Hello! Wow, it sure feels strange blogging again although that little break I had was well needed. I think I need to explain myself. *sticks kettle on*
You may recall that in my A Much Needed LUSH Purchase , I spoke about getting anxious one day and that I wanted you to keep your fingers crossed for me. I actually had a job interview for a pretty big law firm in Leeds and I naively thought that I could just walk in, smile sweetly and get it. I went to shambles in my interview. For an idea of how bad it was, when asked what I could bring to the firm, I said “a big smile”. Somehow, I got a second interview, which was even worse – I almost wish I hadn’t of gone now. I could tell straight away that I was too young for the people I would have been working for and no, I didn’t get the job.
However , things happen for a reason. I have sat down with myself and I have actually looked at what I enjoy doing – can you guess what it is? Well if you follow me on Twitter, you will guess…
Writing. I love reading and I love blogging so why couldn’t I combine the two to be a freelance writer? Before you start fainting in droves, I haven’t handed in my notice! I’m still at my job but I have decided to branch out slowly and build up some experience and polish up my skills. That is one area of my life where I’m feeling pretty damn good about actually; I feel like I finally know what I’m doing and now that I am on a path I feel like I have direction in life and motivation.
Now that I have that area of my life kind of sorted, I need to talk about my blog.
I needed a little break from blogging as I was beginning to burn out. I was putting an unbelievable amount of pressure on myself to blog, blog, blog all day err’day as well as having a life. It was going to catch up with me eventually and it did; hard. I work 40 hours a week, plus about 2 hours of travelling a day as well as other things going on in my life. I got so wrapped up in my blog that there wasn’t any time for anything else. Even though I kept saying to myself “I’m going to study today” or “I’m going to read this book today”, I didn’t. All I focused on was my blog and posting everyday. During my break, I took a look at this blog. Is it a huge blog? No. Will it ever be? No. So why I am half killing myself for it? I started blogging as a hobby and it took over. I became obsessed with my stats and numbers and it kind of took the fun out of it at times. I have realised that I will never be a big blogger and YouTube star- I think every blogger feels like this now especially with the way the blogosphere is changing – but would I want to? My every move scrutinised on forum boards, my face turned into reaction GIFS and posted all over the internet? I can’t handle it when the office is celebrating me on my birthday, and that’s 20 people I see every day. How could I cope with virtual unknowns watching me? *shudders*
I think it’s time for a new beginning for my blog, but I can’t do it without you – the people who read. I’m so thankful to everyone who filled in my survey as it is pretty amazing to see what some of you are thinking!
Let’s start off with some nice things *straightens bow tie*
“I like your writing style, and how you come across in your work. I don’t know if it’s how you’re in real life however, I really like it.” “The humour. A lot of beauty blogs are very samey, yours stands out a mile and I like that – your humour is fun and innocent too. Its not poking fun at anyone or mean!” “Personality in every post – you’re well funny! Love the Beauty Blogger memes, tags, etc. Honest reviews, you feature products I can afford, regularly updated…” “You have a really nice, chatty style, and come off as very “mates”, as opposed to “I am a blogger and I know all”. It’s got a lot of good content, it’s never the same old stuff. I really like the review of the ingredients you do sometimes.” “The clear and consistent personality – clear its coming from a real person not a pr machine”.
*wipes tear from eye*
Alright, now it’s time to talk about some of the negatives.
MusicMondays/Books/Films – Quite a few of you aren’t keen on MusicMonday and my book reviews which I kind of expected – the stats do not lie! I did feel that they didn’t get the same reception as my other posts so I think now, going forward, I am not going to post those types of posts anymore. However, if any of you ever do feel like chatting about these things, you know where I am! You can tweet me or you can email me if you fancy a more in depth conversation. I am on GoodReads somewhere so if you want to be friends on that we can, and if you ever fancy a music recommendation you can always contact me about that either.
With regard to the film reviews, I think I may just stick to reviewing and GIF-ing Japanese films and TV shows as you all seem to love them, so they aren’t going anywhere!
Suggested Posts – A few of you want to see some FOTDs, OOTDs, hauls and make up looks. I can easily do haul posts as I never stop spending to be honest (it’s a problem) but I am insanely nervous about FOTDs and OOTDs as for me it’s quite a new territory. I am willing to try though and I think I will start off with some FOTDs. I am still learning my way around my camera so if I can figure out the self timer function there may be some fashion on here… Maybe…
Blog design – Some issues were also raised about my design and a few of you reported difficulty reading my blog on Bloglovin’. This may be down to a plug-in that I’m using and I am sorting that out. With regards to my design, I am in the process of getting it redesigned but as I am pretty much THE client from hell it is taking longer than expected. I will pass on everyone’s comments about the design, don’t you worry.
Lifestyle posts – I could be the world’s most boring person and I’m not a jetsetter. I’m just me. If anyone has any suggestion for lifestyle posts, such as funny memories or advice posts – I can do those. I could even try and squeeze in a “day in the life of…” if that was of remote interest to anyone?
Photography – I know, it is so bad! I have realised that flash is not my friend and that natural daylight is the winner. I also need to find a decent background as I must be the only blogger who doesn’t own a dressing table! I actually need to learn my way around the camera first..
In summary – you like how I write, but there is stuff to improve on.
From now on, I’m going to take it easy on the blog. No more posting every day, unless it does become my job. I want my posts to be better quality and I want my posts to be even funnier. I am going to post more make up reviews and figure out how to take a good picture. I am going to sit down with a Japanese movie and GIF maker. I am going to remove Google Analytics from my bookmarks and just… breathe.
Danniella x