Have you had any past online presence before? (Other blog, YouTube, etc)
Yep - before I started blogging, I had my YouTube channel, which I still upload to regularly (about once to twice a week) - be sure to check it out :) No other blog though. My only 'online presence' was in the gaming world, having an Xbox live account, and playing World of Warcraft etc.
Why did you start a blog?
I'm not sure... I think, I've always enjoyed writing, I even started to write a book a few years ago, and as my love of makeup and beauty products has blossomed I wanted another outlet to share my thoughts with other enthusiasts. From watching lots of videos on YouTube of people like Fleur de Force and Sprinkle of Glitter, I discovered and fell in love with their blogs and just had the urge to do the same.
When did you become so serious about starting a blog?
Not sure on the phrasing of this question! I basically started my blog after reading others, there was no long period of time thinking about it, I just did it (I'm very impulsive like that!). I didn't start really taking it seriously though until about July last year (2012), that's when I started posting every day. I just felt I had so much to say, it was really easy to do. At that point I'd been blogging for about 6 months and had just reached my first 50 subscribers - yep, it was slow progress! It still is to a degree :)
What was your first post?
My first post was just a rubbishy 'Hey, I have a blog... ' type post, my second post however was a review of the Fat Cat mascara - I'm not even going to link it, it was terrible! It's in my archive on the right if you're desperate to read it and see the terrible photo's :p Oh how things have evolved!
What has been your biggest challenge while blogging?
Easy - to try and not compare myself with other bloggers. It's still a challenge now. Hopefully you'll appreciate my honesty :) But it's genuinely hard when I can put so much time and effort into my blog and YouTube, and see very little interest in either. Then to see other bloggers/youtubers start up and overtake me in views/subscribers etc in a matter of weeks/months (more YouTube than my blog). I'm definitely overly critical too, always feeling like what I've written or filmed isn't good enough, then I get into a silly cycle of 'that's why it doesn't do as well' etc... silly I know, but it's how I feel all the same ;)
Where do you see your blog in one year?
Honestly? Maybe today isn't a good day to answer this question... I'd like to think I'd have doubled my following (reaching 2k), but more than that I'd like a lot more page views :) Same on my YouTube :)
What is the most rewarding thing about blogging?
That has to be two parts, reading all the lovely comments you lovely people leave me, which helps keep me motivated, and days when I get lots of page views, I feel like I've done something right if that happens, it actually gives me a burst of adrenaline, especially if I'm watching the real time stats on Google Analytics and can see 10+ people on the blog at the same time :)
What is the most discouraging thing about blogging?
Probably me being overly critical of myself... that combined with seeing negativity on twitter and the net towards bloggers. The way I see it, we're all in it together so we really should support each other and share ideas :) Shame that isn't often the reality though, although the circle of lovely bloggers I'm lucky enough to surround myself with are pretty sweet :)
What's your lasting inspiration or motivation?
To constantly improve and beat last month. If I had 15k views last month, I want 16k this month :) I want to improve me and my blog all the time, making it a lovely warm place to come, put your feet up with a cuppa and have a chat - that's my big ideal for the blog, a sort of community, like what Sprinkle of Glitter has achieved :)
If you'd like to do this TAG, I invite you all to do it, leave the link to your post in the comments below :)
This months big pixi3 advertisers are the lovely Laura from A Scottish Lass, Tasha from Belleza Kisses, Gem from Miss Makeup Magpie, Luchessa from Luchessa, Sally from The Human Mannequin - be sure to head over to check out their beautiful blogs <3