The other week the marvellous Mummy in a Tutu and I set up the Instagram community #Lionessmama. To celebrate imperfection, bad days, scribbled on walls and our gorgeous, snot covered children. To acknowledge how, even on the crap days we kick ass as parents, as people. How we are proud, fierce and rocking motherhood. It is about finding positivity, recognizing that things may not be ‘perfect’ and that doesn’t have to be a negative.
I have been in a blogging slump lately.
Drowning in a cold ocean of work, parenting, illness, moving home, and everything that is life in-between. Writing and the blogging community has brought me some glittering highs but also, unexpectedly, at times makes me feel desperately low.
I know that for now, I can only be a partime blogger…if I want to go pro I am going to have to put in the time and tears and quit the day job. My family and I aren’t there yet.
Midway through writing this post, at just the right moment, I read this post by Single Mum speaks. She to me is the epitome of empowerment, and awesomeness. I want to be her when I grow up…well we are the same age and she’s a couple of dress sizes smaller than me but you get the metaphor. I respect her as a mother, and a writer.
Much more eloquently that I, she voiced all my grey feelings about being a blogger. And, in reading her words I felt reassured, that it was ok to feel like this. A failure. Like I might be a bit crap. Because all of us do, whether we have just started blogging and can’t work WordPress, or if we receive 1000 emails from PRs and get paid in solid gold bullion.
I can’t give 100% all the time, can’t finish my to do list, can’t lay golden eggs.
What I don’t need to do is beat myself up over it.
So if you’re feeling pants, join me for a moment and say it is ok not to be Stepford perfect all the time. Its actually good. And sane. And normal.
I am a crap blogger because…
- I don’t have a blogging schedule, or planner. You’re not a real blogger till you have a leather bound planner that smells of wisdom.
- PRs like to boost my confidence by telling me my stats, metrics, page views etc are not that great. I bust my balls ensuring I try and write great content, I will promote posts till my fingers bleed. Surely having 10,000+ social media followers is a reasonable achievement? They can’t all be my Nan. She thinks Twitter is the neighbor’s cat.
- My posts tend to make people cry more than laugh. What’s my niche? I make people blow their nose often. Maybe Andrex will sponsor me.
- I think my website design makes people feel nauseous. Blogs are meant to be all white and chic and minimalist.
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At 29 I have no clue what a semi colon is for. My SEO and readability are always angrily red. I used ‘crap’ as the SEO title for this post. What the crap is SEO anyway?
- As much as I desperately wish I could, I do not comment or retweet on all your kick ass posts as much as I would like. That is one thing I truly am sorry for.
- I can’t keep up with the 1000 hashtags on Instagram and I cannot, even if I had Jackson Pollock’s own platinum Nikon with x-ray vision, take photos that are half as beautiful as other peoples.
- My kid hates having his picture taken. He is a crap blogger child and I am a crap blogger. Also, and I say this with a mothers love, when he puts on a pretend smile he looks like he is pooing. All of my pictures involve me trying to distract him by pointing in the distance and shouting, ‘look Pikachu!’
- Linkys are awesome, I love them and have a list on my fridge. How many do I link up with a week…maybe one? I am not a linky multitasker.
- The idea of going to a blogging event makes me sweaty and nauseous. Getting drunk with a bunch of people that all have Facebook live on their phones is a risky business.
- I am not unsociable, but I am afraid of everyone. Social wimp. Creating a one line comment to the ‘pro’ bloggers takes an hour to phrase so I don’t sound like an idiot. Then I feel like a weird stalker. Like I am fangirling it up and they will think I am a tit. I may indeed be a tit.
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I don’t know how you pronounce vlog.
- Eight months I have been blogging and I still have not set up my email subscription. To the couple hundred awesome individuals who have signed up. You will be rewarded in the afterlife. It will be done by 2017.
- I used the word ‘anal’ in an email to a brand. And, I won’t tell you the context.
I have got an email signature though. Win.
Time and determination will see me work through these challenges, then new tasks will make me feel like tearing my hair out. It’s the circle of blogging.
Bury the blog angst. You are better than that. Work hard but for three minutes every day, don’t take yourself too seriously.
Go on, share, what makes you a crap blogger?
There is at least a 64% chance you will feel better for telling everyone…
P.s I put crap as a search term on Pixabay. You will be surprised how many pictured of poos there are on there.
