Hey guys! How’s it been going? We went out of town for Memorial Day weekend to visit some friends in Lake Havasu, Arizona. It was a good time, minus the food poisoning, and I’ll post some pictures and details for you over the weekend. In the meantime, I wanted to talk about the recent blog class I took and some stuff I’ve been contemplating since.
You might be familiar with decor8blog, since it’s pretty dang popular and beautiful and pretty much sets the standard for what blogs can be. So of course I couldn’t wait to take Holly Becker’s Blogging Your Way class when I found out about it. I finally felt ready to take the course, and then I read this post on Holly’s blog about where blogs are headed. To say the class, and this post, inspired me is an understatement. When Holly says to “be innovative” and asks “what are you good at?” and then makes you pick apart your blog, let others pick apart your blog, tells you to pick apart other blogger’s blogs—let’s just say that it made me think pretty hard core about painted posies and what I want for it to be.
I created this space and started blogging because I love to write. I am crafty. I entertain a lot. Friends and family kept encouraging me to do something with my passions, and I figured it was about time I stopped pushing back and did what I love to do. And did I mention that I love to write? Painted posies was born, and I truly freaking love playing around with my pictures and my posts and my words. But looking back at what I’ve done here in the past year, I couldn’t help notice that I got a little carried away with creating half-assed posts just to have something to contribute or to keep up with the crowd. I wasn’t following my passions every time. And the truth is, I’m not really writing the way that I want to, either. I mean, if I’m being honest with myself, and with you, I’m not really sharing who I truly am beyond the surface. I stay on the side of safe so that I’m not vulnerable to judgment or criticism. Which is to say, I’m not being the kind of blogger I want to be.
Have you ever stumbled upon a blog (or a book if that’s more your speed) and loved the first page so much that you spent an entire afternoon devouring the whole thing? And then, after totally consuming it, you wanted even MORE and you eagerly subscribed so that you could learn about this person out there that is brave enough to share themselves with you? And I’m talking the good, the bad and the ugly. Some blogs (and books!) are written in such a way that I can hear the voice of the author in my head narrating as I read their words. Seriously, if I ever did meet these fantastic people, I’d probably be shocked at how their voices actually sound, because I feel like they are so clear on their blog with who they are, what they’re about and the value of the experiences they are sharing. I’m talking about diy diva or hey natalie jean. I love these blogs and can’t get enough of them!
And of course, decor8 or design sponge or oh happy day! – these lifestyle blogs inspire the hell out of me. I want to be half as good as these spaces, to possess the talent and skill and creativity of them. So much so that I have been chasing after their layouts, projects and ideas for painted posies to make it more like them without actually ripping them off. Hence, I’ve been less like me around here than I originally intended. Because let’s be real here, since I am diving head first into it already, right? I don’t have a staff, blogging isn’t my full-time job, and I certainly don’t have the photography/layout/styling experience that these incredible bloggers do. And that’s OK. We are passionate about some of the same things, them amazing bloggers and I. But I’m also so many things that they aren’t. Because I’m ME. And I want painted posies to represent ME more, and the cool kids less. To be fair, I’m not really pulling it off all that well anyway!
I started doing Wandering Eye Wednesday as a way to make painted posies more authentic to me. It’s become my favorite thing ever around here, and I look forward to creating and sharing those posts every week. I totally geek out over them when I’m cataloguing my pictures and writing about them. They’ve become my most popular posts, no less. It’s been a lesson to me that when I share the things I’m passionate about, and the things that I do well, people respond to them. I hope to be brave enough to add another regular feature, one where I just sort of spill what’s on my mind. Because, in case I wasn’t clear earlier, I love to write. I hope you’ll stick around for those, and for the other changes that are going to be happening. Nothing huge – I’ll still keep you posted on the garden once a month, and post about all our travel adventures. Anything crafty I do, I’ll share that too. But I’m dumping the less authentic columns, the fillers so to speak, and I’ll be deleting my least popular posts from the blog to clear up some space while I’m at it. I just want to be more thoughtful and make sure that the stuff I’m putting out into the world is my absolute best, completely me and not just a watered-down post for the sole purpose of getting something out there. So if there’s a little more time in between updates, please bear with me. I’m still figuring all of this out! And thank you for following along on this journey with me. It means so much!
Oh, and BTW – take a course with Holly! They are PACKED with an incredible amount of blogging info, absolutely worth the price, and if you’re like me, you’ll totally geek out at hearing the actual voice of a favorite blogger when she posts her podcasts 😉 And no, she didn’t pay me to say so!
