Why Do I Blog?

Hi guys! I know I haven’t posted in a while but I had a few issues with my blog and so had to take it down for a while. Everything is sorted now though and I’m really pleased to be back posting again.

Today I wanted to talk about why I blog because I think it’s interesting to think about.

The main reason I blog is because I love it. I’ll have been blogging for two years next month and in that time it’s become my main hobby alongside reading. There’s something about blogging that gets very addictive – I love reviewing and writing discussion posts. It’s nice to just write your thoughts down about something, regardless of whether people read it or not. If people read it – amazing! If not, it’s not the end of the world because you’ve still expressed yourself and put your personality into something.

Through blogging I’ve also got to know -and met- lots of lovely and amazing people. The community is so brilliant and it has really helped my confidence. Before blogging I was tremendously shy but I’m slowly leaving my shell behind and it has enabled me to accept myself for who I am. There is such a sense of community and I love it!

Saying that, though, there are a few downsides. The community is full of its drama and it’s horrible to be on the receiving end of. Cyberbullying is absolutely awful and I know Sophie from A Daydreamer’s World is trying to help out with this.

I do blog primarily because I love it. To say I blog for any other reason would be stupid. Blogging isn’t about having millions of followers or receiving review copies. I just like spreading the word about awesome books, and set my other blog, Project UKYA, up for this reason. We’re lucky enough to have lots of people willing to support us, but that’s not the reason I do it. I love organising the projects so much and supporting other UK authors and bloggers. I don’t see Project UKYA as solely my thing, because every person who joins in is part of the team – the UKYA squad! Jim from YA Yeah Yeah is doing awesome things in May and June. Check them out, okay?

I think it’s important not to take for granted the followers and supporters of our blogs. I don’t ask people to view my blog, but they do anyway, and I’m grateful to every single one of you. You’re my friends and for that I love you. I hope that you see me as your friend too!

If you don’t enjoy reading my blog, or don’t want to, don’t! I’d rather you unfollowed me and just pretended I didn’t exist rather than be horrible. I think you’ll be a lot happier that way! Nobody needs to be horrible, because that’s just not nice and it upsets a lot of people. The blogging world should be a positive space for everyone!

So yes, to sum everything up, I love blogging and I love you – yes, YOU! *squishes*