I missed a few of these Bits+Pieces posts and so I have quite a bit that I could share now…but I really just want to focus on one thing this week {the rest you can see in my Instagram photos… @bluebirdkisses for anyone who wants to follow}.
This past weekend I attended a BlissDom Canada event with my lovely and talented friend {both on and off-line} Maaike of Crejjtion. The weekend was planned as an entire weekend long event, complete with parties, excursions and plenty of networking opportunities. I’m not sure exactly what I expected of the weekend, perhaps more one on one time and opportunities to learn and be inspired? I chose only to attend the Saturday events and skip the parties etc, this was my choice as I simply wanted to spend most of my weekend with my family and the prospect of being away from J and M for 2 straight days just made me sad to think of.
I found the time there interesting and the highlight for me was definitely getting to catch up with Maaike. I met a few super lovely people, one of which is Alanna and she happens to be a neighbor {how awesome is that?}. But overall I felt bombarded by sponsor pitches and flooded with sermons on how to drive traffic and social media followers. By the early afternoon I felt drained, physically and emotionally. I started to feel like blogging was a chore….a tedious task that had no joy and no fun anymore. So during the last “writer pitch” {because apparently novelists and their books are relevant to blogging…} I completely tuned out and started using my notebook as a journal. I started to write whatever came to mind in that moment, and what I realized in reading it back now is this:
- this blog…this little space in the online world is mine 110% mine…and it is fun
- my blog is a hobby not a career…I do it because I enjoy it
- I love to take photos, to edit, to photoshop and play with layouts. The learning process that comes with it is a bonus.
- I am a creative person at heart and this is my creative outlet, it drives me to be better and allows me to share it with you all…and HOW exactly am I creative when I “blog/write”…through my photos and my layout posts
- I want people to follow me through social media channels because they like me, they like my blog and connect in some way or another.
- I want to write a book…this one is a little tricky, but I am definitely creating a game plan to tackle it. It might not be today or next year even, but one day I will write a book.
Will I attend another blogging conference? Perhaps. I’m undecided. I guess I should first ask myself “what do I hope to get out of it” before signing up for one of these again…because in all honesty $200 is a lot to pay for a networking event that leaves you feeling uninspired and uninterested.
Amen, Ana! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this post. I’ve only been blogging for 2 whole months, now, but I feel like there is this incredible pressure to always make your blog something “more.” In truth, I am blogging because, like you, I enjoy it. Because I want to share. Because I want to meet like-minded friends.
I think this is one of the reasons that “Blog Hops” drive me nuts — To me, they feel very artificial, with their rules about following, and linking buttons. I’d love to have a high-traffic site (like yours!) but I want it to be so because people like me, like my family. Perhaps this is why I’m more okay with buying ad spaces, but I only want to do so on blogs that I, in turn, truly like! And should I ever have the opportunity to do more giveaways, I want them to be a reflection of who I am, or sponsored by shops/artists I already love — not just another traffic driver.
Oh, and if you ever write a book, I’ll buy it!
Thanks for this! I feel so much better knowing that I’m not alone in my feelings.
that’s terribly disappointing that BlissDom Canada was the opportunity you’d hoped it’d be. Last month was my very first time meeting REAL life bloggettes and maybe 30 minutes was spent on “blog talk” and the rest was just about having fun with kindred spirits. I SO get this post and I SO want to meet YOU face-to-face. Maybe we should just organize a girls weekend somewhere cool where we can chat and get our creative on.
People in the REAL world don’t get me like my blog friends do. As much as I want to say I haven’t/don’t get sucked into the numbers game I DO {every so often} and I have to check myself. Right now this is my hobby and maybe when I grow up I can use this social media platform as something more, but today I agree it’s a safe place to be me and share me.
xo
I’m kind of sad to hear you didn’t love it.
I’m going to Blissdom here in Dallas in March and I’m really looking forward to it. My blog isn’t a career for me either, but I do enjoy watching my numbers go up & up. Mostly though I enjoy the friends I’ve made in the blogging wold (like you!) and all the great inspiration there is out there. I think blogging for most people is a balancing act between personal writing and creating and getting swept up into brands/popularity/numbers. It’s tricky for sure! Thanks for sharing your experience.
Katie i completely agree, and thank you so much for your comments {and promise to buy my book haha}
Sara YES! lets do it! I love most of the people I’ve met online so far, and it would be alot of fun to have a girls weekend away …maybe we can do crafts! {and drink wine!} And honestly I get sucked into the numbers game too in terms of seeing my traffic grow month to month, I love seeing that. I just didn’t need to hear all about that for multiple hours ya’know?
Meagan, shit I’m sorry
honestly maybe the Dallas conference will be different. Who knows. Its not that I don’t care about numbers, because I do. I like to see my blog grow and I love to have new people reading my posts etc. But I feel like everything regarding this topic and social media could have been covered in a 30min session…I didn’t like that it was repeated over and over and over again by multiple speakers. The whole tone of the conference here in Toronto felt very fake and very sales{ie} if that makes sense. A perfect example is when we would sit down at the microsessions the first thing people would do was to take out their cards and hand them out…sometimes before they even said “hello”. That’s really kind of lame to me. I mean at least make the effort to get to know the people there instead of selling yourself right off the bat. I threw out 99% of the cards that I got. If the person didn’t at least talk to me I didn’t bother taking their stuff. Again I think for sure things are different in different cities, so please don’t let my experience skew your own opinion. I know alot of people liked Blissdom Canada too, Maaike included. Its just personally for me, I would have liked to have more creative workshops/speakers and less sales pitches or product plugs.
Hi ladies, yes I did enjoy it but I have my opinion about it too. I agree with Ana that the commercial sponsored part of it was taking up too much time. The opportunities to really connect with other bloggers instead of just swap business cards were too little. And the micro sessions were better than the afternoon of speakers. Don’t get me wrong, there were great speakers among them. It is just that the relevance of blogging was often totally not visible to me.
I missed the interaction and the creative part of blogging, I missed the in dept information about the topics and I missed a view into what’s new in the blogging world, what are the latest trends and what can we expect in 2013 and such.
I definitely got more out of the e-course Blogging Your Way. Much much more.
But, I had a great day laughing, brainstorming about books and courses, and catching up with you Ana! Have a lovely weekend and hope to see you soon
xo
First, this is my first stop by! Second, I’m glad you posted on this because I am in Ottawa and always a little jealous of the blog related events you TO people have going on. The minute blogging becomes a chore, I’m out! I look forward to following along!
That’s too bad about your blogging conference but I can totally relate to your experience. I’ve been to a few similar networking events and they’ve always left a really bad taste in my mouth. Blogging has always been a creative outlet for me and, while it’s always great to know people are reading, the whole numbers game feels so superficial. It’s far more motivating to hear from readers (like you!) and know that I’ve helped inspire at least a little creative “something” rather than depending on stats for validation. Thanks so much for sharing your experience
Hi Ana,
It was lovely to meet you at Blissdom and it’s so crazy that we live SO close to each other. I’m with you on most of the points you raise about the experience at Blissdom. I was hoping for more on the creative side and I agree everyone was very quick to pass over their cards. I haven’t even checked out any of the blogs. I would love to get together for coffee any time for some bloggy talk. It’s important that we keep the ideas circulating.
Love your blog by the way and the design.
Alanna