Friday 6 July 2012

Blogging - what makes me happy?

I read DorkyMums great post about BritMums Live and it really got me thinking.  That woman speaks so much sense and on a number of occasions she has made me stop and think and then change the way I live my life.  I could in fact become a groupie for her....

Let me quote Dorky Mum - "I will stick with promoting my blog on Facebook and Twitter, because I have fun on those two sites anyway, but I’m not going to join Pinterest or Google+ just to try and add a few zeros onto the end of my monthly page views. I’d rather spend that time coming up with ideas for posts, I think." and also " If you are prepared to put the effort into producing strong writing then you can create genuine connections with people. That for me is a far more important reward than high monthly stats or rankings, so I think it has given me the confidence to blog less, but blog better.#

How perfect is that? I spent time at BritMums Live in the Pinterest session and created my account and followed a few people.  The next day when I came home I started to fill my boards and again the next day and then I just felt deflated, I could not be arsed.  There is undoubtedly some really beautiful stuff on Pinterest but I would say I am more about the words than the images and trying to be contrived and finding a great image for every post I write feels like a lot of hard work, as does watermarking all those images. I don't know that I want to find the time for that!

So Dorky Mum's post set me off on a journey, thinking about the things that make me happy from blogging and seeing as blogging is a hobby for me I realised that happiness probably ought to be my goal. From that happiness stem many other things, such as wonderful opportunities to help others, beautiful friendships and a boast in my own self-esteem.

So here goes, these are the things I love about blogging and those I should therefore focus my time on:
  • Writing posts, ones I feel passionate about, that just come to me in a heartbeat, like this one.
  • Writing posts that I have spent days and weeks pondering on and developing thoughts and themes for.
  • Chatting on twitter intermittently with some lovely bloggy friends.
  • Reading other peoples blogs, just because I want to and because I am hoping from blog roll to blog roll.
  • Reading the comments left on my blog posts.
  • The amazing opportunities to do good and speak for those without a voice that come through writing a well-read blog.
On the flip side, things I loath about blogging and related social media that goes with it -
  • Wondering why I have not received PR pitches or event invites that others have received when I am so well placed in the rankings. Hmm, does thbis mean I need to stop? Still pondering that one.
  • Sitting on twitter wondering why no-one is chatting to me.
  • Updating my blogs facebook page.
  • Using google +.
  • Having 101 blogging networks that I feel I should visit and comment on. Then having a weird voyeuristic draw to a couple of them to ensure that I do not miss out on the latest blogging must-know crap. Why Mich, why?
  • Feeling like I always need to learn something new so I can keep up, like Pinterest. Why do you even need to keep up Mich? and who with?
  • Feeling like there is not enough time to do all that I need to. I hate it when those reviews start to pile up.  Must say no even more often!
Things I am neither here or there with -
  • Blog rankings.  I no longer feel any real elation when I go up in the parenting charts so why am I still in them?
I have no answers really from this pondering but it has been good to do it.  I would highly recommend to all bloggers that if you get a bit 'meh' with it, have a think about why you do it and what works for you.  All I know right now is that Pinterest, Google +, Bo.lt and all the other new stuff are not for me, if I can't keep up and sink into the depths of being an unknown parenting blogger over the next year, so be it, at least I'll be happy.

Last week I went away with work and had a great time but after when I looked at my photos, I had at least 8 photos taken from inside windows.  I know at the time I liked the view from in there but I have now got to wondering if I have been stiffling myself a bit and I need to move from here


to here.....  there is a big wide world outside of blogging after all!



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