Falling in love with blogging again

Well this feels surreal.

If you've been following my online musings for the past couple of years then you'll know that up until last year I had been posting on another blog, 'ellemma'.

And if you've stumbled upon this page for the first time and don't know me from Adam then hi, welcome along and I hope you enjoy the read.

For the purposes of existing followers and new faces, I'll do a quick recap on where I used to be with the blog and where I am now.

'ellemma' was a bit of a mixed bag, with beauty and lifestyle being the main themes.

Reviews on the latest make up and skincare products as well as local attractions and events all featured heavily, and I count myself very lucky to be involved with the Bournemouth Bloggers, a network of bloggers, some of whom have become firm friends over the past year.

'ellemma' gave me so many opportunities that I will always be very grateful for. As well as making friends IRL as opposed to online acquaintances and attending press events, I was very lucky to appear on the odd PR mailing list, with products gifted in exchange for reviews and complimentary visits to local businesses including restaurants, spas and even festivals.

It was an incredible couple of years that I never took for granted. But something happened sometime last year. I can't put my finger on exactly when, but I noticed that I'd started to blog less frequently, and that every time I fired up the laptop to type a post it began to feel more of a chore, and less of a passion.

I don't know what it was but something within me just felt like I was blogging because I had to, as opposed to because I wanted to.

I've loved writing since I could write. Ever since I was a little girl I'd keep countless diaries and write to my heart's content about anything and everything.

Blogging gave me the chance to explore that passion further. It gave me a voice. But over the past year I think that voice has become a little muffled and lost with what to say.

I blame Instagram. Well more specifically, I blame my addiction for Instagram and becoming so fixated with my content on there and attempting to grow my followers (the holy-fricking-grail), that I lost sight of the blog and my love for writing.

And if I want to be really deep and meaningful about it, I guess I sort of lost sight of myself, and what my online identity was all about. And I really feel, more than ever, that I need to remember why I started blogging in the first place. It's time to start somewhere.

Sooooo, in the most long-winded post possible, here's a new blog, a fresh start, and an opportunity to express myself and what I'm all about. Hopefully in some sort of witty and mildly-interesting way.

In terms of content you can expect lifestyle posts as before with 'ellemma', but probably without as many beauty reviews as I used to do (unless I come across an absolute game-changer of a product that I think is worth shouting about). There'll be more chatty, impulsive posts about whatever I feel like talking about, it could be something going on in my life, something in the news, or something about the bane of my life that is social media and Instagram.

MUST STOP FIXATING ON THE BLOODY GRAM

Oh and one other thing I'm really excited to start blogging about is film. I gained a degree in film studies donkey's years ago so I feel like it's about time I to put it to use in one way or another. I'll talk more about that in a later post.

For now though. This is me. This is where I'm at. And I really hope you enjoy reading my new posts as much as I'm planning to enjoy writing them.

Thanks for checking in, I'll be back soon.

Em x