Lolita Charm: Let's Get Personal: Personal Blogging

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Let's Get Personal: Personal Blogging

I've always been a 'get-down-to-business' blogger. My posts are 'articles' or 'reviews' and I 'cover events.' I (presumptuously, perhaps) have always considered my site to be more of a one-woman magazine than a simple journal or diary. I even read magazine's just to get different ideas and angles for blog posts. As long as I've been blogging, I've often felt that the 'personal post' was a cop-out. By 'personal blogs' I mean those that make up a big chunk of the blogosphere: you know, your typical slice-of-life blogs with pictures of your dog, dates, food photography, and the occasional outfit shot. Who could possibly be interested in my dull life, I thought. This is what I wore to the dentist. Afterwards I broke protocol and ate this contraband chain-restaurant donut. Enjoy the subsequent twelve photos.

Some bloggers have got this down to an artform: beautiful snaps that make your chain-store donuts look delectable and outfit shots of ordinary coordinates look romantic and inspired. Or perhaps as a personal blogger your skill is sharing your daily stories in an engaging way, that both speak to the reader emotionally and garner a few laughs. While I've read and enjoyed many a personal blog, I never figured that genre would work for me.

After a long tradition on my blogging 'editorial' style, I was moved to consider personal blogging after reading this touching 'love letter' post from Anika (ByAnika.com) To be honest, I didn't even know 'personal blogging' was a term until I read this! But this post really opened my eyes to the soulfulness and contribution of the ordinary personal blog. A personal blog, Anika writes lovingly, is like a conversation with a good friend. A personal blog is unafraid to share the real life and personality of the blogger, not just their writing style or opinions on niche topics. You really get a homey, comfortable feeling reading a good personal blog, like sitting down to tea on a cold day.

I've always been worried about 'staying on topic' with Lolita Charm and one aim of the new site (coming soon, next-week-soo!) is to allow myself to wander off-topic. Now that I have 'license' to do that, however, I find myself clinging to my stalwart topics more than ever. It's a big, scary, topic-filled world out there! What if I write about something nobody cares about? Cue the horror music and screeching violins, of course. Personal blogging, as Anika notes, takes bravery. It takes bravery to say yes, my life and personality, simple as it is, has something to offer to the world. Someone, somewhere, can take happiness, or hope, or just a smile from your blog when you offer up yourself. It's especially brave in the ever-present shadow of the Haters^TM, those people who, in the words of comedian Katt Williams, 'hate good shit'. There's always going to be someone who tells you that you're not that 'special, sorry', that no one really wants to see pictures of your doily collection, or that your personal(ity) has no worth in general.

But I find, in the quiet spaces between articles and comments and page breaks, the personal blog does something the editorial doesn't. For a handful of people, the personal blog touches hearts. The highlight of my day is when I get a note from a reader saying that my blog made them smile, or helped them along the path to becoming a lolita. I have to say that the true allure of personal blogging is its promise to connect with your readers on a whole other level.

You keep posting, spending hours writing your posts, taking your pictures, feeling vulnerable and not successful at times, and yet you keep going. For you. And for me. You keep at it, staying true to your self, not getting caught up in the whirlwind of popularity. No, you hold on to your blogging balls and you don`t give up. And eventually I find you and am happy you did not give up on blogging.

-Anika (A love letter to personal bloggers)

Good blogging, like good fashion, takes proverbial balls. Lolita Charm is about fashion and unicorns, yes, but it's also about my renewed journey about what it means - to me - to be a good blogger. This article is personal to me. I hope to write more, and keep hanging onto my blogger balls for dear life. Now, don't worry, there won't be any TMI play-by-play of my feminine issues on the horizon. But in between talking about favorite lipgloss colors or this season's new lucky packs, occasionally, I may share something realer.

So to all you personal bloggers, I salute you. Keep writing.

Labels: blogging, discussion

13 Comments:

At June 21, 2011 at 11:11 AM , Ana Carolina said...: This comment has been removed by the author.
At June 21, 2011 at 11:12 AM , Ana Carolina said...: i like a lot your posts, and i would love to read more about you, victoria :3. everytime i read your posts, i learn something about loli. i think if you start posting about your life, i would learn about lolita and about handle situations dressed up lolita. in any case, thank you for the posts <3 they help me a lot!
At June 21, 2011 at 11:32 AM , Unknown said...: I think its nice to have a little personal stuff in the mix ^.^
At June 21, 2011 at 1:08 PM , Arika said...: Very good post^^
At June 21, 2011 at 1:22 PM , Christine said...: I would like to read a blog like yours with a touch of your personal life.... it just makes it less serious, and more entertaining :D
At June 21, 2011 at 2:52 PM , Princess Gigglesnort said...: Before reading this post (and then Anika's), I've always thought personal blogging was boring and no one liked it, simply because it is the norm. I always thought "Oh, maybe I should take a step back from my life that no one else cares about to write about the newest print, or a controversial subject, like Lolita Charm and F Yeah Lolita. Those blogs are so popular anyways."

About 70 posts and only 18 followers later, I still really haven't done anything like that. I write about what I do because I like to, and I'm so glad I read this today, because it really got me thinking about blogging in general and how fantastic it is to have personal blogging exist. So what if I don't have a lot of followers? Personal blogging is so much more intimate between the reader and the author. I love that intimacy and sharing things with people who love the same thing (all 18 of them).

Anyways, I digress. I just wanted to thank you for this, and for sharing the lovely post by Anika.
At June 21, 2011 at 3:00 PM , Raelynn said...: I love the idea of getting a bit on insight on your life. I've often read your posts and thought, why'd she say it that way? Why would she feel that way not this? And all that can be answered in simple personal posts. I can't wait to read them!
<3
Raelynn
At June 21, 2011 at 5:08 PM , Mcduff said...: I enjoy reading your posts an they inspire me so much. They even give me tips. I have to say looking though all the posts here, alot of the stuff you write about is personal and alot are expiriences. You may not directly be pouring your heart out but still it's there. I personally love to write poems about my personl things. Makes it interesting I believe. Plus it makes people think. And that they don't immidiately understand what I just said.(Just my preferred form of writing). I personally don't even care if people follow my blog or not because I'm writing for myself and my own enjoyment. But if my readers can relate to me then thats great if it makes them not feel so lonely with their thoughts and feelings.
At June 21, 2011 at 6:21 PM , KittyDragon said...: I am a personal blogger and thank you for this post. I like to post about things that interest me in the moment or something that I did that was exciting for me. My hope is that someone out there can connect to my life and share a bit of theirs with me as well. Also I love reading other personal blogs, I love they fact that I can be a part of someone's life who I may never meet in person but we still can affect each other!
At June 22, 2011 at 3:49 PM , Audrey said...: I like how your posts are helpful, but personal posts are nice to because we get to know the blogger more and get a sense of what life around the world is like. :3
At June 22, 2011 at 4:14 PM , caro-chan said...: This is very cool news! I actually always sort of thought of your blog as a half personal/half informative blog, with your abundance of outfit shots and general cute musings at least. I am excited to see the direction your blog will go once you make it a bit more personal (and get a new .com url :D?)!

Personal blogging vs informative/editorial blogging is something I've always sort of considered on my own blog. Obviously, there's not much about my real life on my own blog, I'm not even good at EVER getting an outfit snap XD But it is an idea I've always toyed with a little bit, a "should I start making more personal posts??" question that always pops up every now an then.
At June 22, 2011 at 5:26 PM , Mykki said...: "What if I write about something nobody cares about? "

Welcome to my world. I have 59 followers and I honestly think maybe 3 of them read my blog regularly. Don't matter....I'll be as personal as I want. ^_^
At June 23, 2011 at 1:18 PM , Zeruda said...: I like every post you get personal the most. Especially when you touch the darker side of being lolita. I feel you are the only person who actually talks about this while the rest of the world pretend everything is just cotton candy. I was really touched when you shared your story about your bf would have to bring a knife if you dressed up lolita in his hometown.

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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Let's Get Personal: Personal Blogging

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