Why I blog (and why you should too!)

Whether you’ve been reading my blog for a while or are you’re totally new to my website, you may be interested to know why I write a blog post almost every day. I’ve been blogging for over 10 years now, and am still loving every minute. It’s my diary, my social life, my photo album, my portfolio, my scrapbook, my recipe book and it’s good practice, so here’s why I do what I do and hopefully this post will encourage you to give it a go too.

It’s my diary

When you’re writing blog posts practically every day, it naturally becomes a record of your life. I can track so many projects, activities, holidays and life events just by looking back over my blog posts. And it’s much more handy than a traditional diary because I can use the search facility to find out when I went on a segway for the first time, or how I decorated my home for Christmas last year etc.

If you want to use a blog as a diary you could always keep it set to ‘private’ so that only you can access and see it, or only give log in details to your friends and family so that they can see what you’re getting up to while you’re travelling the world. Or put it out there for everyone to see like I do; I’m happy to share what I get up to because it puts me in touch with so many other people who are doing (and going through) the same thing.

It’s my social life

On that note, I’ve just realised that it’s a way for me to make friends. Okay, it’s not my only social life and I have plenty of ‘real life’ friends that I see every weekend but, when you’re working remotely, spending at least 3 days of the week locked in your home office (I can go a week or two without stepping foot outside sometimes!), and all your buddies are busy with their own work and lives, it’s lovely to connect with other people in a similar situation via my blog.

There is a whole community of us bloggers, crafters, writers, artists and journalists who are doing our own thing on a daily basis, but who all com together to chat and support each other. I’ve been asked if I feel lonely when working from home and never seeing colleagues in a office, and I can honestly say no. There’s always someone to chat to on Instagram whenever I want to take a break, I love emailing the wonderful people I work with for a friendly catch-up while dealing with projects on the side, and twitter chats give all us remote workers and bloggers somewhere to connect with each other.

It’s my photo album

Sharing at least 3/4 photos with every blog post (and sometimes many more pics!) means that almost every photo I’ve taken over the years is on my blog or posted in my Instagram gallery. And it’s all in chronological order too, so it’s the most well-organised photo album ever! And the thing is, many of the photos I share are the ones that wouldn’t usually end up in a photo album. Photos of my garden, the new bathroom or the books I got for my birthday wouldn’t even get printed ‘in real life’ but I can put them all on my blog and write a note about why they’re being shared.My blog therefore serves as a reminder of that great Christmas we had, the decorations I made and the cake we baked that year – the details that might otherwise be forgotten. I can search for my holiday snaps from 3 years ago, I can see my cats growing up over a series of blog posts, and I’ll never forget how pretty my caravan looked last summer because the photos are all there online. If you’d like to keep your photos organised in this way, just start a photoblog and share your pics with just a caption so that you can search for them in the future. Again, you could keep it private or put it out there for your friends to enjoy too.

It’s my scrapbook

I use my blog as a kind of virtual scrapbook; somewhere that I can keep the recipes that I enjoyed baking, photos of the inspirational homes that I found on Pinterest, or tips from the personal development course I studied. When you spend so much of your life online, it’s inevitable that you come across things that you don’t want to forget, and things that you really want to share with others. I don’t really use Facebook any more (although I do love to post to my Cassiefairy page) and who really has the time to make a physical scrapbook, eh? I put all the interesting things I discover online into a blog post instead and often the information I share helps other people too, which is fantastic. 

It’s my portfolio

As a freelance writer, my blog serves as a portfolio of my work and is a way to share news of any achievements. Any potential clients can browse my website, get a feel for my style of writing and decide whether or not I would be a good fit for their company or publication. That way, I never have to go looking for work because clients find me via google and they will have already decided that we could work together before they’ve even contacted me. It’s so much nicer to be ‘wanted’ than to chase work in the competitive world of content writing! Plus, because the client can see around 2000 articles on my blog, they know what they’re getting when they hire me, and I know that they won’t be disappointed by the end result.If you’re looking for a job or are working in any creative industry, I thoroughly recommend starting a blog to keep a record of all the projects you’ve worked on. You can direct potential employers or clients to your blog and they can instantly see an in-depth CV of all your achievements and ideas. When you write a blog post about a new piece of tech in your field, it can show them that you’re up-to-date with industry developments. If you share photos of a new design you’ve created in your spare time, it tells them that you’re passionate about your career, and shows off your skills at the same time!

It’s good practice

I started this version of my blog when I finished university because I wanted to keep practising my writing. I hoped to become a writer but, with my degree and masters in totally un-journalistic subjects, I knew I needed to develop my writing skills. Sure, those early blog posts are not great, but they’re still here on my blog and it shows m just how far I’ve come. From struggling to write 200 words in a blog post to rambling on for over 1200 (like today’s post) I’ve certainly learnt what it takes to be a ‘good’ blogger by simply practising. Sure, I’m still going to make mistake – heck, I bet you’ve found a typo in this blog post! – but I’m always learning.

When I started the blog, I approached it the same way that an artist uses a sketchbook to practice drawing. I wrote something every day to help me improve. Having written essays and dissertations non-stop for 5 years, I wanted to keep up this regular activity and stay active in terms of research and writing. I’m sure they say that the only way to be a writer is to write, so that’s what I decided to do. And now I get paid to do it too – bonus!

Those were just a few reasons why I’ve been writing blog posts most days. If you think that any of these are a good enough reason to start blogging then I say GO FOR IT! Let me know why you would set up a blog and what you’re planning to do with your new site. And if you’ve already got a blog and have plenty of experience in this area, please let me know why you blog and what you share on your own website – I’d love to hear all about it so leave me a comment below 🙂