I was reading Vicky's blog and saw her post about why she blogs, which I thought was a brilliant idea for a post.
So, why do I blog?
I started blogging about 6 or 7 years ago. At the time I had a hideously stressful job, and I used my blog as part diary, part venting place - but in retrospect a punch bag would've been more therapeutic! I was using MySpace at the time, but when that became distinctly uncool and my friends had left in droves I jumped ship to Facebook. At first I'd write pieces using the Notes function there, but it was a poor second to a proper blog, so I came back here in 2009 (I'd had a blog here before but hardly ever used it.)
I wasn't sure what I wanted to say when I started blogging again - I just wanted to say something. I've written my whole life. A pad and pen has hardly ever been out of my grasp since I learned to write. When I was a kid I used to write lots of stories about fairytale princesses who had lots of exotically named brothers and sisters. When asked as a child what I wanted to be the answer was always 'An author!'
Blogging sates the hunger within me to write. At some point I would like to live out my childhood dream to write a book, but I think I'll always find something to blog about. My close friends and friends on Facebook have been nagging me to write my autobiography for ages, because they've heard a lot of my life experiences, which in a nutshell include - being born into abject poverty, having a very deprived childhood yet making it into a grammar school, single parent family - no dad around till my teens were almost over, teenage years from hell living with my mum's violent predatory alcoholic boyfriend, domestic abuse, a series of serious accidents, drug and alcohol use/abuse, being arrested, finally starting my childhood in my late 20s, living it up in London's clubs every weekend, loads of gigs and festivals, going through loads of shitty men, finally met a good one, 2 ectopic pregnancies, near death, Fibromyalgia and CFS. Whoa, what a ride! I'll have to change names to protect the guilty, as many of the characters are still alive ;) I've started laying down the bare bones of it. My friend Michelle is my cheerleader, emailing me regularly to ask for progress....but writing is something I want to do for fun rather than as a job. I think my autobiography would be an interesting starting point, to get me into proper writing mode - even if no more than my close friends read it. If I wrote for money, I think it'd take all the joy out of it. So you're stuck with me, I'm afraid!
I've found my home in the plus size community. In the past I've dabbled with trying to be a beauty blogger, and a few other things, but I realise putting limitations on myself is stupid. All along I was worrying about what kind of blogger I should be, but now I know exactly who I should be - me.
The thing I enjoy the most about blogging is interacting with my readers and other bloggers. I love the connection. Having people comment on my posts is a massive thrill and I love replying to comments. I like getting to know as many of you as I can by chatting to you on Twitter or following your blogs. I'm a very social person, and now my health isn't so great I'm not able to be as gregarious in real life as I was before, so being chatty with people online is something I really love.
If you blog, why? What drives you?
Thanks for reading.
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