Struggles of a Newbie Blogger (and how to solve them). Vol 1

Of course, we knew from the onset that blogging ain’t beans, yes we knew we had to shine out brightly or struggle to be heard. Yes, we also knew all these things when we wrote our first post, when we accepted to being called ‘blogger’, when we invited people over to come and support our newly found passion. Yes, we knew.

And we planned, took time to write topics we would talk about, took time to read several blogs and blog posts on “becoming a blogger” yet we have all these struggles that seem inevitable.

Related Read: My Journey to Blogging

I’ve found myself going through certain ‘blog related turmoils’ and it felt really good to find out that I was not alone. In fact, that it was a normal malady with new kids in the blog-block. I decided to list them out so we could lay them out plainly. Like it’s said, ” The first way to defeat your problem is by identifying it” and that’s what we would be doing. I discovered the post would be too long if I outline all the issues here so it would be treated in parts. This part is basically focused on struggles which ensues from conflict with ourselves. Stay with me!

CONSISTENCY

“Be consistent“, “Consistency is the key“. So we heard, we even chanted it to ourselves but then after a certain period of putting out productive effort, we begin to slack, what changed…”Nothing comot” becomes the new feeling as it’s also usually hard to stay constantly motivated and focused when you are not getting the desired appreciation either in your audience views or comments and it could be very demoralizing. I also noticed I always defeat my set schedule for post updates and it’s really tiring, but then, since it’s something I love doing, I’ll have to find time somehow to make things work and so should you!

TIME ORGANIZATION

I would say this goes hand in hand with consistency. As student bloggers myself included, we find it rather hard to organize ourselves and our time judiciously in order to cater conveniently for both the blog, school books as well as our various social media pages so that none suffers at the end of the day.

This is why I marvel and try to keep up constantly with those who we could say have it all together; those bloggers that double as mothers, daughters/sons as well as students in some serious ass courses, very able to organize their time and resources effectively and I know fully well within myself that I can’t measure up… This is where comparison sets in.

COMPARISON

I’ve also lost count of the number of times I’ve seen and read “Comparison is the thief of joy” yet no matter how you trying to fight comparison, it creeps in somehow and then depression sets in which makes you start seeing yourself in a lowly manner.

Let’s just stick with the fact that comparison is the biggest blogger evil as it breeds a lot of other blogger struggles ; you start disregarding your line of thought or your writing tone because you want to use the precise blogger-like method some other person used, thereby loosing your authenticity.

Comparison also makes you stop believing in yourself and in all you can accomplish. Then copying and pasting excerpts of other people’s work starts cos you think yours ain’t so good (Was guilty). I believe this is why that quote is right “… Comparison, thief of joy” because it really does steal your joy. As a blogger when you don’t have your individual writing tone as well as you’ve began lifting contents, you are no longer blogging because you enjoy it, you are now blogging because you think its a job you should be working at.

AUTHENTICITY

Authenticity is synonymous to Originality which is synonymous to Trademark.. lol. This basically talks about a subject that is recognizable to you, being proud of your uniqueness and putting it to good use. Every blogger has his own unique writer voice and so many newbies don’t appreciate this so much cos they decide to get subdued by that of another blogger who is doing well in the craft. Authenticity is what makes you stand out as well as your content outshine even when your ideas were stolen or when someone is trying so hard to be like you.

Seeing other popular blogs and the kind of attention they get is enough to make you imitate but you would only be sabotaging yourself. Remember that these blogs would not have gotten such attention if they had imitated others. Don’t be afraid to put out your own opinions, with time eventually, your readers would come to appreciate you for being you and not someone else.

Whenever I feel down or I begin to loose belief in myself or my blog, I try to remind myself that I am me, and I am the best version of myself and even though it takes time to seep in, it eventually does. It’s okay to be different, it’s okay not to follow the rules so long as you are happy doing what you love, that’s all that matters. Like my friend would always say “Maintain your message, the hearers would come”.

INSPIRATION

Inspiration is an influence of a new idea of creativity by a person,object (books) or daily situations. Bloggers get inspired by everything and nothing depending on the mental state of the person at that time. Newbies usually have this problem of running out of inspiration just after joining the blog world not necessarily because they have nothing to write on. This is what is called writer’s block or creative rut. And this feeling makes them loose confidence in themselves. Creative rut can happen in a situation where you have an inspiration for a post and after writing the inspired title, you discover that you can’t form the right words to express yourself so it would be meaningful to the readers and you would efficiently convey your real message.

Related: Sources of Fashion and Style Inspration

To me, I’ve found out that inspiration comes in various ways ; at times you just need to take a break which most of the time sounds easy but in reality it’s not, other times you need to leave your present location and take an airy walk, sometimes also you need to talk to that person that ignites your flame, ‘Your muse‘, some other times you just need to swerve from your daily routines, watch YouTube videos to motivate yourself, Pinterest also inspires to take your photography and graphics to the next level, other times you just need to visit some other blogs and you can regain your first brain…lol or you might even need to sleep and it would come to you in a dream…lol, who am I kidding but I want to bet it happens.

Inspiration though should be differentiated from copying though. Get inspired not copy. There’s a very thin line between the both of them.

In all, it’s best if we keep it in mind that those little flaws that were a not proud of and we worry about is what makes us has well as what make our blog more personal and engaging. I hope you enjoyed this post.

What areas do you struggle with as a blogger? What do you do to face those challenges?

Till next time…Xoxo