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Confessions of a Blogger

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Ella from Paper Umbrella tagged me last week in a "Confessions of a Blogger" post so I thought I would answer some of the questions for you. I don't really have a day of the week that's for personal posts so I thought I would stick it under the Shenanigans section. Close enough, right?



1. When did you first start blogging and why?

I started this blog in the middle of August this year. I started it for a few reasons. One reason was that I felt I wasn't well rounded enough - I spent all my time online on Modcloth and eBay. As much as I loved doing that, I wanted some motivation to do other things. I felt if I had a place to document my adventures, if I had something to hold me accountable to going out thrifting, going out with friends, watching and reviewing movies, then I would be a more rounded person. Also, in contrast, I kind of wanted it as a justification for my shopping (admittedly, a total shopaholic here!) I used to DJ once a week and had a good excuse for a new dress all the time. Now that I wasn't going out as much, having new fancy dresses seemed kind of pointless. If I was photographing them for a blog, at least they would be getting some mileage.

2. Have you had any past online presence?

I have accounts on just about every platform there is! Of course, the usual suspects like Facebook and Pinterest but I used to have a pretty lengthy journal that I wrote daily on a FitDay account when I was 16-18 years old and another daily journal written on MySpace when I was 20-21.

3. When did you become serious about your blog?

I tried to take it seriously from the beginning. I paid for blog design after the first week (after about 3 entries) and read tons of other blogs to see what I could learn from them. I tried to treat it like a job, although it's nice because when I lose my motivation, I can take breaks or days off whenever I please.

4. What was your first blog post?

It was a very, very short blog post just explaining where the name of the blog came from. I wrote a Factoid Friday post shortly after but deleted it because it was absolutely terrible, mostly because there were too many downer facts about death and spiders.

5. What have been your biggest challenges blogging?

Getting out to take pictures! I wake up really late (total night owl here) and by the time I get up, it's dark out. On days I do get up early enough, it's often too cold. Canada is not the greatest place for blogging.

6. What is the most rewarding thing about blogging?

I love the networking and socializing aspect. I love when I comment on people's blogs and they comment back (although I'm admittedly bad at doing that, oops!) But I also love when I'm not sure how to do something (usually certain HTML type things) and I google it and then follow it step by step. And it works. I know it's laid out for me, plain and simple but seeing it work and doing it for myself just feels magical.

7. What is the most discouraging thing about blogging?

Most people I know don't take it seriously. They think it's no work at all. I try to emphasize that it's a lot of work, hours and hours a day, but they just think I laze around. It's hard to change people's opinions of me, but c'est la vie.

8. What is your lasting inspiration or motivation?

I take motivation from so many people! The blogs I find most inspirational are Scathingly Brilliant, mermaidens, Ahoy Miss Keiko Lynn and The Clothes Horse. I take a little bit of inspiration from all the blogs on my blog roll though. They all have such great fashion, photography, writing and blog layouts.

9. What is your blogging dirty secret?

I don't really have blogging dirty secrets! I'm still learning from everybody else. However, if you are into Etsy and have Etsy weekly or monthly favourite picks, whenever you come across an Etsy store that a blogger owns, look at their items, plus their favourites (items and stores.) Seeing picks from other fashionable ladies is a good way to add to your own favourites. I do this all the time and my "likes" on Etsy have grown substantially!

10. What is your current goal as a blogger?

I'm kind of vague on the goals right now. I'd like to reach 100 posts to show that I can commit to something (I'm really bad to sticking to anything.) I also would like to reach 1000 monthly views through banner swaps and advertising on social media.

11. Have you learned or become passionate about anything through blogging that caught you by surprise?

I'm interested in HTML and want to learn it for real. Also surprisingly have become interested in stationery (must be all that browsing on Etsy!)

I'm tagging

Camille of The Corner Sweetheart
Pamada of just.pandippo
Christine and Jenna of 2 Girls 1 Outfit
Elana of Room 334

That's all for me! Talk soon!

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2 comments :

  1. Me too! I would love to learn HTML. Since getting into blogging more steadily I've been looking into web design and HTML classed. Since I already have a bachelors though the University wants to charge me post grad prices... which is ridiculous. Maybe it's a self taught thing thought right?!
    Raspy Wit

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    Replies
    1. Learning at the university would be amazing, because I'd get credentials to go along with it, but I hear you on the $$$ problem! For now, I'm having fun being self taught. I don't know how to do everything of course, but like I said, answering a question is a Google search away!

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