The Blogger Recognition Award

Thank you so much QuirkyVictorian for the nomination and for giving me something to write about today! People, if you’re not already following her blog, you’re missing out. (Over)Analysing Literature was the very first blog I followed and I’m so glad I did. Chloe’s writing is creative, engaging, honest, often hilarious and always interesting – go check her out!

Rules:

• Write a post to show your award
• Give a brief story of how your blog started
• Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers
• Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog
• Select 15 other blogs you want to give the award to

So how did my blog start?

Buckle up kids, it’s STORY TIME. Prepare yourself for the most electrifying blog-origin-story you have ever experienced. You will never look at the world the same way after reading this, so I hope you’re ready. If you have high blood pressure or are prone to fainting I would recommend you sit down before proceeding. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Ok, deep breath, here goes:

 

 

 

This one time, I was like, “hey, maybe I should start a blog”, and then I did.

 

 

I know. I know. It’s pretty earth-shattering stuff. I hope you’re feeling okay after reading that – it’s normal to experience some dizziness and nausea from the shock, but don’t worry, it will pass.

Seriously though, that’s pretty much how my blog came about! The slightly longer version is that depression and anxiety put an end to my overseas adventures, landing me back in New Zealand jobless and aimless, so I thought I’d try my hand at blogging to fill the long days spent by myself. And I’m so glad I did! I have met people on this site that I truly consider to be my friends, even if only on a screen. I want my blog to be a safe space where anyone who needs to can chat freely about their mental health, without the fear of being judged for it. I understand what it feels like to have your illnesses dismissed just because they don’t manifest themselves physically, and I am here to talk to if anyone ever needs to. Of course I have strayed somewhat from my mental health theme, but variety is the spice of life, right? The purpose of my blog is still primarily to discuss mental health, but I can’t stop myself chucking in the occasional completely-off-topic post too. Hope that’s ok!

Advice for New Bloggers

I’m about as qualified to give blogging advice as a sea-slug, but I’ll try.

1. Make use of the resources on offer: About a year ago I created a blog here on WordPress, but had absolutely no idea how the site worked. Every day I would check to see if someone had stopped by, and every day I was met with a bunch of vindictive zeroes leering at me from the stats page. I thought people would just magically find my blog, and was so frustrated to find this wasn’t the case that I deleted the entire thing. This time around, I seem to have sprouted a few more brain cells, and have realised that there is such a thing as tagging your posts, and that such wonderful resources as the Community Pool and the Daily Prompt are here to help. So use them! I have discovered a whole new world (cue Aladdin music here) of people who are encouraging, supportive and honest in their feedback, and I’m so grateful. So share, share and share again! You’re not inflicting your writing on anyone – if they don’t want to read your blog, they won’t, but if you don’t share it, they can’t! Give them the choice and you will be pleasantly surprised, I promise.

2. Don’t compare yourself to other bloggers: Today, after having my blog for almost 2 months, I hit the 50 followers milestone. I look at some of the blogs I follow and see their follower count in the 100s or even 1000s, and I can’t help but think, jeepers, what am I doing wrong?! But there is no such thing as a “wrong” blog. I didn’t start blogging for the purpose of gaining followers, I started it for myself, and holy moly I’ve somehow caught the attention of 50 people along the way! That is not a failure by any means. Just do whatever is authentic to you, and don’t worry about anything/anyone else.

And the Academy Award for Blogger Recognition goes to…

1. PerfectionHasAPrice
2. YourAveragePeahead
3. TheJouskaBlog
4. ApparentlyIntrovert
5. DarkDelilah
6. AislingAhearne
7. RespectableMarriedWoman
8. TheGirlWhoFearOblivion
9. iMac
10. MacAndCheeseAndWine
11. Mawil1
12. CassiellenSecretStory
13. ForwardThinkingFoodinista
14. Christine
15. Everyone else who wants to participate! These nominee limits are killing me.

Aaaand that’s all for today! If you’ve made it this far, I will now reward you with a picture of my cat. (You didn’t seriously think I would go an entire post without mentioning Annie, did you?) Lately she has been really enjoying archery as a hobby. Her aim is pretty good but I think it would be even better if she opened her eyes.

Hope you’re all having a lovely day/night!

All my love and thanks for reading,