Why I started Blogging
Thursday, May 05, 2016
I've seen Renee from the blog Lose The Road talk about why she decided to start writing her blog and thought it was such a nice idea not only to let you in on why but also for me to think back to two years ago me and my reasons for starting. I've been writing this little blog for a whole 25 months now and I think I'm now able to look back on what I once hoped this blog to be and do for me as well as whether I still think that way about blogging. What you guys don't know is, that I wanted to start writing a blog for years before I actually started doing it. I've been pondering names and designs and topics, I read books about blogging and got loads of inspiration from other blogs before I ever even signed up for a Blogger account. But that's just my slightly perfectionist me that thought it could possibly be the end of the world if I, say, chose a name that I wouldn't like for the rest of my life. I worked on the design of my blog for an entire month before I set it live with my first ever post on it, which was a foodie post about pancake day two years ago. It makes me cringe to look at it but for the sake of full disclosure and because we all gotta start somewhere I'll link it here for you haha. I think I've definitely come a long way photography wise! But enough of all that, here's why I wanted to start this blogging journey in the first place.
I wanted a creative outlet that studying Business Studies couldn't provide
Studying Business Studies at university is as far from being creative as humanly possible. There's no room for creativity in our tax system and being creative on your balance sheets can even get you in prison - these rules were put there for a reason apparently... Well I still always considered myself a creative person more than a numbers person. I always loved writing, have been massively into photography for years now and I wanted somewhere I could do all of that and share it too. So what better way than to start my own blog? I'm so glad I did and never once regretted having taken that step. I've graduated from university last year and the blog is still going strong which just goes to show how much I need this place as my creative outlet, not only while at university but also in this still kinda new 'you're a self-sufficient adult now Jessica' kinda way.
I liked the idea of being able to name and design my own piece of the internet and fill it with content I'm passionate about
I loooooved designing my blog! While I actually found it quite hard to find a name for it, designing the look of this site was so enjoyable! I didn't know much about webdesign, templates and HTML back then so it took me quite a while and many Youtube tutorials to get everything to look exactly like I imagined it. And it wasn't like that was a chore, no I loved sitting down at my desk and designing away. Also brainstorming for content was really fun, I had so many ideas starting off and basically wanted to write and publish posts all day long. And once I decided to work my name into my blog's name somehow and finally came up with 'Jess in Retrospect' I must say I was super happy with it and I still love the name a lot as I think it fits this blog perfectly. Two years on I still love having a nicely designed website to share my stories with you guys which is why I recently changed my template to something that is a little more 26 yo me. I'm also a little more selective on what I post and when then back when I started simply because I know a little bit more about the whole thing, I know at what times my posts are most likely to be read by you guys and also that by now there's quite a lot of people knowing about this website and reading what I say so a post like that dreadful first pancake day post would not make the cut today.
I wanted to be a part of the blogging world and network
I've obviously been reading blogs for ages before I started to write my own and to me it always seemed like there was a real connection between all the bloggers, a network of some sort and that it was like a little club where everybody was nice to everybody else. At least that's how I saw it. And I really wanted to be a part of it! And the thing is I didn't just imagine it, there really is such a nice community spirit in the blogosphere! In my whole time blogging I only ever got one troll comment but over 100 comments that were so incredibly lovely and made me feel so glad I started blogging. That there are people all over the world taking the time to read my ramblings and even leave me a few lovely words in the comments regularly makes my day! If you're reading guys I'd like to thank you for that! :) Also connecting on twitter and instagram makes me feel like you get to know other bloggers out there better. I know I'm not exactly a mastermind when it comes to networking myself, I forget about twitter chats I wanted to take part in and just generally don't spend enough time getting in contact with fellow bloggers, but I'm really working on myself here and just know that I'm always glad to get to know all of you.
Lots of Love,
Jess xx
Jess xx
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4 Kommentare
Aw lovely post Jess!! I love reading your blog and you can definitely tell how much work you put into each post :) Being a part of the blogging community is something I definitely love as well! Its so awesome being able to connect with people all over the world!
ReplyDeleteRenee | Lose The Road
Thank you! That means so much to me Renee :) xx
DeleteI love this post! I often get down about blogging, sometimes I'll lack inspiration, or compare myself to more successful bloggers and get down about my blog - thank you for reminding me of the reasons I started my blog though :) xx
ReplyDeleteCharlotte | Just Charlotte
I do that too from time to time.. I think it's easy to get discouraged looking at all the successful bloggers out there being able to make a living from their blog. But we all had our reasons for starting and when we look back at them we actually came a long way already :)xx
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