Why I Started Blogging Again During a Pandemic

I am really excited to share today’s post as I actually really enjoy writing posts about blogging. The title may be slightly misleading as I have been blogging on and off since I was about 12 (I would cringe looking back at old posts now). I’m always so grateful that I decided to start blogging again as I genuinely love writing and being a part of the blogging community. Since May 2020 I re-started my blog and have been consistent with it for almost a year now so I’m going to say that I started blogging. Though I’m not new to blogging as such and the name of my blog existed beforehand I did not do anywhere near the amount of work I do now for my blog. I thought I’d use the Blogging Nostalgia Tag to share why I started blogging, and why I started again!

This post is part of the Blogging Nostalgia Tag created by Izzy Matias and MingWrites. Also huge thank you to Alisha for tagging me and be sure to check her blog post here too (and her wax melt business as they smell gorgeous)!

Blogging Nostalgia Tag Instructions

• Insert the blogging nostalgia tag banner anywhere in your blog post
• Thank the person who nominated you, and include the link to their responses.
• Answer the 9 questions in the blogging tag. You do not have to come up with new questions in the blogging tag.
• Nominate up to ten bloggers, do not stress if you cannot come up with ten names!
• Notify the nominees via any channel that is convenient for you, (e.g. email, Twitter, Facebook, blog comments, etc)
• List the rules on your blog post, preferably before you attempt the blogging tag.
• You are not required to include the words ‘Blogging nostalgia tag’ in your blog post title or URL slug. We understand that some bloggers will want to optimise this for SEO. Therefore, a brief mention in the body text will be sufficient!

Introduce Yourself and Share Three Fun Facts

Why are these questions always so difficult?! Hi, I’m Tash the writer behind this blog! I’m currently in my final term at university studying English Literature and currently have no idea what to do afterwards. I’m a bit of an everything blogger and love writing (one of the main reasons why I started blogging) so I love using this outlet to write about anything and everything that interests me.

Onto the (probably not so fun) facts:

• I’m a left-handed – I don’t know if this is that fun a fact but that’s all I’ve got at the moment. It used to be one of lives biggest struggles having to write in ink at school as I made such a mess and it smudged everywhere!
• I can recite the 50 states of America in alphabetical order (kind of) – back in school I had to learn the 50 US states for an assembly and recite them. This was back in year three but I can probably still say a good 30-40 of them now. I learnt them by adapting the states to fit to Kylie Minogue’s ‘Can’t get you Out of my Head’ and clearly it worked as I still can’t get them out of it!
• I can raise my right eyebrow like they do in the old Cadbury’s advert!

What was your first blog platform, and do you still remember your blog name?

Sadly I do still remember my first blog name. It was TashBrilliantBookBlog and, in case you couldn’t tell, I was a book blog. I then started a second blog called SkinDeep which was about beauty. Then rebranded the book blog to A Book with a View before eventually deciding to combine the two blogs and talk about a bit of everything with A Girl with a View. The name was inspired by Forster’s book A Room with a View which I read for A-level and really loved.

I started off on blogger and stayed there for my whole time as a blogger before finally switching to self-hosted on WordPress a few months ago!

Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging because I entered a competition to win an iPad back in 2012. You had to make a video review and upload it to YouTube. I didn’t win but I noticed that lots of the people that entered had book blogs. So I decided that I wanted to give it a go as I loved reading and set up my blog to do that. I worked with lots of children’s publishers and authors back in the day and even wrote reviews for The Guardian newspaper’s children’s book site and recorded a podcast with an author at their offices in London. Still the scariest day of my life, haha!

What is your favourite part about blogging?

For me, writing the blog posts is hands-down one of my favourite aspects of blogging. I have always enjoyed writing so it’s such a fun outlet to write what you want. I also love the blogging community. Back in the day I never really used social media to promote my blog so it was lonely out there but since starting blogging again I have become so involved in the community and it makes so much difference!

What do you blog about, and why did you choose those topics? Is your blog related to your field of study? Why or why not?

I’d say I’m mainly a lifestyle blogger. Though I do also include travel, university, beauty and book-related posts as they’re also things I enjoy and are part of my life. I want to start including more book-related posts as they’re some of my favourites to read and I love getting recommendations. I tested the waters with my best books I’ve read recently post and it’s been one of my most popular so stay tuned for more bookish content!

If you could pick any blog niche without considering web traffic or monetisation potential, what would it be?

I think I would still pick the niches I am in now. I didn’t start blogging with the intention of it being a full-time job. It’s a creative outlet and something I enjoy so getting hundreds of thousands of views and money would be nice but isn’t essential. I love writing and I love engaging in the community and making friends so I didn’t really consider these aspects when picking my blog.

Share a fun blogging memory with us

Hmmm, I’m not sure I really have that many. Since having this blog I haven’t exactly been able to go out and do much outside of sitting at a laptop. I guess, like I mentioned earlier, getting to record a podcast with the Guardian is probably the most fun blogging memory I have. I was invited as a result of my blog but that’s not exactly the most exciting of memories, haha!

If you could start over, what would you do differently?

Hands down I would start on WordPress. Blogger is okay as a platform but WordPress is just considerably better. It has already made such a difference to my blog that I wish I’d started out on that platform.

Finally, is there a blogger who inspires you? Name the first blogger you think of and your favourite three blog posts from him or her. Do not overthink this question, we are not playing favourite here!

I think Lauren is the first blogger who springs to mind here. I absolutely love her blog and always read her posts every week. She puts out such great content and is so so lovely as well! My favourite posts from her are probably her 48 hours in Lincoln guide, friendships (the low down), and 7 ways to enhance your CV!

My Blogging Nostalgia Tag Nominees

If you have been tagged there is absolutely no pressure to take part at all!

If you do take part in this tag, try and write a little something about each of your nominees.

• Lauren – unsurprising given she’s one of my favourite bloggers and so lovely too!
• Caroline – again so lovely and writes some of my favourite content!
• Eleanor – Eleanor has some of my favourite posts and I always enjoy chatting to her on Twitter!
• Zoe – I absolutely love reading Zoe’s posts and she’s so lovely too (can you sense a theme here, the blogging community is just so nice)! I also love her new header too!

Woah, thank you for making it to the end of this mammoth post! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading and learning a bit more about why I started blogging.

Why did you start blogging? I would love to know!