Express yourself, let yourself live niche free!

by Dani Mc Mahon

As most of you know I recently finished the 30 Day Blog Challenge which I set myself in October. I set myself the challenge as I had gotten lazy with my writing. As with many things, life simply gets in the way and suddenly the things you once loved doing are kicked to the curb in favour of having lazy evenings in and heading to bed early. Now that I have finished the 30 Day Challenge I have most definitely created some good writing habits for myself.
Over the past couple of months I have read a lot of articles about become a blogger and following that through to become a successful one. All of these article seem to have a common thread of advice linking them all to each other: find your niche!
I feel like over the past decade or so we have all advanced so much in so many ways. Society is a (mostly) more accepting place now than it was years ago and people seem to feel freer to be who they really are. It does seem however the all this freedom of self is causing a new problem: over categorising.
On your Facebook profile you are asked about your religious and political views, your marital status, what type of music and books you like, your favourite quote! Heading to college you are asked to put yourself into a subject themed box, science, humanities, arts, engineering. Even when it comes to clothes you are labelled: rocker, punk, hipster, preppy. Then it comes to something like writing, a hobby for many and a love for some. you are again asked to put yourself into a box. Narrow yourself down so that readers can avoid accidentally straying from their chosen path, because god forbid they might discover something new and feel the need to re-assign themselves.
In my life in general there are only two things that I will always identify: female and lesbian. The rest of me is subject to change. If I see a hipster outfit and decide to wear it that does not mean that tomorrow you won't see me dressed head to toe in black. This time last year I worked in pensions, this year I am an English teacher. Life is ever changing and our surroundings are not fixed or permanent.
So why is it necessary for me to establish a niche when I myself do not confine myself to being part of one particular niche. What ever happened to individuality? So here I am rebelling against all of those advice articles and establishing myself as niche-less. I am expressing my right to write about what ever the hell I like depending on my mood, location, and the people around me.
Here is to being niche-less, writing wild and free!
And so ends my rant, I feel refreshed now and ready to head a see the new Star Wars movie!
May the force be with you!