Friday, June 3, 2011

Thank You (Falettin Me Blog Mice Elf Agin)

First, an outfit, and then on to more important matters.



I wish the weather were still as summery as it was the day I took these photos! I'm in at the office on my lunch break right now, and rather dreary outside. But hey, at least the fact I can see that means that there are lots of windows in said office, right?



I absolutely adore this little camera necklace I bought from Forever 21. Isn't it the cutest? Perfect for a film camera enthusiast like myself.





Life is so good right now--new people, new job, incipient summer weather. This is only my third day working at ModCloth, but I know I'm going to love it. The office has a great open layout, and all of the employees have adorable dogs sitting beside their desks.

As I'd imagine many of you have noticed, my blog has been rather terse and inactive in recent months. I've provided a bevy of excuses along the way, all of which have been true. It's been one of the busiest times in my life.

But, beyond that, I realized yesterday that my silence may have had a lot more to do with my emerging ambivalence about blogging. Here's the thing: I am an incredibly opinionated, strong-willed, intellectually-minded, outgoing, and frank person. The fashion blog world encourages us to be inoffensive, apolitical, non-religious (well, it's more that nobody ever talks about not believing in God), lighthearted, and unfailingly positive. Yet poke around on IFB enough and you're sure to come upon a whole host of  posts encouraging new bloggers to Be Themselves and Bring Out Their Unique Individual Personalities.

The longer I blogged, the more clear it became to me that my readers' views did not necessarily line up with my own. Since I wanted to grow my readership, I tried to keep things as un-alienating as possible. In the very first days of my blog, it was almost painful for me to not comment on blogs I didn't like.  I'd add dozens of blogs that didn't interest me to my Bloglovin' feed because I felt so guilty ignoring people who seemed to enjoy my content.

Lately, I've felt like my blog completely elides my personality. What do you learn about me, really? Well, I seem friendly enough. That's true; I try to be kind as much as I can, but I'm also pretty no-bullshit. I won't lie to people to make them feel better. You learn that I'm a student and a photographer. Again, fairly neutral information. This one time, I even told all of you about my experiences with Bipolar II. But even that was the expurgated, de-politicized version. I told it without the teeth.

I've justified it to myself with the excuse that a fashion blog is emphatically not a diary, not a soapbox, not "public therapy." But why not? Who decided that? Blogging allows you total control over your content, and while you certainly can tailor that content to please your readers, I don't think it makes sense to allow the audience's desires to totally eclipse your own.

From this point forward, you can expect some content changes around here. I'm sick of having nothing to write about, and I suspect that you'll all find opinions a bit more engaging than "today I went to class and then to CVS and then I sat in front of my computer and wrote this and I'm a little sick but I'm starting to feel better and it's about 67 degrees outside" anyway. Hopefully.

15 comments:

グウィニー said...

Props to you, Sophi. Seriously, I have been thinking about this subject for the last week or so, and I am really glad to hear that you're going to step out of the typical "My life is always oh-so-perfect" model that most fashion bloggers constrain themselves into. As much as I love looking at gorgeous pictures of outits/DIY/home design/food, there's something too perfect and magazine-glossily inauthentic about it all that leaves me feeling...peasant-ish? despite the enjoyment factor. Can't wait to see what new directions you'll go in with this!

Kendy Lou said...

Love you girlie!

JennaStevie said...

You're brave my friend and that's a good thing. I totally admire you for that, I am really opinionated too and sometimes it's hard to not step on toes when expressing an opinion. I get kind of annoyed when I post something not clothes related and it get's 2 views, it's not just about clothes, sorry to break the mystique that theres an actual person behind the blog. Good on you!
xJennaD

Elanor said...

i really admire you for breaking through and actually saying the stuff that no one says. i find myself wanting to do this as well, because yeah, i'm sick of just saying here's my day yadda yadda. usually it's not very interesting anyway.

i can't wait to read what you actually have to say, sophi!

and about your photos, i love your hair if i haven't mentioned that before. :) and your cowboy boots are a great spin on the outfit.

x

SomeoneLikeYou said...

Good for you, Sophi! My favorite blogs to read are ones with substance and ones where the bloggers speak their mind and talk about their life personally. I'm look forward to your new outlook on blogging!

P.S. the lighting in this post is just beautiful.

Annebeth said...

I can't wait to read your real opinions :) I have mentioned my non believe in God on my blog as well, it isn't that big a deal over here in Europe as it is in the States. You'll be surprised how many people DO agree with you if you'll post your own, more extreme opinions. Also, who cares if they don't? Opinions are like assholes: everybody's got one, and they're all different :D Just do it, don't feel like you should be anything you're not. People love "realness" so they will not mind it at all if you are being real, even if it's hard for you to put out there.

Annebeth said...

also, I find that humor makes difficult subjects a lot more approachable :-)

Annalise said...

I think it's great that you want to be more opinionated. Go for it! At least you know not to be surprised if not everyone agrees with your comments. And that's fine! Looking forward to the new "tell it like it is" Sophie. :D
XOXO

Nnenna said...

First of all- you're working at Modcloth?! That is so amazing, congratulations!! Secondly, I absolutely love what you've said in this post here and firmly believe you should write about whatever you want to write about it, however you want to write about it! I'll be reading! :)

Jenny Morris said...

your working in the modcloth office! woah!

also, i feel similar to you...but then there is a side of me that likes talking about my daily thoughts and writing and sharing outfits! two forces at work here. i want to keep blogging this summer, working to make my writing style line up better with who i am and what im about :)

FASHIONMADEMEFUNKY
www.fashionmademefunky.blogspot.com

callie said...

I'm really glad you made this decision. I often feel like I don't have anything to write about, and it's probably because I'm not writing what's really on my mind! Excited to see what you have to say. :) xoxo

Richard James Arredondo said...

I hope you'll be posting stories about your new job working at Modcloth. Best of luck to you.

Alisa said...

Same. Happy you wrote this. Not surprised you did :) I can't get myself to update my blog anymore, cause I've lost the point... eh. Well, good luck to both of us. Can't wait to see which direction your blog is going to take. I've always liked it, genuinely.

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