Whenever people find out that I have a blog, I can all but guarantee three questions will be asked: 1) How do bloggers make money?; 2) Do I have to take selfies all the time?, and 3) How do you not get bored/scared just sending words into the great void?
My answers? 1) It’s an uphill struggle to keep both integrity and earn any money for blog efforts, and I work as a journalist to pay my rent so that I can blog without compromising in the slightest on what I write about here; 2) I don’t, of course, have to take endless selfies and I don’t think my readership would appreciate seeing my face plastered all over my blog (or would you? I doubt it), but pictures are helpful to illustrate new make-up, styles of application etc. so I actually am intending on taking more going forward, and 3) I rarely get bored, because I only write when I feel I have something to say, and – finally! – yes, it is TERRIFYING to send thoughts out without any shield in the form of a magazine brand – but that’s the whole point of blogging, and it’s surprisingly easy to get over that insecurity once you’ve done it a few times.
Once I’ve answered those questions, more come, invariably about how I found the journey and how blogging success can be replicated. I stumble on that final one – it can’t be. The reason blogs resonate is because there is no editor tweaking things, no colleagues to second guess a decision, no outside voices seeping in. It’s a lone pursuit, and the ‘journey’ of blogging, for want of a better description, will therefore always be unique.
I did, however, answer a bunch of questions about my experiences in the blogosphere that may be of interest if you’re thinking of starting one, in which I also spoke about the routines (and products) that facilitate being able to work full-time and write a blog, too, for the brilliant Julia Cameron. A woman on a mission to expose the challenges behind success, to represent entrepreneurs in all their gritty glory, and to motivate others to make changes that’ll positively impact every aspect of their lives, I was more than delighted to take part in her interview series and hope it answers some of the questions you may have about my take on blogging.