I’m struggling at the moment. Not in a negative way – I feel happier, calmer and more content than I have in a very long time. Life feels good. What I am struggling with is this place. I’m not sure because I’m busy with work, and don’t really have the time to dedicate now – or – I’m just falling out of love with it all.
It just doesn’t feel how it used to.
There is so much ‘competition’ out there now. So many circles, groups and pods of people whoring the work of their coven, with moderate success. Bloggers are focused on being a celebrity, an opinion holder for Breakfast TV – it’s not about writing now.
It’s about over processed pictures of you and your kids. Slickly edited Video Blogs, filmed beautifully and edited instantly. I just can’t do it. I can’t physically keep up, and ethically, I can’t ‘sell’ my children – no matter how many toys, products, or brands are involved. It’s just all feeling a little sordid – I’m not sure I want to stay on the blogging merry-go-round as it is.
I enjoy a lot of what I do. I have found a new found love for cooking, and would love to push more food based items and recipes. Miss A is incredible at knocking up a beautiful meal from very little and my enthusiasm for that is massive. I’ve already written about ‘foodies’ who will instantly push frozen rubbish and sugar filled jars of sauces given enough money. Heck, even my Daddy Blogger peers are now willfully dropping their trousers and bending over for a few quid from Iceland.
We should be ambassadors for the ‘good stuff’ in food, showing people how simple it is to create tasty, healthy food from scratch. Let Peter Andre push a prawn ring – money isn’t everything. Authenticity and using your space for good is SO much better. And if an idiot like me, with limited cooking skills can learn, others can too. So maybe that’s where I should be taking my little corner of the internet?
That said – I would struggle with being a one trick pony. I’m a theme park nut, and I get so much pleasure from writing about them. This blog has opened so many doors into a world I adore and it’s brilliant being able to write about, and share stuff interested in. However, I’m aware it’s a bit niche – not everyone is interested in that.
I’m also a geek at heart, and love writing about technology and how incredibly quickly the world of gadgets and gizmos is evolving. Plus, now I’m wearing my old, battered ‘gaming hat’ a little more now – I’d love to write about that too. However, I wonder if I should just be ‘me’, and not a blogger. Get on with life without writing about it, take photos and videos as memories of good times rather than for sharing.
Would I have a better life if I didn’t blog?
I don’t know. I’d possibly sleep better than mentally composing blog posts that never get written. My phone might leave my hand if I wasn’t keeping my eye on the blogosphere through social media. That said, a lot of good opportunities, friends, and experiences have come to me, simply because I sit here, and occasionally write about them. It’s my outlet. Maybe I just need to change direction, give a firm ‘No’ to stuff that doesn’t ignite me. Meaning every spare drop of time can be invested into making whatever content I make the best it can be.
I guess if I was writing for fame and fortune, I’d be in 20 different Instagram Pods / ‘Blogger Support Groups’ and being a twee old twat on Twitter.
I suppose I like being in the corner – I don’t have to be something that I’m not. Or worry about my ‘brand’. I’ve just got to find time to do what I love a little better.
Haven’t seen Blair Witch Project in a LONG time 🙂
I’m feeling very much the same at the moment. It’s difficult when you switch on the telly and see a “freelancer” giving “expert opinion” on being a stay at home parent. You’re not a stay at home parent, you’re self employed selling advertising space on your blog (for the most part); and you have precious little in common with the majority of stay at home parents. You work around your kids, and probably get them experiences that the family on the Clapham Onmibus could never have.
Don’t get me wrong, we’ve done some cool stuff and the majority of it (particularly the West End film screenings) has been great; but I wouldn’t present myself as an ordinary guy if I was able to pack up my job and earn more from my blogging/influencer work than I did working 9-5. Not that there are many situations where I’d ever come across as normal of course :D.
But, as when I recently entered the vestibule of truth, a lot of blogs now don’t seem to really have the blog aspect at all. It’s like the time when American Vogue hit 69% of it’s pages as adverts. But worse. They only exist to have reviews, sponsored content and ads on them and the about me page says more about the person than any dozen posts will.. I think I’ve got 340 posts in my review category. Out of approximately 1,700. I fare better than American Vogue in that respect but I suppose it’s because I’ve been doing it a long time. I even have a recipe on the blog that I posted because I wanted to have a recipe on the blog. Radical huh?.
Although reviews and sponsored content isn’t in itself necessarily a bad thing if it’s done well. But it usually isn’t. I like to think I do it better in some instances. I’m on the Netflix Stream Team, and rather than post an identikit post based on a theme they email out with a goody bag, I’ll review the shows I’m watching or my kids are in to. It’s natural, and usually results in a good review as I’ll stop watching anything that isn’t. good long before I’ve seen enough to review it. To my mind that creates better value for a brand than me making Voltron themed cupcakes.
Oh, and in a separate comment because it’d get lost in the monologue above:
I think Shoreditch is analogous with Blogging now; at one point both were edgy and where really exciting things were happening. Now they’ve become gentrified and commercialised; and are a simulacra of what they formerly were, crafted to look like what those who came after the pioneers think they should look like and so by lacking the vital authenticity that made them exciting.
The trendsetters in the case of Shoreditch have moved on. What’s happened to the bloggers?