It's been going through my mind, "What's unique about my blog? Nothing. So many beauty blogs out there, all talking about similar things, many are much more popular than mine, so they're obviously doing it better." and it's kind of put me off. I don't want to think that I'm just another voice in the "buy this" choir. That's partly the reason that I spin off in my blog sometimes onto other things, like books, or recent events, or even just random ramblings. It makes my blog more 'mine'.
And personally, I prefer blog posts about peoples lives, and their trials, tribulations, and thoughts, much more than I want to see *another* Rimmel Apocalips review. Obviously I'm not in the majority here, because those kind of posts seem to be super-popular and their authors have mega page views, and that's great. Everyone has their place, and mine's obviously not up there with the blogging elite. I saw a blog post the other day that was just 10 photographs in a row and no words at all. I was like, what? That's a blog post?
Maybe I should sack the beauty reviews and just become a lifestyle blogger? I don't know, just thinking aloud. I like reviewing things though... and obviously I like nail art too, I spend enough time doing it... but weirdly I don't post all the designs that I do, because I think, that's been done before, people might think I'm copying, or, my cuticles are bad... or, I've chipped it before I've taken photos.... and so on and so on...
Somehow these things don't seem to bother other people. I've seen some awful manis on really popular blogs, and there have been such lovely comments. There's obviously something about this blogging malarkey that's out of my comprehension. Some people could probably just post photos of a turd from different angles, and get great comments about their diet.
Aaaandd that makes me sound bitter. And I'm genuinely not. If people can make a living out of their blog, or even just have a super successful one, I'm happy for them. To get there they will have put alot of hard work in. Hard work that I don't have either the time or inclination to feed into my own blog. They are there, looking for every way to reach out to new people, members of all the networks, taking the time to comment in all the popular forums, getting their name known. Not for me. I. Just. C. B. A.
So, I can't complain. And I'm not. Just venting I guess. And talking through my mojo loss with you. Every time I've thought of getting my laptop out to blog, these things have all been going though my head, and I've ended up going off to do other things. If it hadn't been for Artsy Wednesday, and not wanting to let the other girls down, my blog would have hit the rocks lately I think.
What am I doing back here then? Well, when I'm not blogging, I'm thinking about blogging. It's not that I don't like blogging any more, because I do. I have a beauty review almost ready to go, and I'll probably post that today too, while I'm feeling the vibe. It's just that life gets in the way. I've had alot on my plate lately, and although alot of it's still there, I'm feeling alot stronger than I was. If you can win the battles in your head, you're much more likely to win them out there in the world. Well, that's what I think anyway.
As long as I can manage to stay true to my original idea for my blog, which was to share my thoughts on things with all of you, then I'll class it as a success no matter how many followers, or pageviews, or lack of, I have.
And so far, I've managed it. I have been swayed when I've read a popular blog, to mimic its style, or be inspired by its posts, but at the end of the day, then it wouldn't be my blog anymore. And for me, that's the best thing about my blog, that it's mine. It reflects me and my life. And even though my life may be similar to some peoples, it will never be the same, because mine has me in it.
So as I sit out here in the garden, cursing next door for strimming while I'm trying to think, what are my plans for my blog? Hard to say really. I have so many interests. Like, SO MANY, it's hard to just stick with the nails and beauty. I don't want to have two or three different blogs for different things, but that seems to be the done thing. I find it hard enough to keep up with this one.
It's tough finding time to actually do the things when you're working full time, never mind writing about them too. That's another reason I take my hat off to the bloggers who manage to work or study full time, or juggle a blog with a family, and still manage to post every day. Granted, some of their posts aren't very long, and I'd feel like I was short changing people if I put out posts like that, but they they are the normal ones, but I'm the exception rather than the rule, with my ramblings.
So if you're not really feeling your blog right now, take heart in the fact that you're not alone in feeling like that. I personally feel that it's better to put your blog on a 'go-slow' post wise, rather than just churn out any old tat. I've only been posting once a week, sometimes not even that, and I haven't seen a massive reduction in my pageviews (no, I don't understand it either). According to Blogger I get roughly 150 pageviews a day, although I have no idea how many of those are real pageviews, and probably wouldn't want to know either haha.
I think it's just a muddy patch of blogging ground that we all have to trudge through from time to time, in order to get to where we want our blog to be. Having talked this through here with you, I think I've come to realise that I want my blog to be a vibrant, fun, and creative place where like minded people (that's you) come to be inspired, and hopefully have a fun read. This might mean mixing it up with a few other topics...
But don't worry, there'll still be loads of nails :-)
Until next time...
MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~
