Variety is the Spice of Writing

Why I shall remain nicheless

When I started my WordPress blog, I initially kept my focus on wellness. There are so many aspects to wellness, including spiritual health. And for me, wellness includes following a vegan diet and exercising on a regular basis, with my main fitness love as running.  

The first part of developing my blog was coming up with a name. I wanted to name it “Chasing Wellness,” but that name was already taken. As I went down the line of possibilities, I settled on Anne the Vegan. There’s a story behind the name. 

You see, I used to work in an office that was, in a word, toxic. Everyone else who worked there had jumped on the Keto bandwagon. I, the lone vegan, was a weirdo. (And, for the record, I think eating a diet that seemed to center around consuming copious amounts of bacon is weird.) 

I’m personally comfortable with being weird. But when I’m referred to as Anne, the vegan, with an appreciable inflection that seems like an eye roll, it sounds like a weapon instead of a description. 

I decided to turn that insult into something positive. It’s now my pen name. 

My blog took off right before the pandemic. My last “normal” post before the shutdown was a race recap from the One City Half Marathon which I ran on March 1, 2020. And then the world stopped. 

I began to talk about even more than just recipes, running, and race reviews, especially as we dealt with the many mental challenges as we faced so much uncertainty with COVID and with renewed racial tensions. 

My city, Richmond, became central to the debate about removing Confederate monuments. The most notorious of the statues on Monument Avenue was Robert E. Lee. It became a living art piece, changing with graffiti and tributes to those we lost to violence. I visited the site several times during its evolution, and it was surreal to experience it firsthand.  

I definitely got more political with some of my posts, and for good reason. The stress of injustice deserves attention.

As the pandemic improved, so did my writing. 

I took on an assistant editor role with my run club’s magazine, and I started a Medium account. 

Being a part of a different community of writers, interacting on Discord servers, and through comments and follows of other writers has been inspiring. 

My family recently experienced the illness and loss of both my father-in-law and my own father. Writing about loss and grief was a new topic, and I hope I captured the many facets of this experience in a way to which others can relate. I realized that life is short. 

And with the support of a new community of writers, including the wonderful Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs publication on Medium, I began to write about whatever inspires me. Niches, be damned! I think creativity is squelched by boundaries. 

I keep a running list of blog and article ideas in a separate document. I go with whatever my little heart desires. Because the satisfaction of writing is that it brings me joy. And if my words resonate with someone else, the joy is that much sweeter. 

Sometimes my writing is serious. Sometimes it’s funny. Sometimes it’s heartfelt. Sometimes it’s technical, like when I’m directing a post to my running team. But it’s always mine. 

Variety is certainly the spice of life. Why shouldn’t our writing topics vary, too?

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Do you write nicheless, too? I’d love to hear about it!

As always, I hope you all are safe and healthy.