Living a Bloggable Life

Pinterest is a great place to find out stuff about blogging, and last night I stumbled across a little list of tips for beginning bloggers.

Most I had read before, some were just common sense, but the one that really struck me was "LIVE A LIFE WORTH BLOGGING ABOUT".

Wow, pressure.

Ok, ok I get what the author is saying. It's probable that people don't want to read about your mundane daily life - but then again look at bloggers like Mrs Woog of Woogsworld. The mundane, if I may be so bold, is her bread and butter - it's where she finds inspiration and really connects with their blog community. It's even in the blog tagline.

You only have to look at my instagram feed to know that I don't lead an exciting life of travel and intrigue. Nor do most people, actually! I thought about my life a bit and realised that I don't only blog about "things that I do", I also write about "things that I like". Subjects I'm passionate about or find interesting. I don't need to travel to garment sweatshops to blog about supply chain slavery. Similarly, you don't have to be a sufferer of a given disease to write about a charity that focuses on it. If experiencing something was a criteria for writing about it, there would be far fewer writers!

I'm going to this blogging mantra and expand it a bit. To something like "LIVE A LIFE THAT'S CURIOUS AND INTERESTING." Not as catchy, but possibly something that's a bit more do-able.

 Be passionate about things. Go forth and do things that excite you. But also research and read. Explore the world from the comfort of your own home and in your imagination if you like. You don't have to spend a lot of money or be a professional photographer to capture these moments of inspiration - just write.

And share - if you want.

What do you think? What is a "bloggable" life like?
 

Why I Don't Write

There's a bit of a meme going around the Australian blogosphere at the moment on "Why I Write". I've enjoyed reading about a lot of people's inspirations, but at the same time I've reached a sobering conclusion: I'm not a writer.

What I mean is, I don't often feel a burning desire to pour words onto the page. I don't always have stories in me trying to get out, compelling me to put pen to paper (or more precisely, fingers to keyboard). What I do feel is the occasional desire to write down a few thoughts, to comment on recent events, or share stories of my life. This is what compels me to write my blog. Prior to the advent of the internet, I'd make do writing down this sort of stuff in a journal, or boring the pants off my friends making conversation about stuff they really couldn't care less about.

But goodness me, what a boon the online world is. I can now share these occasional bursts of writing with a wider community, not limited by geography!

I definiately do not fit the stereotype of the writer.  I do not slave over a typewriter/keyboard at all hours, creating every day. I don't suffer from "writer's block" any more because when I don't have any ideas about what to write, I don't try to force it. I'm not berating myself for not writing regularly, or have any feelings of guilt at neglecting my writing if I haven't done so in a few days or weeks.

I'm a proud Slow Blogger. Although lately I've been feeling if I wrote more, this blog would have more "engagement" (and more followers, and more of a chance at monetisation... ) I don't want to feel like I have to be producing posts every day. That's too much like work, and I already have a full time job.

And that's the key to my non-writerliness I believe. I don't want to be writing every day. I don't want to make blogging my full time job - because that's too much hard work. I say kudos to those writers and bloggers that DO make a living out of it, because I know for a fact it's not easy!

So for the moment, I'll continue to write as inspiration moves me. And I won't claim to be a writer, just a blogger who writes things sometimes.

Do you write? Regularly? Do you feeel the burning desire to tell stories? Do you call yourself a proper "writer"?

Blogging and the self

I had a manager once who was a big advocate of journaling. Not just personal diarising, but writing about your professional life. She believed it helped relieve stress, organize your thoughts and aided problem solving. She also used to tell me that it was a great way to find out more about yourself. 
 

 

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I think she was right. The more I blog, the more insight I gain into the type of person that I am. When I read things I have written, things about my personality become clearer - what is important to me, what I believe in, things I'm passionate about. 

Recently, I learned that there is a blogging conference happening next year that is taking place on a cruise ship. My heart leapt. Two of my favorite things! Blogging and big ships! But then I realized there is no real way I could afford to go, unless I got a sponsor, or earned enough from this blog to pay for it. 

 

I briefly toyed with the idea of monetizing this blog but after googling a bit I quickly lost interest. There's a reason you don't see any advertising or sponsored posts on here. It's because I'm fundamentally lazy. I don't even keep an editorial calendar (I've heard that's a thing) - how could I organize myself enough to attract advertisers or put brand pitches together? Ha ha. I just don't have enough interest in it to make much of effort. A bit like my relationship with housework actually. 

 

That doesn't mean I couldn't. Money IS a pretty good motivator. And it doesn't mean I'm not going to monetize or open up the blog for paid content in future. It just means I've learnt enough about myself through blogging the last few years to realize I'm no go-getter. I'm a Slow Blogger. 

 

I'll continue to write a about things if and when the feeling grabs me. Because that's how I roll... For now, anyway!

 

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Has your writing helped you gain insight about yourself?

Problogger Training Event Takeaways

Today is a week since I attended Problogger Training Event on the Gold Coast. I was admittedly nervous for my first blogging conference but it ended up being non-painful; and happily, also personally valuable.

I invested in my ticket price waaaaay back at the beginning of the year. Why? I'm still not even sure. I asked my hubby if I could spend 250 of our hard-earned clams because "it's something I'm interested in". He agreed, because he's a good guy.

Yes, in the back of my brain I'm a little interested in the fact that people earn an income from blogging. And I was excited to meet people from the internet who have become friends. It was also fun to see "big" bloggers in the flesh. 

But the best part was the learning. I was a little sponge, soaking it all up. I realised I totally miss uni. Not the exams, but the finding out of interesting things. I am interested in blogging, therefore a whole conference of speakers addressing blogging issues was totally cool to me!

And the best part was managing to sort through and solidify some of my writing goals. I've always written online - way back to my Livejournal days at uni- but the content has changed a lot. I used to be all about sharing my online life - cool fandom stuff, fan fiction and such. Now I write about my offline doings - what I call "real life". 

Problogger has helped me to identify some of the reasons I blog and also point me towards some goals that click with me. It's funny, I went expecting to be excited about the technical side of blogging: google analytics, cross-platform marketing, ebooks. Instead I was intrigued by the emotional aspect of what I do - telling a story, helping readers find solutions, writing for good.

My favourite sessions:

Blogging for Beginners - Pip Lincolne

Sure, I'm hardly a n00b at this game but I couldn't pass up the chance to see Pip's session. I have admired her work for so long, and she is just so infectiously enthusiastic about STUFF. She talked about the rewards of building a community of engaged readers, which I loved. She advocates using your blog for good and being a good blog citizen by reading and commenting on others' posts. I learned from her that sincerity is should be at the heart of everything you do. I also liked that she uses the word "amplification" instead of marketing. 

The Fortune Cookie Principle - Bernadette Jiwa

I cannot believe I had never heard of Bernadette. Her marketing philosophy - focused on people, not product placement, was so refreshing. She told me that every click on my blog was a person looking for something, and never to forget that each of them is giving me the gift of their precious time. Think about trying to answer their problems or make a difference in their lives. Look at what people are reading most on your blog, not how many. Relevance is the key. The main message though was that people like things for how they make them feel (not what they actually are) - when you apply this to blogging, you can try to build a lovely community of folk who care about the same stuff. 

Blogging for Community - Joy Toose, Emma Stirling & Renee Bugg

I was excited about this session because I've been thinking for so long about how to incorporate more acts of social good into my life. These guys talked about digital volunteerism and how charities are often not social-media savvy and most would welcome any blogger outreach. They talked about using a blog's influence to spread word or causes and raise profiles of campaigns. I also heard  about Blog Action Day, an annual event I'm keen to learn more about. 

In short, my brain is now buzzing with ideas. I want to write all the things. And I hope you all will help me!

Have you ever been to a blog conference? What did you learn? Did I meet you at PBEvent and I'm not following you on social media? Let me know!

PS - Meanwhile, how much exposure did QT Gold Coast get from this event? Trendy hotel, savvy PR folks.

--> Linking up with Slapdash Mama for The Lounge.

Content is King

Content is king. That’s the mantra I’m hearing around the Internets these days. It’s probably true.

At my work, we say CASH is king, but that’s because, y’know, we are an Accounts team. So cash is good is real life, but online it seems that content is necessary to generate it.

But that only applies if your aim is to get rich through blogging, or vlogging, or vine-ing (is that possible?) or what have you. I like to think that most of us out there are creating things for the joy of sharing it, and also for the betterment of humankind as a whole. Or as vlogbrothers put it, for the decrease of WorldSuck.

Sure, your video of your cat being cute may not solve world hunger, but in some small way, I’m pretty sure it will cheer up somebody who is having a bad day. Many bloggers get emails from people saying that posts they’ve written have touched them in some way, encouraged them to take steps to solve problems in their lives, or reach out for help when they need it.

I guess what I’m thinking about this today is the hope that good content will hopefully, on average, equal good internet. And if we keep trying to share ideas and have conversations with each other, then we may just make a difference to the world. Maybe one or two people at first, but sometimes the smallest thing can touch many lives.

I mean; when you post a recipe, people try it and gosh darn if there isn’t joy to be found in the making of food. When you write about how you have been feeling down lately, and what you’re doing about it, or your struggle with a certain issue – readers can relate, and take away advice from your experience. When you make a video about how you think a certain thing is cool, or an issue that needs to be talked about, people listen. Blogging and vlogging means reaching out and touching someone. But hopefully in a helpful, entertaining, non-creepy way.

So what I’m trying to say is: create original content. Say what’s on your mind. Tell us about what you’re up to. Share cool stuff you’ve found. Sure, you may be able to make some money. But surely that isn’t the main point?

What great content have you found lately? Has a blogger or vlogger taught you something, made you happy or helped you out recently?