Blog Hop! (A Day Late!)

Wednesday 16 July 2014


So it's been a bit of a crazy, hard week (well, I know it's only wed, I'm kind of referring to last week too) as my little man, Sam, had an operation last monday to have his tonsils and adenoids out, and grommets put in (ouch!). He has been so brave and it all went really well, so now we're just dealing with the recovery phase which it turns out involves a lot of sleepless nights, the film Cars pretty much on repeat, and many hard negotiating tactics to get him to take his calpol every 4 hours! We're getting there slowly though. The photo of Sam above bears no relation to what I'm saying, but it's a cute one of Sam from our street party a few weeks back and well, he's bouncing (or hopping, get it!) so I thought it would vaguely tie in with my blog hop post.

So that's kind of why I'm late with this post and why it'll probably make no sense on reading, as it's been written on not much sleep. I was offered the chance to join in with this blog hop by Jen from Little Birdie, whose blog I love and is a constant source of inspiration. She has a great eye for interiors and design, finds the best things on Etsy and takes simply beautiful shots of her home, family and the stunning countryside around where she lives. If you don't follow her blog already, then what are you waiting for!?  

So here's my Q&A:

1. Why do I write?

I started neatlittlethings back in Feb 2012 really as something fun to do for myself. I was a full-time, stay at home mum, having given up my job as an Assistant Buyer of baby girls fashion for Mothercare after having my daughter Tabitha in 2009, and was by then pregnant with baby number two. Although I was enjoying being at home full-time and doing mummy things, I was really beginning to crave some sort of outlet where I could be a bit more creative. I'd started regularly following a couple of blogs (mostly american blogs for some reason - A Cup Of Jo, Oh Happy Day, Oh Joy, etc) which I enjoyed reading as a bit of an escape at the end of a busy day, and after a while it seemed like starting my own blog might give me the side project I was looking for. A place to get back in touch with the old me, outside of all things baby (although I do of course like to write about my family too) where I can write about anything and everything I want! 

2. How does it differ from others of its genre?

I don’t think that my blog does particularly differ from lot of the other blogs out there, and I certainly haven’t found my USP! I wouldn’t really know what genre to put my blog into - I’m a mum but don’t really aim to be a mummy-blog or focus on my family too much (part of the reason I write my blog is to capture a bit of ‘me-time’ and keep in touch with who I am outside of being a mum) but I do write a lot about fashion and shopping, and also about design and interiors so maybe that’s it genre somewhere/somehow?… At the moment I just write about things I like and enjoy and perhaps my blog’s theme or style will just develop naturally over time as I become more comfortable in my writing. When I first started I got very nervous about putting my thoughts or views ‘out there’ in case people were unkind but I’ve learnt (or should I say I’m learning!) that worrying about what other people think is pointless and will only make blogging stressful not enjoyable, so now I push myself to just write about whatever I want and not worry. 

I am often amazed and in awe of all the different blogs out there, of all these fantastic creative spaces. But I try not to compare myself to many other blogs as otherwise I’d start to worry about not being good enough, and really I’m just happy to be joining in with this wonderful blogging world! 

3. What am I working on?

As I mentioned before, most of my of my posts at the moment revolve around either interiors, fashion or my family. Ive been spending a lot of time window shopping for our new house (were in the process of moving house but itofficially becoming one of the worlds slowest house moves I think having been going on since January!) so I’m enjoying finding inspiring interiors, researching cool children’s beds and furniture, or looking for G Plan dressers on Ebay. Otherwise I’m generally working on posts about fashion - recent things I've bought, things I want to buy for the upcoming season, or just people with inspirational style! I throw in the odd post about my kids or family trips we’ve taken every now and then too, just because that’s what my life revolves around and I try to keep my blog real to me and my life.

Something I’d really like to work on is my images - I got into photography a bit after I left uni and took a few courses but really just decided I wasn’t that good at it and so now I don’t really try, despite my husband owning a decent digital SLR that I could be using. Instead I take either really bad shots on my iPhone, or I’ll use images from the web of clothes, etc that I’m linking to. It’s lazy and I think that working on this is something that could improve my blog a lot. Also I keeping thinking I should get to grips with photoshop or something which would also help improve the look of my blog too, but I’m a bit of a technophobe and again probably too lazy after a busy day to sit down and learn the basics. Ah well, maybe one day! 

4. How does my writing process work?

I try to blog about 3 times a week - I started out trying to blog every weekday, but soon found out after my initial rush of ideas that I just couldn’t keep up, what with children and a house and life in general going on all around me too. So now I aim for 3 times a week, and as and when I have time I’ll go on my blog and start drafting posts about anything that’s on my mind at that time.  To be honest I’ve not been blogging as much I’d like to this year as I’ve found being at home with a 2 yr old and a 4 yr old a bit full on and so have stopped giving myself a hard time trying to fit it all in. But I’m hoping as Tabitha starts school soon and Sam is at preschool a few mornings a week I might have more time to do the things I enjoy. That is, before I have to go back to some kind of full time job! 

Sometimes if I’m out and about and I think of something Id like to blog about then Ill note in down in my notebook to come back to later  
as its more than likely that Ill have forgotten my train of thought by the time I get a chance to sit down with my laptop that evening. If I cant think of things to blog about I know its because generally Im over thinking things and trying to maybe be something Im not, and if I just focus in on whats going on in my world right now then I actually have lots I want to blog about. I guess thats my main goal - trying to just be myself on my blog, and not be something Im not, or not copy what others are doing (so well!) out there. I obviously take inspiration from other peoples blogs as I think we all do, but I really want neatlittlethings to be a space that, whilst it may not be unique, it is true to me.

***

I hope this has been somewhat interesting, I've enjoyed doing it and I'm looking forward to discovering more blogs out there as the blog hop continues! I was supposed to be passing on the baton to another couple of bloggers for next week but I've really just run out of time this week and so instead of getting in a spin about it, I thought I'd just throw it out there to anyone who wants to give this a go on their blog - just drop me a comment below if you're going to do it, as I'd love to stop by your blog and read your blog hop post.

The more the merrier right! :)

3 comments:

  1. I love reading your blog. I love learning stuff about you I don't know. Finding out what yiu are thinking, feeling, buying etc. yiu write well, your blog is interesting, honest, moving, funny, and let's me know what I should be buying for you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh gorgeous post Laura! I love it. Thanks for taking part as you've certainly had your hands full! X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading Jen, and for throwing the blog hop my way, it was fun! x

      Delete

neat little things All rights reserved © Blog Milk - Powered by Blogger