This is probably a pretty rare post. I have my ideas about what this space should be like: clean, strictly posts that will be helpful to my readers with minimal personal interjections which are probably not as useful and do not portray a certain image that I want to. It's one more day to the second anniversary of this blog (including its forerunner spherepiece.blogspot, which is simply a portmanteau of two of my favourite words)... and so I've decided to write about my thoughts about being a blogger. If you're thinking of becoming one, perhaps you might want to read this as well. The first: I wish more bloggers would write on this topic.
I don't earn enough from blogging to even feed a cat, let alone do it as a full-time job.
It is 4 in the morning and I'm still typing this - and these are nights when I question myself why I would torture myself over blogging with such fervour that I would sacrifice sleep (and beauty) for it. The question that comes up pretty often is: Do you earn a lot from blogging? Is that why you do it? The answer is up there - I don't. Do you get free gifts/goodie bags/products/dresses/food tastings, that's why you do it? I try not to be exasperated when I answer this because I know it's a legitimate question from someone who isn't into this hobby (yes, that's what I call it). The answer is yes to the first part of the question. Pragmatically, I'm running a loss in terms of the money I would have earned in the hours I spent publishing a post. However, I would say that it's a fair trade off. I enjoy my time blogging because I feel a sense of fulfillment when I maintain this space, see it grow, and gain feedback from readers who enjoyed reading it. It's probably like a chef seeing how his customers appreciating his food. Brands who want to gain a little publicity and feel that I can do that for them would willingly trade their products in. That's how it works. But feelings of exasperation aside... it is also these late nights that make me feel alive and a different sense of happiness because I feel like I have something to strive towards. The best things happen when we're awake, and that include chasing your aspirations.
What goes behind a blog post?
Obviously, I only speak for myself. I don't like to give disclaimers, but I don't like to pretend I'm a know-it-all because I still have a lot to learn: I am not experienced, I'm not sure how others do it, but I figured out this train of steps with a lot of trial-and-error. I won't go into details, if you want to find out more you can email me or drop me an ask. If you have any tips you can share it with me too! The steps may vary depending on the type of posts that I do. The two main categories you see are food tastings and beauty product reviews which are slightly more complicated. The other posts are just a simplified version of these steps.
Food tasting: Email liaising & basic background research > Attending food tasting session (3 hours) > Selecting, editing photos (Usually 2 hours for 20 pictures) > Drafting blog post (2 hours) > Publishing > Facebook shares + Instagram post > Submission to online food portals > Email liaising
Beauty product reviews: Email liaising > Trying out beauty product (duration depends on product) + phototaking > Selecting, editing photos > Drafting blog post > Publishing > Facebook shares + Instagram post > Email liaising (usually not applicable)
Case in point - I'm not writing this to literally guide you to become a blogger, but just showing you how much work actually goes behind a blog post and that bloggers shouldn't be slighted. Nowadays, the word 'blogger' is being thrown around too much it has become associated with unsavoury connotations that include bitchiness, vanity, materialistic, cheapo, manipulative, attention-seeking... ... the list goes on. But really, it's just like any other hobby.
Sometimes, I do feel too vain.
A lot of times, blogging is about self-presentation. There are already so many sources fueling this sense of inadequacy in life - magazines, TV shows, stick-thin models. Now we have fashion blogs and Instagram to do that too. There is a perception that bloggers need to be attractive to be bloggers... especially if you're venturing into the specialization of beauty/lifestyle/fashion blogging. The pressure is real. There are days I feel like my Instagram pictures aren't pretty enough and second-rated pictures just rest in my little gallery folders, probably feeling rather dejected for being rejected. There are days I manipulate my reality to create an Instagram-worthy image and that is when I realized enough is enough. Initially, it can be really fun and hilarious to do it in jest, but then I'll realize that I wasn't living a life of my own, but frightfully - for a little virtual application called Instagram. Life can flash past if I don't realize it.
Then there are bloggers who twist and change their bodies and faces to make themselves feel happier with their appearances. As I said, the pressure is real. If you want to be on top, you've got to be pretty, at every angle. There are times I wonder if I should get braces - I'm afraid of dentists and that's why I haven't been there yet. Then I think to myself that there will always be prettier/skinnier/sassier/cuter/funnier girls... to interject a cliche quote: everyone is already taken - just be yourself. Maybe one day crooked teeth will be fashionable too? Who knows... I'll be banging my head against the wall if I had to re-visit the dentist to crookify my teeth then.
I take my own pictures most of the time and I've become ambidextrous in handling a DSLR.
I learn a lot about myself, brands, websites, online marketing... and develop much patience after I started blogging. Most of all, I've become ambidextrous when it comes to taking photographs. Even when handling my 1kg DSLR while taking selfies. This is a skill nurtured through the beauty posts that I've done, to juggle between using the product and taking photos of me using the product... I'm really curious how other people do it though. My most unfortunate experiences include having this yogurt cleanser sting my eye with hands caked with the product, dripping soap everywhere, battling with sleepy eyes while literally taking photos of myself waking up. The hardest part is really being vaguely glamorous while doing it. I've tons of failed photos in my computer that I like to laugh at occasionally as jokes.
If you've reached this point of the post, I have successfully forced you to sit through all those irrelevant photos which feature my first sponsored dress from Candy Clothes. If you quote "CDCSpecial", you'll get a 20% off all their dresses. They have a huge variety and their prices are much more affordable - A lot are going at $20-25 (before discount) - than those other more mainstream blogshops which are becoming so overpriced. This dress I'm wearing has pretty thick and good quality fabric with in-built cups, so you don't have to worry about bra straps/nu-bras and all that troublesome innerwear. I'm more practical than fashionable, I know. But just being myself here. Any questions, feel free to drop me a comment/ask. Till the next time. ;)
Never miss a post again!