I took a break from blogging - here's why

| THE HEIGHT OF BLOGGING |

I was a blogger in the height of lifestyle blogs. Sometimes I miss those days, but I feel like I can never go back to it. I will never stop writing, but there’s been a shift, and I want to talk about it.

Anyone who used to read blogs back in 2016-2019 remembers how it was. Lifestyle blogging was ramping up in a way it hadn’t before. Everything was about bright white homes, Scandinavian design, letter boards, Rae Dunn, beauty and fashion tips, home schooling, forest schooling, minimalism, etc.

I had already been blogging and freelancing for years on various platforms, but this new surge of mom bloggers made me want to join the ranks. I was a young mom, working an office job from home, and I idolized these women who seemingly had it all. I wanted more than anything to work for myself - to make a full time income from blogging. I created a new blog.

It didn’t take long before I started getting collaborations. These weren’t enough to pay the bills, but I was getting some really cool items sent to me, and I felt like - hey, I’m really going to do this.

I had collaborations with Kitchen Aid, Vichy, Mastermind Toys, various clothing companies, toy companies, home decor companies, events, etc. It was extremely fun and exciting to be sent these items, and be able to review them on my blog and social media.

| MY WRITING CAREER |

I won’t go into every detail about my writing career, becuase I could go on forever - but to sum it up, I’ve always been a writer. I used to come home from school in middle school and sit at my desktop computer working on my novel, short stories and poems. I went to school for journalism in 2008, and have freelanced off and on ever since. One of my first freelancing jobs was for an online magazine in NYC. Getting cheques in the mail from New York was beyond exciting as an early 20s writer, and I had many dreams for myself and my writing career.

In 2017, I got a job as a writer for Weddings Atlantic magazine. I continued to work on my blog on the side, and pursued social media management along with it. I had so much fun working for the magazine, and it reminded me how much I loved writing. I didn’t know yet where I wanted to take my writing career, but I knew that I wanted more than just blogging.

In 2020, when covid hit, the magazine unfortunately closed down. I was going through a divorce at the same time, and life felt very jumbled. I did some blogging, freelancing and social media management at this time.

I continued to blog and write, making changes in my “brand” here and there. I changed the name of my blog, eventually landing on my own name, as I wanted to pursue my writing career over lifestyle blogging.

| AN OVERSATURATED MARKET |

Even though I was having fun, and loved blogging, over the last few years, the market has felt SO oversaturated, to the point where I stopped actively trying to get collabs. I still have the occasional company message me asking to send me things, and if I align with the company, I will accept, but I understand the value of my time now more than I did before.

As a social media manager, I was at one point working for a woman who wanted to break into the influencer world. She was a self employed creative, who wanted to merge her business with the world of mom blogging. I would often spend my evenings sending out emails for her, asking dozens of brands at a time for collaborations. She always chose brands that aligned with her business, which was great- but it was SO much work just for free product or a small payment. She was paying me probably more than she was getting in return from these companies. Her photos were gorgeous and professional, she was beautiful, had a beautiful home, and great values. She was the epitome of what your typical mom blogger at the time was. Yet, she was barely getting responses from these companies, and if she did, it was for free product in exchange for a lot of work.

I was experiencing the same thing. I once had an ongoing partnership with a clothing company, where I would make posts in exchange for new clothes. The last time they sent me something, they framed it as a “gift” with no asks in return. I had planned on posting a haul anyway, because I had built a relationship with this company. When I didn’t post anything immediately, the company messaged me asking for video content, posts on my IG stories, and content they could use in their ads. I was blown away, because they had sent me these items as a gift, and now they wanted a ton of work for free. I declined, and severed our partnership. My time and effort was worth more than free clothes.

Every time I had to post a collaboration, I felt like a commercial or ad. It felt weird and inauthentic. Even if I loved the product, I was seeing other influencers post ads constantly, and worried my readers wouldn’t believe that I actually liked the products I was promoting.

The influencer world has shifted massively since 2020, and it seems like everyone wants to be an influencer now. With TikTok in the mix, it quickly became easy for people to get thousands of followers in a short amount of time. Every other video or post I saw was someone advertising something, or someone offering “tips and tricks.”

Honestly, how many “tips and tricks” do we really need? It seemed repetitive and overwhelming. People are posting “tips” that aren’t even tips - like “PRO Tip, if you don’t want your hair to get wet in the shower, use a shower cap.” How does one become a pro at this?

It seems like every tip, is just a random and completely obvious sentence - and what for? Why are we doing this? Is it because people want to feel like experts in their fields, and giving tips is the way to do this? Okay, you’re an expert at not getting your hair wet in the shower, we get it.

Maybe it’s just because I’m in my mid thirties now, but I don’t need a tip or trick for every aspect of my life. It seems like everyone is just repeating information they get from other influencers. When I follow someone, I want to see who they are, and what makes them unique and interesting.

Maybe I’m just jaded from being in the middle of this for the last decade. Maybe I’ve just been following the wrong people, but it just started to feel like every influencer was being made from the same template.

I SO admire the bloggers and influencers I’ve been following for years who have always stayed true to themselves (especially my east coast blogger friends who continue to blog in an ever changing influencer world)

SIDE NOTE: If you’re an actual expert in your field OR have fun and useful information, please continue to give tips, because that makes sense. You aren’t who I’m referring to.

I also will most likely be posting writing tips here and there. If someone is seeking you out for knowledge, provide it. Since focusing more on my writing career, I’ve definitely followed other writers for tips on submitting work, writing tools, etc.

You guys know what I mean.

I just want to contribute valuable information and content in an oversaturated world of superficial life tips.

| I WANTED SOMETHING MORE |

I wanted to get back to my roots as a writer, and connect with other people with similar interests and goals. Thanks to my unmedicated ADHD, I have pursued many hobbies over the years, but the one that I would never abandon is writing.

In the last couple of years, I have continued to freelance, and I’ve also been submitting short stories and poetry to various literary publications. One of my poems was also in the summer issue of Ageless New Brunswick magazine!

I’m also very excited to tell you that one of my short stories has been accepted to one of my favourite podcasts. I can’t provide more details until it airs (which could be months depending on their schedule), but it’s a podcast with millions of listeners, and I’m thrilled.

Also, I am working on a book that is very important to me. It’s been a long process with a ton of research papers to sort through, but it’s coming along.

I guess all of this is to say, that I will continue writing and blogging, but my content will be focused on things like book reviews, my poetry and short stories, writing info etc. When someone sees my writing in a magazine, or online, I want them to find me here and be able to quickly get a glimpse of who I am and what I have to offer. I also want to post more diary type posts of our vacations and life at home - which is something I’ve always done, so that won’t be changing.

Maybe you can say I’m niching down finally after years of writing about anything and everything.

Thanks for being here if you’ve read this far.

D