There’s this thing happening in the Aussie blogosphere at the moment that is really quite liberating. It was started by Stacey of VeggieMama in this post that she wrote here and I LOVE IT!! And of course so did other bloggers! It caught on – because so many other bloggers could relate to what Stacey had written. Thus started an outpouring of #UselessBlogger posts like these here, here, here, here and here.
Ok listen up while I tell you a little story. Are you comfy? Yes? Good! You see the thing is, all of us bloggers generally start a blog because we want to write, express ourselves and share our thoughts. We also usually have been seeking a creative outlet, and we want to make connections! We’re mostly pretty cool people – kind-hearted, caring, and passionate. Being the nice people that we are, we want to make sure that whoever comes to visit our blog enjoys their visit and wants to come back again. So, we do all we can to learn how to be the bestest blogger ever!! In order to be the bestest blogger ever, we are given various specific recipes and concoctions from the experts that are guaranteed to work. One very important ingredient that is absolutely essential if you ever wish to achieve your ‘bestest blog ever’ goals, is a thing called ‘USEFUL CONTENT’. You heard right – yes – everything that you post must be useful and provide value to the reader!
Ok that doesn’t sound too hard does it? Course not! So we do some planning. We do some mind mapping. We use those sticky notes. We make some spreadsheets. We write in our ‘Let’s Blog Some Shit’ notebook from Typo. Yep – we put our much-loved stationery purchases to good bloggy use. We get busy workshopping our ‘useful content’. Man are we organised or what?! Well we are until we start to run out of ideas and we start itching to just chat and tell stories like the old days. We tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves. We must deliver valuable and useful content! We can start to feel paralysed! We can get writer’s block! We can get sidetracked! We can start to not enjoy the blog so much. We can start to blog less and less frequently. So maybe we need a little bit of both huh? Maybe our chatting and telling of stories is actually useful stuff too? Maybe people actually enjoy that stuff? Maybe they actually like getting to know us – the person behind the blog?
So you see, this #UselessBlogger thing has been quite liberating and now Aussie bloggers are enjoying kicking back, chillaxing and chatting like the old days and the stuff that’s coming out is gold and it’s fun and well let’s do it more I say!
I find the timing of this #UselessBlogger phenomenon just perfecto! I mean – who has been a bit absent from her blog lately? Who has felt a bit overwhelmed by the pressure of all the recipes and concoctions in order for her to have the ‘bestest blog ever’ and so that people will like visiting and bloggers everywhere will rejoice at how fab she is?! Haha! Yep – that would be me!
I’m slowly getting my blogging mojo back. Slowly but surely. The key for me was getting back to basics which includes looking after me. I’ve been getting up early and walking and enjoying sunrises. Nature is my medicine! It makes everything better. Evidence below.
My early morning walks are becoming a new routine and what a wonderful way to start each day. I have my 10,000 steps and more done before I even have breakfast! I love seeing the sun rise each day and the exercise is good for not only my body but my head! Speaking of my head, I got my hair done on Tuesday and I tell you what, it made me feel so much better. I was feeling so daggy!! I love my hair appointments and boy was this one needed. My hair was feeling heavy and frumpy, not to mention yukky dark roots. I left there with my roots sorted, a scalp massage enjoyed, layers all chopped back in so my hair felt lighter and bouncier again. Yay for hair appointments. Here’s the pic I shared on my Facebook page.
So getting back to blogging – I’ve been blogging since September 2012 which means I’ve been blogging for about 3.5 years. 2 years at my first blog and 1.5 years at Write of the Middle. In that time I’ve learnt a lot, met heaps of wonderful people, had some wins, had lots of fails, had really productive times and really unproductive times. It’s a bit of a roller coaster ride this blogging thing, but I do love it so there blogosphere – I’m gonna be part of you for the long haul!
And there is my useless blog post to add to the #UselessBlogger campaign. Was it useless or was it useful – now there is the question!
Ciao for now,
Linking up with With Some Grace for #FYBF
22 Comments
Sorry, you failed at useless, in the best way possible. Photos of sunrises are always awesome 🙂
First time I have ever been thrilled to fail! Thank you Vanessa! lol Must admit – sunrises do very much float my boat! 😉 xo
Love the hair – you’re looking ab fab. I think the question here is what do you define as “useless.” I think the experts have missed the point, because what about the notion that we read blogs for pleasure and to connect with others, not to learn something new. Gee, my brain is so busy, I don’t want to fill it with more useful things. I read blogs in the same way I read a book (fiction) and watch TV (fiction) I watch for pleasure to fill my cup. If I want something useful, it will be no doubt for something specific and I shall seek it out when appropriate. So for some, what they call useless blogging is for me, the most useful kind, because it makes connections and fills my cup, and in that respect, you’ve ticked all the boxes!
Thank you for the hairpliment (get it?) Sammie!! I think you are right in that the experts have missed the point a bit. I read blogs for pleasure too and I like getting to know the person behind the blog. I don’t actually read blogs to learn stuff at all. So why do we think we have to be all expert and useful and stuff then? Hmmmm – it’s so easy to get derailed by getting caught up in all the blogging hoopla. I actually think that by telling our stories and sharing ourselves like we do – well that IS useful – because then others see the similarities to themselves – they don’t feel so alone – they can connect with someone who is like them. They can be inspired! Know what I mean? 🙂 xo
I never even knew we had to be useful! There you go! 🙂
Well there you go – my post was useful because now you know that you’re sposed to be useful. My job is done! haha 😉
I read blogs for enjoyment. I love the feeling that I’m chatting with a friend I’ve got to know through their blog. I realise it’s very one sided, that I’m getting to know the blogger but the blogger wouldn’t have a clue I’m there reading their blog, especially when I don’t comment.
This isn’t useless however, it’s useful but useful in a way I need, not useful in the way experts necessarily recommend bloggers be useful.
Sorry for rambling, I guess I’m saying everyone has a different definition of useful, and I love reading the chatty style of blogs.
It’s exactly the same for me Ingrid. Love feeling like I’m chatting with a friend. In actual fact I’ve made many friends through blogging. I usually leave a comment on blog posts I read and enjoy. Must admit to some blogs that I enjoy reading where I don’t leave a comment – but they are generally the bigger bloggers who get SO many comments that I feel mine wouldn’t really be missed. xo
I love these posts and I wholeheartedly agree. I’d say my blog is a mixture or useful and useless because the ‘useful’ blog posts I write aren’t just for my audience, they’re for me too, I tend to learn a lot from the things I write, research or whatever but I always try to put a personal spin on them. In saying that, I’m really trying to include more personal posts but wouldn’t call them useless, someone is going to relate to it in some shape or form.
My blog is a mixture of useful (I hope – oh God why do I worry so much?!) and useless blog posts too Eva. Aha – yes you hit the nail on the head there – I write for ME too – not just my readers and therefore I need and I enjoy writing the supposed ‘useless’ blog posts too. With some thought though – I actually think these posts are very useful – because not only do I enjoy them but I think readers would enjoy getting to know the person behind the blog because I know I do when I read other blogs. When I went to Problogger in August 2015 – I met in person so many people I had befriended online. It was like we had met before. We knew each other so well. It is because of the chatty useless blog posts that this was the case. SO they are actually useful don’t you think? 😉 xo
I guess my reviews could be perceived as useful but I really just blog to get words out. I had a falling out with an American blogger (I’d been quite close – virtually – to) because I was wondering where I was going with my blogging and she suggested I provide more ‘advice’. It was back in my dieting (and not dieting) days and I said I didn’t feel qualified. I could talk about my feelings and what I was doing but that was it.
She basically said… “I’ll come back then when you share something useful.” We’d been blogging friends for years. We were the same age, had the same taste in music etc. I was really hurt.
Your reviews are so very well done Deb and yes they are useful! But I also enjoy your other posts where you share your thoughts and feelings about varied topics – the more chatty posts! OMG that American blogger that you fell out with – I know you ‘d become friends with her but I think you’re better off without her. How rude was she! It would’ve been hurtful but she was wrong to say what she did and she WAS wrong! xo
Another liberating useless blog post. Most bloggers work so hard for so little except the love of doing what they do. I am in for that one.
Yay for liberating useless blog posts! lol Non bloggers would have no idea how hard bloggers work. SO much work goes into blogging and as you say, for very little reward/return. It is done for the love of it! xo
I loved reading your post. And sorry, it wasnt useless! Now I feel like we’ve had a bit of a catch up here and that is what I love about blogging and bloggers like you and many of my bloggy friends. I rarely follow a blog to be informed or to learn..sheesh I did enough of that in my Uni and school life. I like to connect. That is why I blog. And I think those bloggers who preach about what you wrote about are not the kinds of bloggers I want to connect with. Love your returning mojo too and really liking your morning pics!
So glad you enjoyed the post Denyse! I enjoy having a catch up chat with you! I like to connect too. Love meeting like-minded people through blogging. I don’t read blogs to learn stuff either. Glad you enjoy the morning pics coz there will be heaps more coming! lol xo
I think Stacey’s original post really resonated with many bloggers and put into words what many of us have been feeling for sometime. It’s a great discussion and great that it’s leading us all back to why we originally started blogging in the first place!
Hi there Sarah – yes I agree that its great that Stacey’s original post is leading us all back (and reminding us!) to why we originally started blogging in the first place! In our efforts to learn more and be good at blogging, it is so easy to be led off track and lose sight of this!!
I love finding out about people’s lives so useless blogging is totally my thing. I loved reading your post, thank you!
Thanks so much Kitty! I enjoy getting to know people too 🙂 xo
I read some of those ‘useless’ posts and I had to wonder — I didn’t know we were meant to be ‘useful’ as bloggers. We are not advice columns, we are not really trying to change the world — we are writing and connecting. I think maybe not having a niche helps in not having that pressure to be useful, whatever that might be.
I love your sunrise photos and your hair looks awesome. I think I need to get my hair done and a massage to start feeling better too. And yes, get some fitness going!
I think you’re right Sanch – not having a ‘niche’ does help relieve the pressure to be useful but yet advice always is that we all have to be useful. I think the key here is the definition of useful. I think sharing our thoughts and stories and connecting is useful! So glad you like the sunrise pics and thanks for the compliment on my hair! Good luck with the fitness endeavour. It’s best to find something that you really, truly enjoy and the sunrise walks work for me! 🙂 xo