The blogging world is a weird one.
It’s like school. It’s a bit cliquey sometimes, we all have the groups that we seem to slot in to and if you’re a new arrival it might take you a while to fit in. Sometime there are fallings out – you say something that upsets a friend, or a friend of a friend of a friend, and things get a bit odd (which to be honest is how I have felt after writing this). There are the bloggers who have been there for a long time – they’re the ones on the back seat of the bus who you go to when you need to ask an advanced question about WordPress (who am I kidding? Most of these back-seat-bus bloggers are on SquareSpace now). There are also the cool bloggers, the smoking behind the bike shed bloggers.
Sometimes I don’t know where I fit in.
I have been blogging for a loooooong 15 years and have never seen such a saturated blogging community as we have now. Sometimes it feels like we’re all in a crowded room at a party, trying to shout, make our voices heard above the rest. It sometimes feels difficult to find your space, find your voice.
I’ve always said that the main reason I blog is because I enjoy it and I never want to forget that – I want to stay true to why I began; to record my family’s life and to give myself a voice. Not for the money or the notoriety or the freebies. For the love. And sometimes the shouting gets tiring. I shout enough at home.
Having not blogged for the last few weeks has been weird; I’ve truly missed it, missed you, the people who read my blog, missed everything about it. I’ll be back soon to tell you the story of how I’m becoming the next Sheryl Sandberg in the time I used to use for blogging (if SS was a Single Mother Marketing Director from Milton Keynes innit) but in the meantime I’m still here – figuring out my place, working like an animal, mothering like Maria Von Trapp.
I’m off to BritMums with the lovely Boots lot tomorrow and I’m excited to feel inspired again, see some of my favourites in this lovely shouty blogging world who will give me the kick up the bum to remember why I love it so much.
See you on the other side!
It does seem like there are a million other people all trying to shout at once on social media sometimes and it does feel a bit like school. That’s exactly what it felt like to me when I started, a bit ‘new kid’ on her first day. Love your blog Alice & hope to meet you tomorrow! x
Thanks for writing this post, Alice. I can relate to what you say about blogging.
Missed you and hope you enjoy BritMums. Can’t wait to read about it later.
SSG xxx
I’m with you! It’s a weird blogging world and I don’t feel like I fit in anywhere in it! But I love it! And love doing my own thing. See you there x
I can really relate to this Alice. I’ve always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with blogging and all the trappings that come with it. I think we all realise along the way that doing our own thing is the best way really. Enjoy Britmums xxx
I love this post; I sometimes feel like an impostor and new all over again. I started my original blog over 3 years ago and took a really long break from it as I found it a chore and that I wasn’t doing stuff for me but for blog. Now I started again in Jan of this year and really enjoying it again. All I like is to take good photos, write what I want and hope that more people than my mum read it in return! :)
K.
The blogging world can feel like a very strange place at times and yes, it’s so important to remember why we do it! Have fun at BritMums x
Britmums is tomorrow?? Yikes. I’m so out of the parenting blogging scene I don’t even know when Britmums is on :| I loved it the first time I went, 5 years ago or so, can’t remember… Anyways, have fun and post lots of pictures :)
Whereas it all felt so new and exciting when I first started blogging, I’ve kind of lost my place a little bit now. I can’t keep up with the social media demands or new trends so have gone back to basics and just do my own thing. I’ve made some great friends over the years though and you were one of my very first! Sorry to miss you at the BiBs on Friday xx
Loved this post :)
I really want to go to BritMum’s one year but my nervousness always stops me! I hope you had a great time :)