Photos from one of my first blog posts on Jan Powers'
New Farm Farmers Markets back in 2008.
I was kinda fixated on faking Polaroid pics, can you tell?
I would google (because seriously, who Bings something?) and search recipes for sweet treats, and invariably find new favourites on blogs rather than proper cooking websites. Why? I guess I preferred the more informal way they talked about cooking, and loved reading snippets of real family life, and of course, seeing photos of people's homes and inside their kitchens. I'm a stickybeak at heart.
I think most of us in the blogging community (readers, bloggers, commenters) feel the same. A blog is a website with personality. Just cooking a mean brownie and taking a fancy photo of it won't connect with your readers. They want to know the little details, the things you would mention to a friend if they phoned and asked for a recipe. That's why blogs with real heart are the most popular. Imperfections make us human, and seeing others' imperfections make us feel more ok with our own. (Need proof? Check out the #myimperfectlife hashtag on Instagram.)
I think that's why I've always enjoyed blogging, all the way back to 2008. If you go through my old blog's archives, you'll likely discover that I rarely published a post without some sort of brackets, parentheses and asterisked sidenotes. I'm a serial oversharer, and most bloggers are.
I'm so curious to find out why my blog community friends read blogs, what they look for when they choose blogs to read, how they first discovered blogs, and when they knew they wanted to write their own blog. To that end, I'm starting a little series of interviews with blogging folks you may know, and others that might be new to you. It'll be fun!
(Just a heads up, I won't be asking questions about the business of blogging. There are plenty of much-smarter folk than I talking about that, and asking the right questions. I just want to know the personal stuff, the over-sharing stuff. Of course.)
If you're a blogger and you're interested in telling your 'Why I blog' story, hit me up with an email. I promise to overshare it appropriately.
I mainly started blogging for my love of fashion and styling. I also love re-creating celebrity looks into our everyday. I also love children;s fashion and style and have anther blog Bambini Child which is sadly neglected. I love the blogging community on how supportive it is and how sharing is totally caring.
ReplyDeleteBack in dear old Blighty the blog attached to my Bridal Boutique website was just used as a platform to highlight up and coming events in the Wedding Industry calender or showcase 'real-life' brides on their special days (that was my favourite bit).
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't until we moved our life down under that I really started to embrace and enjoy reading/following and commenting on blogs.
One day a close friends said "you could do that - I'd read it"...the rest as they say, is history!
Ps. Meeting you was a lovely bonus xx