Blogging vs. the daily commute
I don’t know whether it’s just me but has anyone else noticed that travel blogging has suddenly got much more glamourous than it used to be? Gone are the days where you could just take a photo of yourself in a well-worn and frankly quite ridiculous outfit.
These days are long gone…
Now many of the photos you see on travel blogs are more akin to a fashion magazine and immediately make me want to go out and buy a large floppy hat so that I can dance through a field of flowers.
Aha! Now where did I put that hat?
I am also regularly made insanely jealous by the luxurious photos I see on Instagram of the places where people are uploading their blog posts from. Photos next to infinity swimming pools, overlooking pure white beaches, are bad enough, but now even the people blogging at home are putting up pictures of their laptops artistically arranged next to a fresh cup of coffee and a croissant in some cool cafe or other.
I should definitely start trying to remember my notepad!
As lovely as this all is (and I only wish my own experiences were the same) I am aware that lots of people, like me, fit blogging in around a full-time job and I am pretty sure that their experiences of blogging don’t always look that pretty. So I thought I’d share a bit about what it’s like when you blog around your job. (I should also explain from the outset that I love my job, I just sometimes wish there was more hours in the day!)
1. You write your blog posts on your mobile phone, with your head firmly nestled into a tall man’s armpit on your morning commute.
2. You set aside a rare hour to blog and then spend 55 minutes looking at everyone else’s blogs, comparing yourself and fretting that yours will never be as good. You realise you have five minutes left to write your post.
3. By the time it gets to packing at 1am the night before you go on your trip you are too tired to plan out photogenic outfits and you throw whatever is clean into a bag. You arrive at your destination with a t-shirt, three pairs of knickers and one shoe.
4. On the train home from work you find yourself agonising over whether you should grab an hour’s sleep or write that blog post you desperately need to upload. The sleep wins.
5. You promise yourself every Friday evening that you will definitely, definitely, update your blog. You then discover a mountain of other things you have been putting off until the weekend (you also remind yourself that you have the small matter of a wedding to plan – or is that just me?)
6. You know that no matter how much you moan about your blog, and no matter how much you fret about keeping it up to date, you would go absolutely mad without it.
Do you work and blog? What are your tips for keeping up with your posts?
oh my goodness, you’ve taken the words right out of my mouth!! Especially with number 2. I’m hopeless at that – I perpetually spend my “blogging time” reading other people’s blogs and then getting behind on my own whilst simultaneously wrecking my own confidence by constantly not feeling like mine will ever live up 🙁 I’m so glad you can relate to this Emily as it’s nice to know I’m not alone with that one! It can be so hard juggling it with work, especially with busy jobs and even with only posting weekly, I feel like I’m spending most of my life doing blog related activities when I’m not working but it’s an addiction I can’t shake off 🙂
Shikha you have absolutely no need to worry, as your blog always looks amazing! You do a great job blogging and working in such a busy profession. But I agree with you about that blog addiction 😉
You have just described my life!! In the last month, I’ve gone from full time traveller/ travel blogger to part time along with full time job and it’s such an adjustment to fit it all in – it’s 2 jobs really. I’m supposed to be finishing a post now, but I’m here commenting on yours – eek! 🙂
Haha, I feel your pain! (Although thank you for taking the time to comment on my blog 😉 ) It is definitely an adjustment when you start working again but I’m sure you’ll get into the swing of it in no time 🙂
It’s so hard to motivate yourself to write after working all day. I feel like I’m in a perpetual state of exhaustion, and sleep always wins!
I’m so glad I’m not the only one! Every day when I’m waiting for the train home I tell myself I’m going to have a productive journey and then as soon as I get a seat I can’t keep my eyes open!
This is just perfect in every single way! I am sitting here at almost 11pm, so tired, but still desperately trying to finish my latest blog post and (obviously) reading and commenting on others. I spend so long trying to get the perfect picture sometimes but eventually I just think sod it, one of those 20 I’ve just taken of exactly the same thing will just have to do!
Oh and I <3 your outfit!!
Heehee, I’m such a fashionista Ayla 😉 I so know what you mean about the photos – Mr A gets so cross with me! Anyway you don’t need to worry because your posts are always fab and I look forward to reading them every week 🙂
Love this post. Number two is me all of the time. And although I don’t fit blogging around a full time job instead part time work and being a full time student I still experience all of these things.
Jodie, I seriously don’t know how you do it! I think being a student is way tougher than working as you have to study at home on an evening too. Loving your vlogs at the moment!
Yep!! Most definitely 2, and 5, and 6. Oh dear! I work full time and blog as my hobby, and in recent months have found the type of blog posts I’m writing take a lot more time – which I love but know I don’t really have the time I want to commit so everything feels rushed. On top of that I joined in with the Blog Everyday in May challenge, which is going ok but was perhaps not my best move! Hey ho, I wouldn’t change anything really; it’s all good fun.
Wow, that is quite a commitment! Hope it’s going well 🙂 I know what you mean about feeling rushed – I always plan my posts in my head for ages but then feel as though I only get to spend about ten minutes putting it all down on paper!
Hahaha, I love this. I’ve given up trying to have a glamourous looking blog. Most of the blogs I’ve read and loved for years are just humble and simple so I don’t worry too much.
Haha, I agree Ceri! Yes, I definitely follow people’s blogs because I enjoy their writing style rather than what they are wearing 😉
This is US… in a nutshell!! We actually went through a spate of not being on the blog for about 3 weeks and its because time just got away. Unless we “dedicate” some time to it… we never get around to it 🙂 Blogging when travelling, we have decided is WAY easier 😉
PS – Number 2, 5 and 6 is TOTALLY us!!
I started my blog back in January with lots of dreams and aspirations of conquering wordpress.org with a beautiful site and being able to write regular, effortless blog posts while working. Needless to say it has not happened. I’ve stuck with a free template on WordPress.com, my posts are rather sporadic and I spend my time reading other blogs rather than work on my own. Woops!
Hahaha, I laughed out loud to the intro to this most, I definitely am in the former camp of this, I’m in ridiculous outfits in most of my travel photos!
I don’t have a 9-5 job, you’d think I’d have buckets of time to blog but you don’t know how many times I take it right up to the wire (I post at fixed times). I think it’s because I’m such a slow writer, and I take hours editing photos and formatting the post so it looks pretty!
I usually like to keep a few posts ahead of myself so I can schedule, but it doesn’t always work like that.