Recently I’ve been feeling a little bit “blah” about blogging. I think this has been due to both changes in my personal life, as well as changes in the blogosphere.
When I first started blogging it was all about fun. As time went by I started noticing “rules” and “expectations” being placed on me all the times, sometimes by myself, sometimes by others. The advent of twitter only seemed to make me feel more guilty if I felt I wasn’t meeting the standards of others.
Tweets implying that bloggers who reviewed PR samples in particular really made me feel bad. I’ve blogged for three years now, and I’ve always been 100% honest, and always disclosed where products I reviewed were from. When I first started blogging I had a lot more disposable income so could afford to buy lots of products myself to review.
Sadly, due to the aforementioned changes in my personal life, that’s no longer the case. So I was left feeling guilty about “being one of those bloggers who only ever reviews PR samples”. Well, I’ve had a long hard think about this one…
And I’ve decided that this is my blog and I’ll decide the content. I’ll write about PR samples if I like, and I’ll also write the odd sponsored post if I want to. But I’ll always always disclose that to you, and I personally don’t see the point of insulting you with fake reviews, so you can count that my reviews will always be 100% honest no matter what. I enjoy trying new things, if something is great then I’ll tell you it’s great, but likewise if its pants I’ll let you know why I think that too. And that would be true whether I’d picked something up myself or had it sent to me…
But I’ll also start to write about the other stuff I love. Big changes in life makes you re-evaluate things a bit. And that’s made me realise that there are lots of things I’d love to write about. More personal posts perhaps. Things like book reviews, recipes, hell, even those lovely “five things that cheered me up today” style posts (I’d expect that my two cats will feature quite heavily in those ones!).
Renfield shows us how to Chillax...
I hope you will all stick around and continue to enjoy my musings – all I ever wanted from blogging was fun and I intend to start feeling that again!
I don’t care what you review as long as you keep blogging. Maybe not car engines or quantum physics. That might be a stretch….
)
LMAO – As if I could do blogging about engines and Quantum Physics! Now pretendy sectiony papers are another thing altogether…
Er…sorry, but I have been waiting for the car engines and quantum physics to be written about here for a LONG time. BBB promised me if I stuck around I’d see some and so far…nothing!
Damn that BBB, making her false promises! *shakes fist at sky*…. *gets “Big Book of Quantum Physics and Car Engines off bookshelf*…. *sighs and puts on geekspecs*…
Will definitely be sticking around and look forward to your next blog xx
Hey Jen, I’ve not been around the online beauty world much the last couple of months (new baby, sick children etc!), but on my dippings in and out, one thing that has been apparent is the shift in recent times of blog owners attitudes to their own ‘safe haven’
You don’t seem to be alone in starting to include non-beauty posts and you’re certainly not the only one to rebel against those unspoken rules.
All the time that what you’re doing makes you happy and allows you a moment to escape, then keep doing it.
You’re doing a good job!
Sam x
Hey Sam! Lovely to hear from you – I just felt I was being really pressured by the “rules and regulations” of others, and I wanted to remember why I started blogging in the beginning anyway – as a fun hobby, not some big stressful thing where I have to worry about other people’s opinions constantly. If people want to read they will read, if not, thats fine also! I have to blog for me again. Hope new baby is giving you lots an lots of joy! xx
looking to reading other topics on the blog but I expect the beauty stuff will always be a fav!! keep it coming x
Lol – I’ll always love my makeup and skincare but I’m def looking forward to blogging about other bits and bobs too!
Hey you, I’m glad to see yhis post, not because it makes me happy but because it makes me feel glad I’m not alone.
I’m sick of reading about how I should be dealing with PR’s, how many of what product I review and where I got it from in order to be a relevant and ethical blogger, I’m fed up of being dictated to about my HOBBY. I write my blog for pleasure and I write it how I want to write it when I want to write it and about whatever products I want to write about. I put up the pictures I want to use, I use the language I choose to use and I follow and talk to whom I want to talk to.
To do anything else would be to not be myself.
And so, I find I barely tweet these days, I particularly avoid Sunday nights which seems to be a great excuse for Some bloggers to become paragons of blogging virtue loudly proclaiming what they don’t like in a blog… all of which makes me feel crap. So now i just don’t really go on Twitter. I keep myself to myself, blog in my own way and always remember that the vast majority of my readers are not bloggers and are friends, family and people who find me via google and thats what I bear in mind when I write. Not the rules dictated by the blogging community.
xxxx
Hey Charlie, I know what you mean about avoiding twitter at times, although I do think the #bbblogger chat on a sunday night is not meant to make people feel bad, rather just to let people discuss blogging issues… What I do get annoyed by are the random judgemental tweets from people saying they think people who review PR samples are fake and “only in it for the freebies” – I have blogged for about three years now and I did that for about 6 months to a year with no “freebies” – I did it because I enjoyed it, and thee emerging expectations of others stopped me from enjoying that for a while. But I’ve cleared the air now, and I’m looking forward to blogging more freely! Here’s to being yourself! xxx
Good girl, I love reading personal bits interspersed with beauty anyway. You’re too good a blogger to let things overtake you or dictate to you. Just enjoy what you do ‘cos you do it well x
Thanks Charlotte -thats a lovely comment to make, I am actually feeling a lot less pressured by it all already, like I’ve cleared th air! Jen x
Well said lovely!
Good on you for not letting the pressure get the better of you.
I’ll continue looking forward to your blog post!
xx
Thanks Nikki – I felt it needed to be said so I could move on and blog the way I want to if that makes sense? Glad you will carry on reading! xxx
Don’t get me wrong, I know the intention of the sunday nights thing isn’t how I’ve taken it. And also I must add that it hasn’t been that way every week. But I think the first week or two, in particular the PR week, were just horrible (but that isn’t to say everyone was horrible and there weren’t great and valuable points made). Never mind, I just avoid, then I can’t get offended or read too much into things!
I know what you meant Charlie – Dont worry, and you are always entitled to express any opinion you have – you shouldn’t feel like you have to avoid twitter, thats not good – I miss you! I haven’t especially made an effort to join in with the blogger chat thing so maybe I should so I cann see both sides of the story…
I miss you too. Great post anyway, and sorry again for going off on one a bit. haha x
There’s really no need to apologise my love – we’re all entitled to say what we want!
aw jenny jen x don’t feel you have to explain anything – I always say my blog my rules if people don’t like it they now where the unfollow button is. You blog about whatever you want honey it’s you space. Just try and make the recipes a low calorie once in a while x love to the fur babies too xx
Hehe – where’s the fun in low calorie! xxx
Gosh I’m new to blogging and still finding my way, so it surprises and saddens me to think how you have felt / been made to feel.
Personally I couldn’t give a toss whether people are given products or purchase themselves, or if they feel the need to share where things came from. I’m more interested in what they have to say about them!
I agree that your blog should be your own little bubble where you have complete ownership & decide how things are done. I’m glad you’re feeling more positive & it’s refreshing that you’ve been so open about your feelings.
Nic x
Thanks Nic – I felt like I needed to get this stuff out of my head and onto my blog before I could actually blog again and enjoy it, without getting all in a tizz about other people’s opinions… Thanks so much for reading and taking the time to comment lovely! xxx
Hey Jen
It’s sad that for various reasons you have been made to feel that way. I am a great believer that people should blog about what they want to blog about. After all it’s YOUR blog. I have always read and enjoyed your blog and I am sure I will continue to (especially if there’s lots of kitty pics!)
My personal opinion on PR? So fucking what?! “Fake” reviews are as clear as day and so what if there are a lot of PR sample reviews. SO WHAT!? Don’t like them, don’tread them! Haha! I don’t like it when the blogosphere is saturated with one product, but that’s no fault of the individual blogger, that’s to do with the PR. When that happens, I go to my favourite bloggers and see what they have to say and skip the rest (yes, you are in the former group;)) I think the debate and the opinions around PR and beauty blogging is an interesting one and it’s good everyone has opinions but they shouldn’t be dictated to as gospel to others. There really is no right or wrong way to blog.
I have had moments where I have wanted to stop blogging as the fun had been zapped out of it. It is quite a cliquey environment now, much more than it use to be at the beginning but again, I let this pass me by, I have friends and bloggers I chat to and that’s all that really matters to me.
My real test has been recently when I changed my blog name and URL. I dropped a massive amount of hits and followers. It’s like starting from scratch, but you know what? I have continued and I just have to work hard to build it back up again. I do it because I enjoy it. Form that’s when I realised although feedback is nice and deffo useful, it is MY blog.
Please continue blogging, I like your style of writing and you should never be made to feel bad about anything you post on YOUR blog.
Here’s to another 3 wonderful years
Rebecca xx
Hi Rebecca – thanks for this lovely comment – I really appreciate you taking the time to leave me that, and thanks for all the lovely things you said – funnily enough I’ve noticed that my hits etc have dropped since I moved to WordPress, maybe because my posts don’t show in people’s readers anymore? But in a way thats been a bit liberating too, because I’ve realised that the world doesn’t end if I don’t get a certain number of hits, and I can still blog about what I want, in a way its fun building back up again!
I’m glad you feel the same way about PR etc too – I was sick of feeling guilty about that!
It was getting to the point where even thinking about blogging was making me thing “ugh”, so I guess I really needed to write this post to set my head straight and give people a clear idea about who I am and what I think about a few issues. I feel like I can move forward now and blog how I want to, instead of how other people want me to…
Here’s to another three years! xxxx
And she is back in the game! Thank fluffernutters for that!!! I’m missed you Jen, but can totally appreciate the reasons you’ve been absent. I personally don’t care if you get something from a PR. I just want to know what YOU think about the product. End of story. My thoughts are if you don’t like it, don’t read it. I love your ‘other’ posts. The Boy is away at the weekend. I think I’ll make your Rocky Road and munch it with a bottle of red – HEAVEN!! xxx
Leanne – I love you lots! Thats all I can say! You just gave me the biggest smile – enjoy the rocky road! (hasve some insulin on hand…) xxx
Mwah!!! Love you too homie! Glad I was able to make you smile. Don’t you worry. If I go into shock, I know a nurse I can call…. Wonder if she does house calls??!? x
She might do – for you! xxx
Hi Jen,
It’s been awhile! I haven’t been able to write due to school and everything (now we’re back into the whole, “Mom wants me to go outside and interact with other people other than her, the dogs in the neighborhood, Zena and my dad.” She does this EVERY YEAR.), but I’ve definitely felt from you that you were feeling uninspired. Blogging should be fun. I’d love to read about your kitties and their weird antics if that’s fun for you. Recipes are great too (although, it would be super great if you put both metric AND American units–cups, teaspoons, and tablespoons–down. I can’t figure out how to take a metric recipe and turn it into cups or tablespoons. It really peeves me off. I can do Celsius to Fahrenheit just fine; I can’t figure out the metric to cups thing.)
On the PR front, I don’t care if you do them. I enjoy your honesty about products (although I do find myself hating you when you do a post on a product I can’t get here in the US and I find I want it. That’s not your fault.) If I tire of reading PR posts, I can always choose not to read them. You’re certainly not pushing my face against the monitor and growling, “Read the f’ing post on pain of death.”
I hope to read more posts soon!
-Katie
Aw Kate! Hello you, lovely to see you back here again – I’ve missed your lovely comments! I’ll try to bear those comments in mind about the recipes for the future too!
It’s nice to post comments when I can. School can zap my energy, even when I’m just taking ONE academic course (I did that this semester and I can’t believe how tired I got.)
I also didn’t want to post a comment that said, “You sound so uninspired,” because I felt it would be rude and I didn’t want to make you feel bad! I’m Autistic and generally have no tact at all when I talk (if you get me talking, that is), but I try to censure out stuff like that when I write because I know people see it as “rude” or “bitchy.” So, I never know what to say sometimes! Some people like all the honesty and some don’t!
Hi Kate – No worries at all – I always love your comments, so feel free to be as honest as you like my dear! xxx
Can totally relate to this post, and really looking forward to reading anything and everything you want to write about. x
Thanks Jen – thats a lovely thing to say! xxx
Yo girlfriend, I’m glad that you have spoken out about how you feel about it – it’s such an evolving landscape that is becoming increasingly monetised… at the end of the day its your choice to write what you want about what you want and not feel the weight of expectation. Big hugs x
Thanks Alex… Lovely to hear from you!