Blogging is hard

This blog is lengthy, so go grab an organic snack and buckle up.

Listen guys, blogging is not for the weak or faint of heart. 

It's a really awkward, questionable, public display of vulnerability, in which you basically in so many words say, "WHAT I THINK IS IMPORTANT / FUNNY ENOUGH TO SHARE WITH THE WORLD."

We all know it's not. We all know blogging is more for the blogger than for the audience. The audience will always be there, going back for more, whether they're reading it out of general interest in the blogger's life, because its content makes you feel a certain way whether it's comic relief or embarrassment for the blogger (we come from a generation that reads/watches media just so they can hate-read/hate-watch).

For me, the hard part about blogging was never the actual "blogging" part. I have a list on my phone and drafts-saved galore of ideas and half-baked starts. Ideas and inspirations are easy. Challenges come when it's time to hit "publish," dedicating time weekly, and most of all...

NAMING THE BLOG. NAMING. THE. FREAKING. BLOG. 

Let's take a brief little trip down memory lane. Put on your hazmat suit. 

August 2009. 
I had an idea that my high school friends and I should all start a blog and write about college experiences to help us keep in touch. In reality, I was the only one who wanted to do this, and so I did it. I called it "Outrageously Ruby" because "outrageous" was a word I oft used in this phase of life, and "Ruby" is my middle name. This blog is a tragic representation of me at 19, and is another reminder of how thankful I am social media (especially Instagram) wasn't a part of my middle school days (OR ELEMENTARY DAYS OH GOD). I only posted on this baby 25 times, and there is a "fish pond" on it, that I really can't even bring myself to talk further about. 

July 2011.
I began to dabble my knock-off designer toes into the waters of "wannabe fashion blog." Thus was born "Runs With Lipstick." I meant it to be like an indian name. RWL. It was kind of tragic, but I had good times on there. It really birthed some gems. 

My run-in with a suicidal asian and the poh poh. 
That time I went on a bad date.
When I wanted strong eyebrow game.
Obsessing over the Jenner sisters.
Feelings on my ugly iPhone case.
When I did a 30-day clean eating challenge.
Blogging The Bachelor, season Sean Lowe.

What was supposed to be a fashion blog became a place I would just blog all the thoughts in my head or weird life experiences. What was supposed to be a release for fashion became a release to write what I thought was funny. 

WHY IS FASHION BLOGGING SO HARD DAMMIT WHY CAN'T I JUST BLOG ABOUT FASHION I LIKE SHOES AND PRETTY THINGS HELP

I really didn't want to blog about my life. I had always cringed a little when bloggers got too personal in blogs. BUT THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WAS DOING. GETTING RLY UP CLOSE N PERSONAL. 

June 2013.
I had just graduated college, moved to Dallas and started a part-time internship when Fashion Food Frivolity became a thing in my life. It was a Saturday. I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about the name (thinking about things and being patient isn't my forté) — I just wanted a blog that would NOT be about my life. I was so happy with FFF. I love the initials FFF. I was like GREAT I LOVE FOOD AND FASHION AND I'M SO FRIVOLOUS IT HURTS THIS IS FUN YAY FFF FFF FFF FFF F FF FFFF F F F F . 

It wouldn't be a personal blog, i told self, it would be about exactly what it says: Fashion, food, frivolity. I figured "frivolity" could be the catch-all for when I didn't want to blog about fashion or food.

As it goes, the whole blog has been frivolity. Futile attempts at fashion and food happened, but really, the whole blog was another PERSONAL recounting of things in my life, with my own weird-humor spin.


THE MAIN REASON I STARTED FFF:
I needed a substantial blog I could put on a resume that would display my interests, writing, personality, and flair for social media. I wanted a job in fashion/writing/social media, so I created this blog and social media accounts for it. I thought if I could get this sucker going, I could gain first-hand experience in social media marketing, paid social media advertising, all while having fun trying and failing on my own blog.

I went through a moderately embarrassing bout of posting on FFF instagram, facebook, twitter, and then stopped doing so because a full time job is no joke and i'll never know how people find time for their children.

With my internship at the time only being part-time, I thought FFF would be a perfect summertime hobby.

On its first day, I tweeted about how much I loved one of Man Repeller's latest posts. Then something extremely bizarre happened.

man repeller herself retweeted me. 

i said to me, i've made it. this is it. i'm at the top.

ugly typeface FFF logo i kno leave me alone

My cute little FFF blog was still in its zygote phase, and a bad ass as famous as MR had found it and retweeted it. LIKE WUT??????? like wut i say

Fast forward one month after I started FFF.
The part-time internship became a full-time job. Blog became less about a resume-tool, and more of a writing outlet about personal thoughts and life-happenings. Exactly what I didn't want it to become L O L

And here we are. And by "here" I mean "ready to start a new blog with a more accurate title" and by "we" I mean "just me, just the one."

Yes, yes, you read that correctly, yes, I want to start a new blog, with a title that ACTUALLY reflects content. Me and my dumb thought etc. 

Potential blog names in the running:

• It's fine etc
• It's casual etc
• Señorita Sassy
• 23 is hard
• 20s is hard
• drunk at work etc
• chic is hard etc
• chic happens
• so chic it hurts etc
• i'm fine it's fine etc

Clearly, I'm a fan of saying "etc" and "hard" and "chic" and being pretty. This next blog will be two things: Personal/funny recounts of thoughts/life-happenings and on WordPress.

Fact: I had full intentions to start this new blog today, but a fellow blogger and much wiser friend advised me to sleep on it, saying she, "THIS IS A BLOG, NOT A PAIR OF SHOES." Help me I'm hasty.

Truths about blogging

Any blogger will admit to feeling the following things. Or they will feel it, but not admit to it. Or I'm the only blogger in the world who feels these things and I'll die alone.

1. I'm embarrassed about 98% of my blogs.
2. Self-deprecation (or self-sabotage?) is required.
3. Hearing "I'm the biggest creep, I like all of  your blogs" never gets old, and it's not considered "creeping." 
4. It's awkward saying "Thank you" when someone says they love your blog. thanks i love my blog too, i'm rly obsessed with me.
5. You don't forget it when a guy tells you he "fell for you through your writing." This is not often, because get real, but it happens.
6. Asking certain friends (you know, the ones who get it) to read your blog and make sure it's actually funny before posting it is a common, insecure, and encouraged practice.
7. You automatically bond with other people who blog.
8. A friend who likes your blog on Facebook is a true friend and many blessings will rain upon them.
9. Blogging takes a really really really long time, and then once it's published, I read it 10 more times.
10. I read my old blogs when I can't sleep. And I laugh. And I cringe. And I go to sleep.
11. When a friend you haven't talked to in months texts you asking for a link to an old blog, it's like you talked yesterday.
12. You don't want everyone to read your blog (parents, grade-school teachers, mom's friends, current/potential employers, ex-boyfriends, crushes, gyno, neighbor, cashier at Kroger), but you still somehow want to go viral.
13. You've thought about contributing to BuzzFeed but it sounds exhausting and if you're not famous after your numbered list of gifs after the first two attempts, there's no hope. It's all rigged. Blame public relations.
14. You both put a lot of scrutiny on other bloggers, but also avidly support them, because you get it. youjustgetit.
15. All of your friends commonly tell you, "DON'T BLOG OR TWEET THIS," because you are that girl and you know it.
16. You blog and tweet things you know you shouldn't, whether for the sake of a career or sheer embarrassment  but you do anyway, because the story is just that funny.
17. You do questionable things solely because "it could be good blog material."
18. Everything inspires a blog post. And by everything, I do mean everything. Literally. Everything.
19. You'll be inspired to blog at inconvenient times. IT'S 11:33 PM BUT I JUST THOUGHT OF A BRILLIANT BLOG AND I CAN'T SLEEP UNTIL IT'S DRAFTED.
20. You'll wrestle with Google Analytics and try to bribe your 46 closest friends with a job in anything remotely-advertising related. (coding is hard help).
21. There is no such thing as being satisfied with the design/template/color palette, but your blog ideas can't wait on your poor design skills to be published.
22. You semi live in fear of being sued for using a gif/photo from the internet without properly giving credit. You use the gif/photo anyway.
23. A boyfriend isn't a boyfriend unless he reads every single blog and worships it and you and you writing it.

23 seems like a fitting place to stop. Be on the lookout for a new blog bye.