Book Blogger Love-A-Thon; Mini-Challenge #4!
Don’t worry, I haven’t suddenly lost my mind by skipping from #2 to #4. Instead, I decided not to participate in the third mini-challenge because playlists are just NOT my thing at all. For this challenge, I am writing a letter to my old blogger self. I’m not really sure how this is going to go but it’d be interesting to see where it goes.
Dear Past Faye
I see you sitting there, on your bed, with your mind full of ideas and inspiration, with your keys fumbling over the keyboard as you write your very first review to post on your blog. You’re thinking it out, working hard on it to make it unique and different, entertaining and fun, but I just want to tell you to stress a little less because that first review will be the one you’ll hate the most. As much as it seems like an amazing review today – and hey, it probably is still a great review, don’t take me the wrong way! – but it will not be anywhere near as good as your reviews once you get your own unique style flowing. These first reviews you write will be your pencil lines before the pen and paint arrives. It’s important, incredibly so, but soon it will no longer be seen.
While you may think that you’ll only be having this blog for a side hobby, something to do to help you get a better portfolio for work, and to share your love of writing, books, and films, I just want to warn you now that it will quickly become something so much more than that. You’ll find that your blog will always be on your mind but you also won’t mind because it will mean so much to you. It’ll be that small salvation to your jumbled up life that you never even knew you needed until it was just there. Suddenly, it’ll be the thought of NOT having a blog anymore that will cause your heart to ache and your breathing to become heavy, and you’ll know that you will be blogging for many years to come.
But don’t think it’s always going to be a walk in the park. It’s going to get hard along the way. There will be battles you’ll have to overcome, real life that will get in the way, and stress that you just can’t stop but feeling will occur but I just have to let you know that it will all be worth it. It may seem like it’s time to chuck in the towel some times but I promise that if you hold it altogether and just push through it, the rewards on the other side will be absolutely amazing and you really will soon be looking back in happiness because you did it. You stuck with it and you’re so much better off because of that.
Also, you may think that as soon as you hit “publish”, you will be entering a world of worry and lonliness, and you won’t have a clue where to reach out to get people to follow you or how to really communicate with other bloggers but with the help of some amazing friends – they will be friends soon – the journey will be made ten times better. You’ll learn all about Goodreads – a site you’ll wish you knew about growing up – you’ll get better at HTML, you’ll make a lot of graphics – and you’ll soon learn about the amazing Windows Live Writer as well.
What I’m really trying to say is that when you do finally get that first post out there and start marketing your blog, it’ll be the best decision you ever make and you will never forget it.
Trust Me.
Yours,
Future Faye
15 Comments
Dana
Really great letter. Thanks for sharing with us!
Dana
Faye (Daydreaming_Star)
Thank you Dana! Glad you liked it :D
Katelyn
I am seeing so many AMAZING letters today! I love the advice you gave, the good AND the not-so-good! I sometimes wish I would have been more prepared but I like to think we turned out just fine ;)
Faye (Daydreaming_Star)
Thank yiou Katelyn! Yeah, I think it would have been silly to miss out the hard stuff, it’s just a side part to blogging.
Oh, I think we turned out just fine indeed! Only way from here is up, right?
:D
bookrockbetty
I really enjoyed your letter, especially reading it from my point of view, as a new blogger. There were so many great words of advice! Thanks for sharing!!
Faye (Daydreaming_Star)
Yay! I’m glad my letter may be able to help you as a new blogger :D It’s always tough being new so I’m always happy to be able to give advice as and where I can! Good luck on your journey :-)
Thanks for stopping by!
Claire @ Project to be Read
Awesome letter! Thanks for sharing :)
Faye (Daydreaming_Star)
Thanks Claire! Popping over to comment on all your posts soon :)
Courtney
Lovely post – thanks for sharing! It’s all so true – things I wish I had known back in the day :)
Faye (Daydreaming_Star)
Thanks and you’re welcome! It would have been good, but I think stumbling our way through in the dark is sometimes a bit of the fun. I did have some advice when I started which I tried to take on board but we all have to learn from our mistakes, don’t we?
Thanks for stopping by!
Nicole
What is this magic Windows Live Writer you speak of?!? Will it make my life easier??! And damn you hit close to home! I feel like my reviews keep improving! I’ve only been blogging for just about 2 months now and my blog is always on my mind but it has become a part of me already! Even though it is work I can’t imagine not doing it now. How addicted I’ve become so fast!! Fantastic letter!
Nicole @ The Quiet Concert
Faye (Daydreaming_Star)
Oh! It’s a lifesaver if you use Blogger! I don’t use it anymore as I use WP but when I was on Blogger it saved my soul as I got SO frustrated with blogger compose!
It’s a program that is usually already installed on newer Windows PCs – there is a mac version but I’ve never used it to know if it’s any good! – and you just install your blog onto it and then type posts as you would and then publish (or schedule) from there! Does all the coding for you without the mistakes blogger compose makes!
If you need any extra help from that, please don’t hesitate to contact me! – E-mail button in sidebar or contact form on “contact” page :-)
Glad you’re enjoying blogging so much! I was the same after only two months as well, it just makes life so much more fun!
Thanks Nicole, and thanks for commenting.
Alexa Y.
Oh Faye, your letter to your younger blogging self is so, so beautiful. It perfectly conveys advice to the blogger who is just about to start blogging and I LOVE that. I think you did a wonderful job and shared some great advice!
Mary @ Travels with Mary
As someone just starting out in blogging, this was really reassuring to read! Thank you!
Clover
Oh what a great idea for a post, I really love this!