It’s SLRs at dawn, the Macbooks are drawn. The cutesy blogging planners are sharpened. The oversized drinking jars of paleo courgettini kale smoothies are gearing up for the battle to end all battles, it’s…..
The Blogging Wars: Positive Bloggers vs. Keeping it Real
It seems that parenting bloggers fall into one of two camps: those who like to tell it AS IT IS, one half eaten carpet-trodden mushy banana at a time, airing their dirty nappies in public, and those who like to #embracethehappy.
I’ll leave you to work out for yourselves which side of this imaginary battle I am on (and the imaginary battle is only going on in my head. I’m not actually declaring war on those who are #blessed. For a start, I would definitely lose. I just can’t compete with the neatness of their blogging corners. Forget I said that, I don’t even have a blogging corner. Who even has a desk that immaculate?)
We are, of course, all different, and have our own skills and interests. My interests just don’t involve clean eating or taking perfect photographs. My photos tend to end up like this.
I was just trying to get a photo. WHY ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE IN THE WAY? ARGH!
I’m afraid I don’t do Believing I Am Worth It. Post-it notes are for using as bookmarks, not for sticking positive affirmations on the bathroom mirror. I haven’t taken a decent selfie since 2008 and I’m not hashtagging the words “cherish,” “blessed” or “loved.”
I wish I was one of those people who has an immaculate office with fresh flowers, pristine Macbook and giant white letters used as bookends, but instead my blogging lair is the bedroom I used to share with my brother in 1985, now just one great big pile of my clothes with Piglet and I sleeping in the middle, tapping away at the Macbook after Piglet has gone to sleep and hoping that the backlight isn’t doing awful things to his circadian rhythms.
I wish I had a husband and a perfect Mum wardrobe of Breton tops to wear every day as I share the photos of our days out on the local windswept beach with our dog, Andrex Puppy, as he trails a perfect ribbon of pristine white toilet paper along behind us in monochrome, and the wind whips my hair into joyful tousled curls.
I wish I had a perfectly co-ordinated kitchen with an Aga and a selection of Emma Bridgewater crockery to showcase my clean eating paleo kale and goji berry muffins.
Actually, I don’t. I think I’ll stay being a single mother and pathological oversharer with a wardrobe full of vintage dresses that don’t fit and “interesting” headpieces with the labels still on. And you’ll just have to put up with my bad photography and occasional rants about how the world is just one big patriarchal conspiracy. There’s room for all of us. Even me.
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Indeed, there’s room for all of us … the positive, the negative, the imbetween, the realistic, the dreamer, and so much. I suppose the variety amongst us bloggers is reflective of’ the variety in the world we live in. ‘All the best with being you’, I say. 🙂 #CommentLuv
Completely agree. Thanks for commenting!
Great read! I loved imaging your life full of not-quite-right things. Mine looks nothing like some of the more curated blogs I see although some times I wish it did. Your post has reminded me that there’s more colour and personality in real lives than there are in online ones, and I should stop trying to bleach the colour from my sometimes messy home and mind in order to make them more presentable.
I really like the look of your blog actually. I think it looks really professional, which is something that has so far eluded me…or maybe we don’t ever think our own blogs look good as we are so used to seeing them, I’m not sure! Yes I think there’s nothing wrong with letting it all hang out sometimes-as one of my main aims with my blog is to be funny, everything looking picture perfect just doesn’t really go with that.
Hey Min! I (obvs) read this before you linked it to #coolmumclub, and it left me wondering where I sit? I’d like to believe I’m keeping it real (in my head I am anyway!) but I do have some of the (cringe) ideal home posts & a few gushy ones. Guess I’m just…..me 🙂 Variable on a day to day generally ha ha!
Fab to have you with us, Thanks m’dear x
Yes you’re somewhere in the middle! Just shows how different we all are, and how I was massively generalising for comedic effect as usual! x
Hahah I feel you, especially on the photos! Great post!
Thanks!x
There’s more than enough room for you. I love your blog and your oversharing. From a fellow oversharer
Thank you! xx
I kind of think I’m a bit of both, I like to post the truth about parenting is, well in my eyes while keeping the happy at the same time! Enjoyed reading your post, thanks for linking up #bestandworst
Yes, to be honest most people probably are a bit of a mix! We’re all individuals after all.
Certainly room for everyone and wouldn’t it be boring if we all had the same style and the same photography. #KCACOLS
It certainly would. Thanks for commenting. You weren’t in the spam folder by the way!
Hehe, in my imagination I blog sat at a lovely desk, with a lovely vase of flowers, in a *lovely* freshly decorated office… In reality I balance my laptop on my knee while the baby desperately tries to get hold of the charger, and my desk is the pile of junk that accumulates around my armchair… 🙂 #KCACOLS
I know that feeling!
I’m a realist and I like reading honest posts. Things go wrong and that’s ok, also it’s usually the things that go wrong that make the best stories! #KCACOLS
Debbie
I totally agree! Thanks for commenting.
There is certainly room for everyone I hope! I’d be worried if there wasn’t, where would I go? Whether our post it notes are on the wall, our back or in our books, they are where they should be. #KCACoLS
Absolutely! Thank you for commenting.
Ha ha interesting post. I certainly do not have a tidy cute blogging corner. My kids rooms are a mess and photos are taken on my phone not a fancy camera. I think there’s room for all of us though. #kcacols lifeinthemumslane
I’ve yet to meet anyone who has, to be honest. I’m sure the photos I’ve seen of these on Twitter and Instagram must be fake! You are right, there is certainly room for all of us.
TOTALLY with you on this one! Honesty is the best policy! But I also agree that there’s room for us all in the Blogosphere and variety is what makes it great! Fab post #KCACOLS
I think I wrote a comment on one of your posts a week or so ago which was in a similar vein, and I said I had a similar one in drafts. That was this one! I definitely prefer to be honest about things, but I get that we’re all different.
Haha I love it – I think I am somewhere in the middle – I definitely overestimate my artistic and culinary skills though!! I’ll just have to have blogger envy while doing my thing! ;p #KCACOLS
Most people do fall somewhere in the middle I think. I totally get blogger envy all the time!
I have to say – you are not alone my dear. I blog from my dinning table. My back is killing me so to speak. I need to invest on a good office chair soon… I love your photo annotation – I don’t think people can be perfect at everything. Your are good at something and something you are not so good at. I think you are a great writer. I even wish I could be as creative as a writer as you are. Thanks for linking up with #FabFridayPost again. xx
Aww thank you! Yes, I know the photos are not my strong point. I definitely enjoy writing more than the other stuff involved in blogging and it probably shows!
Absolutely, there’s room for all sorts in the bloggin world and thank goodness for that!! I’ve shared a fair few ‘real’ moments on my blog and so that probably look better than the reality (toddler meltdowns behind the camera). Oh, and shaky photography is my speciality 🙂 #KCACOLS
Mine too! Thanks for commenting.
Haha- yes! My side is evident right there in the blog title I think 🙂
#fartglitter
Yep, no ambiguity there! 🙂
Maybe it has more to do with the people I choose to read, but I’ve actually been really surprised at how few of the “little miss homemaker” types that I’ve come across. There’s certainly some pretentious types out there, but not as many as I’d expect.
No, most people are pretty normal!
I relate to everything you are saying here. Some days I feel totally organized with my posts and their images and others I’m just throwing stuff in there to make it look somewhat interesting. I still don’t have a “niche” per say and pretty much I blog about whatever comes to mind. Although I do have a few series and my linky. Thank you for linking with #momsterslink ?Trista
I can definitely empathise with throwing things in there-that’s kind of how it is with my pictures. I need to get the hang of thinking about something I want to photograph before I write the post! Thanks for commenting.
Haha very funny, we feel like that too! My mummy wears a Breton top occasionally but doesn’t have a picture perfect life!! 😉 #FabFridayPost #KCACOLS
Does anyone? Thanks for commenting! x
Yes I think there is room for everybody. I really don’t know where I’m. I think I’m in the middle. I wish I can have an immaculate desk but if you see my flat you will laugh. It is a mess!! Not easy to keep all that perfect in real life!! I enjoyed reading your post lovely!! Thanks so much for sharing this at #KCACOLS. I would love to see you again on Sunday! 🙂 x
Thanks for hosting and commenting! x
Love this and I think I am mostly a “tell it like it is” blogger. That said, I do share the good bits, I do gush about my children when necessary and although I share the out-takes, I also share the good photos too. #fridayfrolics
I think it’s best to have a bit of a mix-that’s what parenting is at the end of the day.
I’d like to think I’m keeping it real. My kids never sit still long enough for me to take a decent photo! Thanks for linking up to #FridayFrolics
I’d say you definitely are. It’s difficult to be funny when you’re trying to make everything seem perfect, as most of life’s hilarity is to be found in the imperfections, which is why I like to poke fun at myself on my blog.
And that is the beauty of the blogosphere – there is room for everyone. Besides, people can see if you’re trying to be something you’re not so if you were pretending to be the Breton wearing one you wouldn’t be you and your blog just wouldn’t be as good!!
Very true! Thanks for commenting.
Sometimes I think I should get a proper desk for writing but then I can’t lay about can I? I always blog in bed or on the sofa. It’s usually with a glass of wine and maltesers, in my PJs. It’s very glamourous. IM a keep it real blogger but I like to read blogs of both kinds – yours is great I enjoy your posts #effitfriday
Thank you! That sounds very much like my own “workspace,” but in the dark, with the baby lying asleep next to me!
Loved this, made me laugh. I so want to be that mum on Instagram where everything is monochrome except a bowl of blueberries but I can’t get a photo of my son without his head looking yellow.
I feel your pain! Thanks for commenting.
Oh how I hear you! I don’t have time for perfection
Haha, who does?