on blogging

I find the process of blogging a funny old thing; sometimes I feel like I have absolutely nothing of any value to say, and other times I have a gazillion things I want to share – and usually no time to do it. I’ve read quite a few posts lately that talks about how the blogger works, where they find their inspiration and their essential tools, so I thought I’d join in with mine.

I have a pretty haphazard approach to blogging, and while I try to make use of a diary and schedule blog posts, it rarely actually happens. Invariably some paid work comes along, or a small person needs me for something, or it’s the end of the day and I’d rather sit and eat biscuits. There are a few things that rarely change though, from favourite places to think and dream up ideas to how I write up the post afterwards.

Inspiration
I get inspired by a million different things; magazines, books, retro fabrics, crafters, old buildings – I’m quite lucky where I live, in that I’m not far from the city, sea or country, so there’s plenty to write about. My favourite coffee shop always provides a lot of interior inspiration, and it’s also one of my favourite places to sit with a book or magazine – there’s some pretty eclectically dressed people around Southsea so I always come away with loads of style ideas as well. I always carry my notebook and little ‘point-and-shoot’ camera with me, and if that runs out of battery, there’s always my trusty iPhone!

Images
One of things that gets mentioned most in the comments on here are my photos, which makes me feel incredibly good – I’m not a professional photographer by any stretch of the imagination (hello auto-setting!), but I love to take pictures. If I’m shooting inside, pretty much the only place I can take pictures is our conservatory, as it’s the only place that’s light enough to produce clear, sharp images – I tend not to use a flash, as I don’t like the effect mine has (I’m aware that this is probably more down to the way I’m using the camera than anything else!). When I’m doing outfit photos alone, I use a tripod which is incredibly helpful, and the self timer on my camera which leaves me with some fairly decent images – I rarely venture outside for these, though, as to be honest I just don’t have the balls to stand in the street taking pictures of myself!

Writing the Post
The one thing that I couldn’t blog without would be my laptop – which is why it’s even more worrying that mine seems to be on it’s way out; it’s running a lot slower, seems to be increasingly glitchy and tends to overheat rather spectacularly (despite my little USB fan stand thingy from Poundstretcher balanced precariously underneath) on a regular basis. I feel a bit like I’m living on borrowed time with it to be honest, which is why I’ve been looking around for a new model; there are loads of different brands to choose from, but after reading the Acer laptop reviews and Acer tablet reviews, I’m pretty sure I’m going to go with one of those. I usually sit at my desk and make initial notes for ideas, and then write it up on the laptop afterwards once I’ve shot the images – that said, a lot of blog posts are published from the comfort of my lovely sofa. With biscuits!

This post was written in collaboration with Acer.