On Blogging

I can't remember the last time I put together a brilliant, on-trend unique outfit.
I have no idea what trends are going to be big for Spring/Summer 15, and more significantly, I don't care.
The last item of clothing I bought myself was a black dress for my work New Year party in January. I've worn it on almost every night out since then.
In the mornings before work I just put on some clothes and get out of the door for 8, and at the weekend you'll usually find me in jeans and a jumper.
I'm not really a fashion blogger anymore.

Truth be told, "fashion" was never really me.
Even in my early days of blogging, it was all about personal style. I never really cared about the latest trends or what was happening at fashion week. 
I was interested in the people behind the outfits.

But the problem with starting out as a fashion blogger is that you associate blogging with pictures.
And you feel self-indulgent, vain, conceited just writing about yourself and what you're up to and what you like.
You feel unless you have some great pictures to post you can't blog at all, even when you're full to the brim with ideas.

Sometimes I want to blog about living with Phil, or about our flat, or about something funny that happened.
Sometimes I want to blog about the fish pie I made or how I got a 3 mile PB at the weekend.
Sometimes I want to talk about a film that I saw, or the list of Phil has made of all the films I should have seen by now that we're working through.
Sometimes I want to talk about what I'm reading, or what I'm not reading.
Sometimes I want to talk about the fact that I haven't bitten my nails since June but I can't get nail polish to last longer than 24 hours.
Sometimes I want to talk about the music I'm listening to or how I felt about the Parks and Recreation finale.
Sometimes I just want to talk about my weekend. Or how much I love our new rug.
But I've always felt trapped. Trapped by being a "fashion blogger". Trapped in the idea that I can't post anything unless I have pictures to accompany it.
I have that sinking heart feeling every Sunday when I want to blog about my weekend, but realise I spent Saturday in jeans and a jumper and didn't think to try to pull something together just for photographs.
And how inauthentic, how fabricated is that?

I don't want to be like that anymore.
Two of my favourite blogs are by former fashion bloggers who now just blog about their lives (Maggey and Michelle), sometimes short essays, sometimes just streams of consciousness. 
And honestly, I enjoy them more than the fashion blogs I read.
And even when I do read fashion blogs I tend to ignore the pictures and just read the text anyway.
I want to write more like that.

I'm not passionate about fashion in the same way I used to be.
I'm passionate about lots of other things. Food, fitness, books, films, health, travel.
But I'm not creative enough to be a food blogger, not fit enough to be a fitness blogger.
I want to create a blog that represents all of my interests, not just one.

I've been writing this blog since I was 19.
I'm 25 in two weeks.
I'm a completely different person to who I was in the winter of 2009.
I've done so much with my life, and on this blog.
I won't be rebranding. This blog will stay here, on this domain, with this name.
It's not going to be a huge change overnight, suddenly turning into a completely different blog. 
This will still be girl next door fashion. It will still be me.
I'm just read to diversify. To enjoy blogging again. To just write what I want to write in my space.

I want to write authentic posts.
Sometimes vulnerable. Sometimes raw.
I want to write posts that people can relate to. 
The number of people who came up to me to tell me how much they loved, and related to, my post on Things you should know before you move in with me.
A post I was almost too scared to put live.

So here's to a more authentic blog.
I'm not saying I'll never post outfits because I still will. I still love that element of my blog.
But I don't want to feel pigeonholed for it. I don't want to feel that outfits is all my blog is.
Not everyone will enjoy this new turn. I understand that and I'm sure some people will leave. 
I accept that.
I have dozens of topics I want to write about.
But importantly, sometimes I just want to blog.
Sometimes I just want to sit down at my laptop on a Sunday evening and write whatever I feel.

I'm excited to see what comes next.