On internet fame and the outdated hobby of blogging
When you crawl through the internet as often as I do, you eventually come across advice about how to grow your online audience. It gets a bit frustrating for me when I come across advice for full-time bloggers (because let's be honest I can very rarely find the energy to be full-time anything (except a full-time napper)).
I'm a full-time uni student, and I work during the holidays. I love blogging and writing and being creative, but I feel almost ashamed when I read these stories of how you have to work hard, harder, harder if you want to accomplish anything in the field of social media. Because let's be honest, I don't work hard on my blog. I haven't touched this thing in almost two months now because I've been so busy with the rest of my (rapidly spiralling) life. There's not a lot of room on the blogging advice front about doing it for the fun of it.
I don't want to be famous. If I did, I would use another well-travelled platform and post more regularly, I would network more and snag more guests. (Let's be honest, the world has kind of moved on from blogging but because I was born 40 years old I've still got my dentures stuck into this thing.) I want to write and share the random stuff I write with my friends and any random stranger who wants to tag along for the ride. I want to be published one day but I'm not naive enough to think that blogging will get me there.
Why is there not enough people talking about doing something for the joy of it? Why does every piece of advice out there about blogging have to do with growing your audience and improving your numbers?
I'm going to keep working on my blog when I can. I'm going to write about the things I'm interested in and take pictures of beautiful things and read unpopular books and probably screw my posting schedule up but that's okay.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's okay if you don't want to be famous. There is beauty in anonymity and being lost in the crowd, and a freedom that comes with writing what you want without worrying about your audience abandoning you.
Do what you want. Leave expectations behind. Love what you do.
I'm a full-time uni student, and I work during the holidays. I love blogging and writing and being creative, but I feel almost ashamed when I read these stories of how you have to work hard, harder, harder if you want to accomplish anything in the field of social media. Because let's be honest, I don't work hard on my blog. I haven't touched this thing in almost two months now because I've been so busy with the rest of my (rapidly spiralling) life. There's not a lot of room on the blogging advice front about doing it for the fun of it.
I don't want to be famous. If I did, I would use another well-travelled platform and post more regularly, I would network more and snag more guests. (Let's be honest, the world has kind of moved on from blogging but because I was born 40 years old I've still got my dentures stuck into this thing.) I want to write and share the random stuff I write with my friends and any random stranger who wants to tag along for the ride. I want to be published one day but I'm not naive enough to think that blogging will get me there.
Why is there not enough people talking about doing something for the joy of it? Why does every piece of advice out there about blogging have to do with growing your audience and improving your numbers?
I'm going to keep working on my blog when I can. I'm going to write about the things I'm interested in and take pictures of beautiful things and read unpopular books and probably screw my posting schedule up but that's okay.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's okay if you don't want to be famous. There is beauty in anonymity and being lost in the crowd, and a freedom that comes with writing what you want without worrying about your audience abandoning you.
Do what you want. Leave expectations behind. Love what you do.
Super happy that you're back! I think fame is overrated. At its heart, blogging is a release for me, something for me to chase (because if I don't have about 50 goals to chase at a time, I start to go off my rocker just a bit). If I have a few followers and they get something out of it, great! I like to post regularly when I can so I feel like I'm giving them the best I've got, but I don't care (or at least I try not to care) about how many followers I have or how many hits my posts get. Honestly, my introverted self rather prefers a small blogging sphere, because then I sort of get to "know" a few people, rather than being overwhelmed.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I guess what I'm trying to say is I agree with you and this echoes some thoughts I've had for a long time. And welcome back!
Fame is totally overrated. I agree, I have way too many thoughts in my head to keep them there. It is always encouraging to have a few followers, but I agree (again) in that I try to not worry about how many followers I have or how many views I get. And it is nice to know my readers, I love chatting with you guys (whenever I find the energy to actually reply to comments, that is).
DeleteI agree. Though I DO want to grow my numbers, I want to feel that passion that I felt for blogging when I first started out.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to prioritise real life (for obvious reasons). Blogging for fun is definitely something we all need to strive for but I guess it gets hard when you want to read what other people are reading and also do their tags. Maybe I should get more involved in the community more often.
And continue being free! I hope life is great for you!
Absolutely, I feel as though it's important to keep the passion and most people also want to grow their blog, which is a totally good thing to do.
DeleteI feel as though I'm in the same situation. I would love to spend more time reading other blogs but I often can't keep up with my own blog due to all my other life responsibilities. (I feel really bad about that sometimes.) Let me know if you manage to find an extra hour or two in your day to read some other blogs!