Hello lovely readers! For the last two months, I’ve been really enthusiastic about blogging and my blog again – which is great considering the 6 month break I went on last year where I essentially abandoned my blog and Twitter account. So I’ve decided to do a series of posts about blogging from all different angles, the first one being my personal favourite things about blogging. Some of these may be similar to yours – others totally different – but that’s the great thing that we all have different experiences!

1. It’s a great creative outlet and opportunity to contribute to the community.

As most of my bloggery friends know, I suffer with anxiety – it’s not too bad anymore but at the time I started my blog it really affected every aspect of my life. Blogging is a fantastic way to feel connected and feel part of the community again – especially when you lose a lot of confidence in yourself, like I did. Blogging has made me more open about trying new things, reading new books, writing about different topics and has helped me build my confidence again!

2. Making new friends and meeting likeminded people!

All the great friends I’ve made through blogging has made the whole experience worth-while and although some people don’t blog specifically to make life long friends, it’s at least a great way to chat to and share ideas with likeminded people who have read the same thing or experienced the same thing as you. I love having a whole community of people on Twitter and on here who enjoy reading and I love talking to them about it and I’ve managed to make some incredible friends through it, some who have become regular pen-pals, some who I’m planning to meet and one who even stayed with me last year!

3. It can lead you to exciting new opportunities and down different paths.

I’m a firm believer in grabbing opportunities – and blogging has definitely opened up a lot more of them for me. It could be the smallest thing like writing a guest post for another blogger or being asked to review a book that hasn’t been published yet but at the end of the day it’s still a new opportunity and I appreciate every one of them. I’ve been quite lucky, opportunity wise and had the privilege of working with the wonderful Loveahappyending Team and writing and editing for a online magazine. But you an also make your own opportunities and I did this last year by starting up my own touring business and organising a read-a-thon to raise money for Cancer Research!

4. A feeling of satisfaction (most of the time!)

Blogging is hard work. Whether you’re a full time, part time or only occasional blogger, it is hard work. But the feeling when a blog post has done well or when a blogger strikes up a conversation on Twitter about something you’ve just written and says they enjoyed reading it makes it all worth while. I appreciate every single like or comment people have taken the time to leave on my posts and just the other day, I had a new blogger tell me that a post I wrote 2 years ago about blogging tips has really helped them and they started up their own blog! It’s a great feeling to know that your blog posts have helped someone or encouraged someone to watch that film they’ve been meaning to watch or pick up that book after reading your review!

5. Building relationships with authors

This can be a sticky subject as some people believe that blogger/author relationships should be strictly “professional” and if you do feel like that, that’s absolutely fine but personally, I really value the relationships I’ve built with authors over the years I’ve been blogging. Before starting my blog, I believed that authors were like… Gods or Goddesses. And while I still hold some of them in such high esteem, blogging has made me realise that authors are in fact real, normal people. Getting to know authors and following them on Twitter/Facebook etc. makes you realise also that they work extremely hard and don’t miraculously publish their books over night and become millionaires. I really appreciate the relationships I’ve built with some authors and being able to play an active part in promoting their books.

 Those are only some of the many amazing things I love about blogging – some others which I won’t elaborate on are; receiving review copies (duh!), when authors are really appreciative of your reviews, discovering new books through blogs you follow and having an excuse to use your camera more to take blog photos.

If you’re a blogger, what’s your favourite thing about it?!