Does anyone remember vintage blogging? No? Well let me tell you about it.
You basically just wrote whatever the heck was on your mind. Sometimes it was really dumb. Sometimes it was really funny. Sometimes it was super genuine and heartfelt.
I also used to have a million blog post ideas written out at any one time. I could sit down and just crank out blog posts, left and right. I didn't need *NEW* photos to pair with what I was saying, I could just use photos I already had or even use none at all. Shockingly, back in the day, you could even just throw a bunch of GIFs on a post and call it a day.
If you work full time like I do, your weekends are spent taking photos for upcoming posts - regardless of if they are sponsored or not. Either that, or I come straight home from work and get to work on a flatlay for some post idea I have coming up.
Blogging is not as simple as just writing your thoughts out anymore.
Blogging is not as simple as just writing your thoughts out anymore.
I miss just being silly on the internet. I miss sitting down and always having something to write about.
I feel like, these days, if I don't have a set of 10 styled photos to accompany a post, then I don't have a post.
I feel like, these days, if I don't have a set of 10 styled photos to accompany a post, then I don't have a post.
Take this post for example - Life is Hard - it's probably my favorite of all time. The only pics are some quotes I put on there from Pinterest and it had 61 comments!!!! I have way more followers now than I did then (nearly 4 years ago) and I rarely get that kind of engagement!
It's just crazy how much this world has changed in 4 years. I used to beg and plead and tell everyone I met that, "You should be a blogger, it is just so much fun and so rewarding!" And now, everyone is a blogger.
Don't even get me started on vintage instagram.
I legit posted photos like the one below and felt good about it! This is a picture of Kent Smiley from the Real Housewives of OC reunion. It was an iphone photo OF MY TV 🤦🏻♀️.
And guess what, I thought it was a hilarious thing to post at the time.
And guess what, I thought it was a hilarious thing to post at the time.
It didn't matter back then though because we weren't staging everything.
We were just being ourselves.
Do you ever find yourself wanting to start another instagram account that only your friends know about where you can just POST WHATEVER YOU WANT? Where you can post a photo of you and your girlfriends on a trip and not worry about who unfollows. I guess I use my facebook page as my own personal old school Instagram. I don't care what I post there. I post selfies, pics of my friends, memes that make me laugh and even, yes, photos of my TV sometimes.
I used to think that Venus Trapped in Mars was my own sliver of the internet where I could post anything I wanted, but now blogging is all about branding and being an expert on everything and having multiple interns and using like to know it to make money.
We used to write "weekend recap" posts, but now - myself 100% included - write posts about, "How to spend 48 hours in Dallas."
It's essentially still just a weekend recap post, but with 800x more work put into it to make it Pinterest and SEO friendly. We do this in hopes that it will go viral on Pinterest or perhaps help to foster a relationship with a hotel/travel destination in the future.
To be honest, I do like where blogging has gone. I feel like it's far more polished, and I feel like my blog is now a portfolio that I've built and can be proud to showcase for potential collaborations.
IT IS JUST SO MUCH HARDER NOW! I feel like I beat myself up for not posting more regularly, but how could I? I just flat out don't have the time to take beautiful, insta worthy photos to pair with every single post.
What all of the beautifully edited images, interns and hard work put in by bloggers these days boils down to is that blogging is now all about collaborations. And we are all walking around scratching our heads as to why engagement is down. It obviously make sense. If everything has a sponsored element to it, of course engagement is going to be down!
I love the new world of blogging, I just sometimes miss sitting down and writing a post about the major bursts of moral anxiety I get over finding $10 on the ground while walking the dogs or tell you about the 28 things I'd rather do than attend my high school reunion.
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