My three year blog-versary

It's here again, another wonderful reason to celebrate my little blog. That's three whole years of writing about topics that mean something to me! I don't often pat myself on the back, but I couldn't feel more proud of the journey so far. 

Let's start there, that journey. Three years ago I watched a box set about young girls starting their writing careers at a magazine company. It absolutely inspired me to start thinking about content creation. My struggle was, what could I write about? When I really thought about it, I had quite a lot to say. 

I wanted to share my thoughts on subjects, vent about my feelings and create a safe place for others to add their opinions too. Hence the name, It's a Jeanette thing, was born. My fore name is quite unusual, but surely what I had to say couldn't be? And three years have gone by showing me that my readers appreciated what I was writing, they commented and praised me enough for me to want to carry on.

I have decided to organise this special post in threes, it made sense. So all below will be grouped into three part responses. 

Memories 

Trying to explain my memories of my posts and the blog itself:

First - Apart from the unfamiliarity of building a website, the apprehension of uploading my first post and jumping the hurdles of social media, my first post went live and was available for all to read, finally. I remember that time very well. I felt a mixture of relief and joy. 

Good - one of the greatest moments so far was guest posting on another bloggers’ site. Still to this day people are reading it and I have received some lovely messages from them. I was so excited to write it. It also proved worthwhile when I doubled my followers on X (Twitter). Here is the link if you would like a read:

https://sophiapatel.co.uk/visit-northampton-9-ways-to-have-fun-in-the-uk/

Bad - I think my worst moments are when you put your everything into a post, all the research and time, but the stretch for readers and comments do not manifest. That's just self-sabotage I know, that's on me, I am trying to think better, bringing me nicely onto-

Learnt and still learning 

It's ok - to admit we are still learning. Three years into blogging and I learn something new every single day. It is a weird and wonderful world of writing out there, full of aspirations everywhere. So go on, shout it out aloud ‘it's acceptable to confess in extra wants and needs’.

Attention - our attention spans are short. It is a fact. This is definitely something even I myself actually suffer from. I have found that shorter, spicier sentences in my writing can make a big impact. Whereas, longer lines and bigger words, can make us lose the trail of where we were heading in the first place, just to make a simple statement. 

Uncomfortable - I would love to be in control of how far of an audience my released posts reach, I still anxiously worry about whether I'm good enough and I squirm when I upload my work onto social media. All uncomfortable situations that I feel. To which my blog would not still be existing, if I hadn't taken those leaps of faith.

Useful tools

Tools are our behind-the-scenes closest friends. Us bloggers can confirm, we would not be where we are without them. Here are my ultimate favs:-

Canva - this is a downloadable app which allows you to design and create anything from a newsletter to an Instagram post. With so many creative ideas to get you started, it is the must have Swiss army knife. You can pay to go pro in this app but actually, I haven't needed to. Even the free version allows my imagination to run wild. 

Unsplash - this really handy site is available to all. Typing in your subject, it will show you photos that are downloadable and above all, free. I always like to attribute those photos in my posts where they can be found. It's just courtesy. 

Evernote - is an app that not only will save text notes but also voice notes. I use this app a lot, particularly when I have ideas for new posts.