confessions of a blogger

I've seen this tag working its way around and thought I'd jump on the bandwagon too. It's a great way to get to know the person behind the blog you're reading especially if you're a new reader/follower. Hopefully this is interesting for you! Let me know in the comments :-)

When did you start your blog?
I technically wrote my first post in July 2011, but I wasn't too serious about it due to being rather confused how to work Blogspot and especially how to make my blog look nice... believe it or not! However, I would say my blog was really started in August 2011 as I frequently started to write posts and began interacting with bloggers on Twitter etc. It's almost two years old :)

Have you had any other online presences?
Yes! I've always been on the internet in one way or another! I had Piczo when I was about 12. I absolutely loved designing my little website and creating different pages with glittery disney GIF's and all sorts of fun stuff! I then moved onto Bebo which kind of worked in the same way Facebook does. You "added friends" and "wrote on their walls". Anyone remember the little "heart" button you'd click if you liked someone's profile?! RIP bebo. I was a huge MySpace fanatic back in the day too. Cringe. I even met my ex boyfriend of three years through that! Double cringe. I then made my very first YouTube channel and started to make videos. Alongside this I set up my tumblr which has to this day still being posted and reblogged on four years later. I love it for finding inspiration! I then closed down my original YouTube channel as I didn't enjoy making videos anymore, started this blog and then started YouTube again a few months ago.

Why did you start a blog?
To share my college work! I didn't really plan out what I would use it for but I knew blogs are a big thing in the creative industries and even still to this day, I use it to help get comments on my work to see what a varied audience thinks of it. In a way, I did write my first post with the intention of blogging a lot about my life which I have.

When did you become serious about starting a blog?
I think I decided I wanted to really stick with my blog after my first ~serious~ post which is so weird thinking about it now. I blogged a review of some elf lip crayons which just goes to show how much my blog has grown in almost two years! I never blog about beauty now! Once I saw people were regularly commenting on my blog, it made me want to continue with it aswell. If you are a blogger, you will know that comments/followings can be a little slow at first but after commenting on other blogs and getting interactive on Twitter; "blogships" soon form and before you know it people are telling you they like the trousers you're wearing or think what you had for lunch on Tuesday looks yummy! It's mad!

What was your first post?
It was just a little introductory post saying who I am and what to expect. Pretty boring. I thought that's what everyone's first post was!

What has been your biggest challenge about blogging?
I have a few! Keeping up can be pretty tough at times; especially as I was a college student when I started my blog with a job and now I'm a Uni student with two retail jobs; and with a lot more blog stuff to do. I genuinely try to reply to emails every other day but sometimes they end up mounting up and I spend one day in the week just solidly catching up by replying to emails, comments and tweets/msgs. However, I feel splendid once my inbox is all up to date! Trying to fit in was another thing I battled with when I first started my blog. I would say this lasted for 3/4 months. I wasn't too sure what content my blog fitted in with so when it came to categorising it; I was stuck with a beauty, lifestyle, fashion and photography blog. What a mouthful! However, my blog has developed a lot in almost two years. I've tried blogging about beauty at the very beginning and my heart just isn't in it which is why I don't write about it anymore. I still do the odd hair care or skin care post but I genuinely have an interest in those. Finding out how to do the perfect smokey eye just doesn't interest me.

Where do you see your blog in one year?
I'd love to see it develop some more! More readers; maybe from more places around the world?! I'm now way over half a million page views which is beyond crazy; so who knows, I may reach the big one million this time next year? It's my goal at some point in my 'blogging life' to get ASHLLYD mentioned somewhere within a magazine or newspaper. To see that physically in my hand on PAPER would be absolutely amazing! I also really want to meet more bloggers! I would really like to make a bunch of friends from blogging who aren't just friends I maybe meet up with on the way to blog events; I want life long friendships!

What is the most discouraging thing that has happened to you?
I have experienced my blog getting bad mouthed by a group of the more popular bloggers on Twitter. I was relatively new to blogging; maybe three or four months into the game and it was really upsetting to see. I had no idea what to do and was very close to deleting my blog and giving up. I decided to take a little break and returned to see they had moved on and forgotten about me and my little blog and I was free to move on and carry on blogging as normal. Fortunately, as an almost two year old blogger, I'm not dumb enough now to reach that point ever again. I have reached a point in my life where I've been let down by people so much; that I'm not going out my way to impress people. I'm me and if people can't accept me for who I am, then that's not my problem...

What's your lasting inspiration/motivation?
Other bloggers influence me a lot! I tend to read blogs at least twice a week and sometimes the odd post which is posted onto Twitter that I simply cannot scroll by and ignore. Seeing a lovely post put together with beautiful photographs and a witty text makes me want to get out there more, photograph more and blog more! Comments from my readers really puts me in the blogging mood as well. There is nothing better than reading comments from people who have taken thirty seconds or four minutes or eleven minutes out of their day to write something. It's such a lovely feeling. I ♥ you all!

Apologies for the lack of posts this week. I am currently hating everything to do with my blog so I decided to take a week's break. A new blog design is on its way too! I can't wait to get back into the game! XO

XO love, Ashleigh x

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