My Life As A Blog Guest Post By . . .

Blogger: Allison Whitmore

Blog: One Pearl Button

Twitter: @alli_lucy

One Pearl Button was born on a whim.

It’s a little odd, because I’m not really a “do things on a whim” type of person.  Instead, I tend to fall into the “agonize over every decision” group.  Really, though, there didn’t seem to be much to think about.  It was the winter of 2008, and I was in the third year of graduate school, working on my Ph.D. in Roman archaeology.  I had reached a point where I was comfortable enough in my work that I occasionally had free time on my hands, and I’d been spending it crafting.  One evening, I came across Sarai’s Mitnick’s blog, Sweet Sassafras. It was blog-love at first sight.  Suddenly, I wanted to write a blog of my own.

And so I did.  Like all blogs, OPB started small.  I conceived of it primarily as a personal archive, where I could document craft projects and watch my tastes and techniques evolve over time.  As a busy grad student, it was often my last priority, and there were times when it went neglected for weeks on end.  Over the first two years, though, my attitude began to change.  As I became more involved in the blogging community, writing posts became more important to me.  As I devoted more time to blogging, more readers found their way to the blog, who in turn inspired me to put even more effort into my posts.  Slowly, gradually, OPB stopped being a handmaid to my crafty hobbies, and became a central part of my life.

As I changed my blog, it changed me.  I started learning the advanced functions of my point-and-shoot camera because I wanted to take better photos for blog posts.  When I had pushed that camera as far as it could go, I moved onto a DSLR, and truly fell in love with photography.  Today I shoot digital, 35mm, and instant film, and I rarely go anywhere without a camera in my bag.  I even run a hobby business selling prints of my Polaroid photos.  Photography is a part of who I am now (just ask my friends and family, who constantly have my lens in their faces!), and I don’t think that would have happened without my blog.

Even more importantly, blogging inspires me to be the person I want to be, and to live the life I want to live.  Putting a piece of my life on display can be intimidating, but it’s motivation to step away from my work, get out of the library, and find balance.  Being a part of the blogging community reminds me of how many amazing things there are in the world, and makes me want to experience them for myself.

That’s not to say that everything is sunshine all the time.  I’m still a busy grad student, now at the end of my program with more responsibilities than I’ve ever had before.  Keeping up quality blog content is difficult, and sometimes it feels impossible. There are days when I’ll compare OPB to other blogs, and end up discouraged.  To make it even more ridiculous, sometimes I’ll even compare my own content to that of full-time bloggers (oh, the shame!).  In the end, though, I always snap out of it, remind myself that my blog is a hobby, and go back to enjoying it as one aspect of a very full life.

It’s been nearly four years since I hit the “publish” button on my very first blog post.  Sometimes, it’s hard for me to believe how long it’s been, and how many people have stopped by to share my little corner of the internet along the way.  I’m constantly surprised and grateful when readers find something of their own to carry away from my blog, and the people I’ve met in this community have been consistently amazing and inspiring.  I don’t know where the future will take One Pearl Button, but I hope that blogs will always be a part of my life.

Thanks, whim.

I hope you enjoyed Allison’s post, which is part of an on-going series on Blogstar. If you would like to contribute your own My Life As A Blog post, please email me at sbrydenbrown[at]gmail[dot]com.