Why Did I Start Blogging? – Blogmas Day 7

It’s my one-month blogging anniversary today! I thought I’d do a little reflective post all about why I started this blog and how I got here.

So first, the stats. This will be my twentieth post and at this current moment, I am only one person away from 100 followers on WordPress and nearing the 250 mark on Twitter. I’m close to 1000 views on my blog but haven’t quite brushed those 4 digits yet. Of course, like any newbie blogger, I get a little rush out of seeing the figures surrounding my blog go up; it means other people are actually reading my content! On day one, I didn’t really expect anyone to be interested in what I have to say, but it makes me so happy to see that there are at least a few people out there who value my words.

It’s definitely not all about the numbers though, and that’s not why I started this project. I set up my blog after much deliberation. This isn’t some spontaneous creation that’s sprung out of the earth fully formed: I became a blogger at age 14, at the point I decided to take writing seriously and needed a platform to connect with others to develop my skills. I wrote hundreds of reviews about books and music, pieces of poetry and short opinion essays. However, the blog slowly died as I grew, other things (read: exams) took priority and when I eventually had the vague idea to revive it some years after its creation, I found I’d outgrown that site. It was time to move on.

Last year, I attempted to start a travel blog when I began my solo trip, but I was so caught up in everything that starting a blog was the last thing on my mind. Summer of 2017 rolled around and the creative bug was being persistent, biting me every few days and poisoning me with that urge to write that makes my fingers tingle and my heart stutter.

But what to write? That was the next problem. I couldn’t decide on a niche, and everywhere I looked said a niche was necessary to be successful. Travel was my most obvious answer to this, but knowing I wouldn’t be travelling again for a while, I didn’t want to always be writing nostalgic posts about ‘that time I travelled and did so and so’. Could I focus on something else? Mental health? Creativity? Distance learning? Introversion?

All of these thoughts contaminated my head throughout Autumn, like dirty clothes violently spinning around in a washing machine. The calendar flipped onto November and my mind flipped attitudes. A successful blog is of course one aim, but it’s not the only one. Having an outlet for my creativity is another important aim, as is putting thoughts and advice out there that someone else could benefit from. That’s what made me create Alys Journals: my little space on the internet to write posts on any of the topics I’m interested in and hope at least a couple of people benefit from it.

So no, you won’t find just one niche here, but you will find each post crafted with a passion to share something.

I’d also like to use this post to thank everyone who’s followed me so far, and for all of the likes and comments you’ve left me, it’s made this first month of blogging so brilliant. I’ve felt so welcomed into this community ❤

Here’s to many more months of blogging!

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Want to read more Blogmas posts? Scroll to the bottom of Day One for the full list.

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Keep up to date on Twitter @alysjournals and follow me on Instagram @alystravels to see my photography ❤

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