It's really weird because when I'm sitting at my kitchen table, or I'm sat on the floor on the landing whilst the youngest is in the bath, or perched with the laptop on my knee whilst watching TV - all whilst writing the blog, I never imagine that anyone actually reads it - ever! Well apart from my Mum and a few friends of mine. I didn't start it thinking that anyone would ever read it and until it was short listed by Marie Claire for its fashion blog of the year award two years ago now, only about 40 people a day did read it, even though I had been writing it for a while.
But that was fine. I wrote it because I loved doing it and that was my sole motivation, which was just as well because most people would probably have given up by that stage! I suppose I started in the relatively early days of blogging and naively I had no idea that PR companies would approach me, that I would get invited to press days and all sorts of exciting events and that I would get the opportunity to write for, and work with, different brands. But perhaps that was a good thing because it was unexpected and nice when it happened but had it not, that too would have been fine.
All of that sounds a bit odd because now that the opportunities which come the way of a "successful" blogger are more widely known about, a lot of blogs are started with the aim of getting them as big as possible as quickly as possible - and good on those bloggers for doing that and for taking advantage of those opportunities.
Sometimes I get frustrated that I don't have the time to use social media to its full advantage and I struggle with the fact that I don't get the time to read and comment on the fantastic blogs out there but (like all of us) I have to remember that there are lots of demands on my time so I just have to do the best that I can.
So, when I found out that I had won the competition which I was invited to enter by 77 diamonds about what makes a best friend so special - and even more so when I saw the photo on their blog of Tobias, the co-owner, reading my post (see above) - it all felt a bit surreal. At least now I know that one person read it - on one day at least! And I'm delighted that Tobias liked what I wrote about my friends, who do all mean so much to me.
As yet I haven't decided what to spend the £1000 prize on, or how best I might use it to benefit someone else but when I have, I will let you know. If in the meantime any of you have great ideas as to how I could do that, I'd love to hear them.
For anyone who wants to read the post about the competition, you can find it on the 77 diamonds' blog here
