Tuesday 10 May 2016

In Which She Accidentally Starts A New Blog


As recently as a week ago I was 100% certain that I would be leaving the blogging world behind for good. Over the past six months blogging had stopped being fun and become something akin to a chore. I felt huge pressure to meet self-imposed deadlines and targets, had started to resent the amount of time I spent putting posts together, plus I couldn't for the life of me figure out why people wanted to read my ramblings.

My old blog becoming irrevocably broken seemed like a sign of sorts, a chance to have a break from blogging and take stock. And I relished the time off. I loved not feeling like I have to sit down and write every day, no more getting frustrated with myself because I hadn't done an outfit post in months, or because I hadn't yet written a review of each of the 20 books I'd read in the past month. I was able to enjoy myself on days out without panicking about having enough good photographs for a post, able to dedicate some time to just living, instead of writing about living.

In fact, I've managed to do a lot of living in the past couple of months. Having got home from Cape Town, Thomas and I then visited Edinburgh (and I met up with Gwen, which turned out to be just like seeing an old friend, and was thus enormous fun). I finished the zine I'd been working on for two long years. I started volunteering with a project for transgender youth here in Leicester. I spent time getting my garden into shape and remembered how much I love gardening. And Thomas and I finally got ourselves organised regarding our wedding, set a date, and booked venues.

And yet...

Over the past few weeks I've had the urge to write again and, no matter how much I tried to pretend it was definitely possible to make 100 zines on 100 different topics, I had to admit that actually, it probably wasn't. So I started tinkering with Blogger and I remembered how much fun it can be.

So here I am. A fresh blog, a fresh start, and a new way of doing things. No putting pressure on myself to meet spurious deadlines. No fretting over everything being perfect. No trying to review every book I read or to write about every trip I take. No trying to keep to schedules or blogging for any other reason than because I want to. A more balanced and achievable approach. I hope you'll stick with me.

41 comments:

  1. SO glad you are back, and feeling refreshed, with a shiny new blog, love it! We put way too much pressure on ourselves sometimes I think, I know how you feel. I will miss your old blog if only for the title getting the Smiths stuck in a loop in my head! ;-0 xo

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    1. Someone, somewhere is from the same song and I've constantly had it in my head since I set this one up!

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    2. Ohhh yes! Here is my comment appearing now, oh well! ;-)

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  2. Yeah! Welcome back. Love the layout xx

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  3. I had only recently started following your blog when you stopped blogging. It is nice to have you back. I enjoy your writing.

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  4. Yay, welcome back! I'm glad you're blogging again :) I also go for a pretty loose schedule (obviously) these days but I'd definitely miss blogging if I tried to give up!

    Liz x

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    1. Thank you! I'll see how it goes... I'm very good at saying I won't stress over something and then stressing over it anyway!

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  5. Funny enough doing one of those blog everyday thingys nearly killed off blogging for me. Feeling like you have to blog for the sake of it is the worst.

    Blog for yourself, whenever you feel like it and write about whatever you fancy, I say! Im glad that you are giving it another go as your blog has always been one of my faves. So you are not going down the self hosted Wordpress route then?

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    1. I ultimately decided that, as I'm still a bit luke-warm about the whole thing, perhaps spending money on setting up a new blog wasn't the best idea.

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    2. Yeah, fair enough. I refuse to spend any on mine!

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  6. Yay! Glad to see you back!

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  7. Yay! So glad you're back.

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  8. So glad to see you're back! I missed you! Congratulations on setting a date!

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    1. Thank you! Nice to know I was missed, haha!

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    1. At the moment, I'm glad to be back. Hope it lasts!

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  10. I tried to comment yesterday but got an error, will try again! Happy you are back, and feeling refreshed! :-) x

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    1. Ha - yep my aunt emailed me about it and I was like "nooooo, not again!" but it turned out I'd just mistyped my email address for verification.

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  11. Good that your up and running again.Your right blogging is only fun when there is no pressure to blog.I just tried doing the #BEDM again but I only managed a week.It kind of made me realise that although I love blogging,I only love it on my own terms.Good Luck.x

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    1. You've hit the nail on the head - I really only want to blog on my own terms from now on.

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  12. Hurray for a new blog and a new start! Who cares about things being perfect, I love your imperfect blog x

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  13. Really glad you're back. Don't put pressure on yourself. Celebrate the imperfection x

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    1. I'm going to try my best, anyway, to not feel pressured.

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  14. I'm super pleased that you're back; the internet hasn't been quite right without a little bit of Janet blogging in it!

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  15. Really, really glad you're back!! I always gets sad when blogging friends stop! Yes, blogging on your own terms is a must!!

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    1. I'm already completely sucked back into it - I come home from work and immediately open my laptop! Maybe need to find a happy medium.

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  16. Great to see you back! Really looking forward to reading your words again :) x

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  17. I just saw on instagram that you're back! Good news :) nothing like a bit of break to get you back in the blogging mood.

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    1. It's the longest break I've taken but yeah, seems to have done the trick!

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  18. Welcome back - I think this might be the way forward in blogging x

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