Some people complain that the blogging field is oversaturated – and yes – everyone and their mother is a blogger these days. But I often feel that I’m wading through sameness: the same “hauls”, the same outfits, the same travels. So when I find a blogging voice that feels unique and different, I cling on to them.
Because in a way blogging is still very insular, it’s really easy to view everyone as your “competition” when that couldn’t be further from the truth. In that way, blogging is very similar to acting. As an actor, you sometimes feel a stab of jealousy slice through you when someone lands an extra juicy part that you covet. But you have to shake it off! It probably wasn’t your casting bracket and their getting the part has no bearing on your own adequacies. It doesn’t make them any better than you – its just the way the cookie crumbles. And that’s the similarity to blogging. In our heart of hearts we’ve all felt the vicious pang that envy causes when an amazing sample or opportunity lands at another blogger’s feet that we would have loved to have. But again, it has nothing to do with your own adequacies. It doesn’t make you a better or worse blogger, sometimes it doesn’t even have correlation to stats and numbers. Most of us work doggedly on our blogs behind the scenes and hustle hard for our little spaces, but opportunities land where they land. You have to take it with a grain of salt or blogging with burn you out.
One of the things that is so amazing about blogging is that you can get together a bunch of wonderfully creative people who all want to work hard and support each other.
It’s been a few years since I’ve done a post where I round up some of my personal, favourite reads but I decided that it was that time again as blogging preferences can change. The blogging game these days shows little resemblance to what it looked like years ago when I first started reading blogs. And my personal preferences for blogs have changed as well. When I first started reading blogs I was in university and in a completely different place in my life to where I am now; and my reading has adjusted accordingly.
So in that vein, I want to extended a branch of positivity in the blogosphere today and talk about some ladies that I find supremely inspirational, and whose posts I simply adore reading!
My Favourite Blog Reads:
I feel like I have the pleasure of “knowing” Jaime without ever having met her in real life. Her writing style is a breath of fresh air and her photography is sumptuous. She’s also basically a style icon without knowing it. I’ve swooned over so many of her outfits with the knowledge that I could never pull it off whilst she kills it. One of my favourite posts of hers is My Mother’s Mother.
Anna is a fashion blogger based in Brighton and I want to steal her entire wardrobe. She has more chicness in her left little toe than I have in my entire body. I also love her beauty videos because they explain things at my level – basic. I especially appreciated her wedding post: I loved that she went without a lot of the traditional trappings and kept it intimate and down-to-earth.
The biggest and most conventionally popular pick on my list, I’m always excited to see that there’s a new post up from the Cup of Jo team. Once a lot of bloggers “make it”, I usually lose interest in their content as it tends to become more generic and streamlined. My favourite features on the site are the “Beauty Uniforms”. I’m nosy and I love seeing how different women dress for the week.
I have the absolute pleasure (and it truly is a pleasure) or knowing Angela in real life and I can safely say that she’s just as wonderful offline as online. I find her site layout and posts stunning, and when media gurus say to create “pinable” images, they ain’t seen nothing like Angela’s. Her home renovations belong in a magazine and her writing has the great combination of being able to make me laugh and inspire me creatively at the same time. And don’t get me started on her travel posts!
Wooden Window Sills
I basically consider Alice a friend even though we’ve never met in person. She’s probably the only other person on the planet that is as dedicated to Bake Off as I was. Her bakes last year were phenomenal and it was insane to see how much her baking confidence grew! She’s recently moved house and I’ve loved following along on this home ownership journey. Plus her new home is the cutest!
Despite the fact that I’m friends with Emma in real life, I’d still add her blog to my list regardless. Emma is one of those people who is unabashedly herself on her blog. Her blogging voice is so utterly her and I love how her personality shines out of every post!
Those are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of my blog reading list. There are so many other creative, intelligent women whose posts I love reading every day.
Who makes it on to your favourite blog reading list?
