accounts to accompany them, but with age comes a level of self-awareness and over time that self-awareness shifted itself uncomfortably into a shame-induced paralysis. It stopped me from writing about new topics, going out to take the photos, or sharing something else that I’ve started for fear that people will see it, roll their eyes, and think ‘she’s off again’.

A bit of a change in thinking appeared recently after something lovely my mum said during a random topic of conversation.

“Do you know, I love talking to you, you’re so interesting with all the stuff you know about.” 

That genuinely gave me the warm and fuzzies. I only know about lots of random stuff because I like learning and I find so many things interesting. My brain cells are happiest flying around in there like a squishy pinball machine, ping-ponging from one thing to the next.

Victorian medicine, the life and work of Kathy Burke, the correct paperwork needed for landlords to serve a section 21, One Direction lyrics, the rules of curling, the best recipe for coffee cake, the Dorset countryside, birdsong, political scandals, arable farming methods, what things are made out of, dog training, joke writing theory, farming methods, random episodes of an obscure programme from the early 2000s, knots, embroidery stitches local to Dorset, how to make Dorset buttons, companion planting, the night sky, the episode of Deal or No Deal where a man named Lofty dealt early so that he and his wife had the exact amount they needed to buy their first home, the history of Milton Abbas, glomus tumours, comedy writers, the 2026 ruination of the word ‘pinnacle’, book binding, knitting, pastel artwork, genealogy, otters, rude place names, and the entire script of the critically acclaimed screenplay “Dirty Dancing”.

All topics of interest, but not an exhaustive list. There are certainly consistent strands running through all of these things. Creativity, history, and the natural world being three of the biggies, but they’re not consistent in a way that forms a neat little niche. And all of the advice for writing online is geared around creating content on one topic or the search engines won’t like it because they won’t know what box to put me in.

I’m okay with not having a niche though. I’m sick of niches. I don’t want to write to meet the approval of search engines or AI bots, I want to write for myself and to hopefully entertain others in the process. In fact, this blog is resolutely anti-niche. It’s a big ol’ side quest, and I’m dedicating this space to celebrating the pure joy of all of the other side quests I find myself meandering on.

That’s a lot of words to say I’m back, baby. And yes, it might take me 10 years (and counting) to knit a jumper from start to finish, but I can be bloody handy to have at a pub quiz.