On the 24th of February, I got a notification that it’s been 4 years since I transferred to a WordPress system from Blogger. And while I was also using a Wix site at the time of the transition, it doesn’t change the fact that I’ve been blogging for nearly 5 years.
What started out as a thing I chose to do cuz I was sent home from high school (not suspension, just sent home due to mental health issues), soon ended up being something that’s part of my job description.
Why did I start blogging?
I started blogging because it was around this time where my YouTube channel was being heavily monitored by my high school. While I don’t want to revisit the details, I knew I was losing my voice and I needed another platform to share my thoughts. Luckily, during this time, George Sheppard also started his own blog. So I thought ‘why not’… and my first blog ‘Life out of the camera‘ was made.
My first blog… was a mess
The point of my first blog was to ramble about my thoughts. But since I don’t want to be censored again, I needed a persona. And that’s when the ‘fangirl’ persona rose, something you may have noticed in my older YouTube videos.
This persona was to document what it felt like being a fangirl while trying to survive reality. So many of the postings (inc. a few were transferred to this site), are just about me rambling about my views on the conflict between traditional and online media, rambles of my frustrations, and some few good things as well. For some reason, no one had a problem with the blog so I was in the clear to run my mouth but also having to play a persona just so people don’t get mad.
This blog was everything to me as it was literally the reason how I got into university.
Using a blog as a portfolio
Blogs can be interesting things. And yes, now the future is now on visual and audio formats such as podcasts and video stories, blogging is a good starting point, especially since not everyone has cameras and mics. Plus, universities will teach you how to write before the fun stuff happens so… it wouldn’t hurt to try. I’ve used a handful of blogging sites so here are my thoughts on what I used.
| Blog site | Pros | Cons |
| Blogger | -Good starting site. -Nice themes too -Backend seems simple to understand -Free | -Mess around too much and you might have some weird formattings. -It’s mostly for writing-based projects |
| Tumblr | -Free -Themes are easy to install (copy & paste) + there is a massive theme maker community – Can post so many things like chats, videos, photo galleries, etc | – Due to the new restrictions, some content may accidentally get flagged for NSFW. |
| Wix | -Also free -Drag and drop system -Very customisable | -Mobile mode might be a small problem. -Lags if you start putting too much content onto the site |
| Medium | -Free -A simple blogging platform | – Not really customizable |
| WordPress | -Free* -Can have plugins to make posting easier -Most used format that other sites use | -Free* = Freemium – Some plugins require you to pay for proper WordPress hosting in order for you to use them. |
The art of writing
Blogging has gotten me to multiple places and has gotten me noticed by so many people. It’s a great hobby for me to be more attentive to my writing and just a fun activity for me to ramble when I’m too lazy to use a camera. It doesn’t matter what you’re writing about as long as you have the passion to do so.
Now, I’m learning how to write under a Sitecore system due to my job. Won’t get into much details about it but I will say that it’s much harder to learn and to get the hang off.
But yeah, blogging is fun. You get to write whatever it is you’re interested in and depending on the system you use, you can make a whole digital portfolio out of it! I choose to blog since I wanted to keep writing, yet I wanted to transition out of fictional content. So what started out as something I wanted to do when I was sent home that one time, to now what essentially became part of my job, it’s quite surprising to what this hobby can do.
Leave a Reply