Friday, April 15, 2011

Fashion Beauty Friend Friday: Gratitude

Today marks the one-year anniversary of Fashion/Beauty Friend Friday! It has grown from 7 bloggers to more than 630 members, including several men. According to the creator of FBFF, Katy of Modly Chic, the community has helped one blogger through a plagiarism case. It has assisted new bloggers with site design and business card selection. And it has debated the merits of Disqus commenting system and switching to WordPress.  The meme has seen the creation of additional theme-related memes like Everybody Everywhere and Fashion Feminist Bloggers.

As a result of the one-year anniversary we are answering questions about gratitude – giving props to those that don’t normally get the credit.

 

The Friend Friday group by Modly Chic is a way for fashion bloggers to share more about themselves and join a friendly community of bloggers.  Join the fun by checking out the  Fashion Beauty Friend Friday Google Group. And don't forget to check out Modly Chic - it's such a great blog.

1.  When it comes to me personally – I owe a lot of who I am to: Without a doubt I’m going to say major credit goes to my husband. Not only does he take my photos every day, and is responsible for my genuinely happy smiles in each of them, but he continues to help me embrace who I am through my posts. He's always there to support my writing, whether through proofreading or objective criticism, and he helps me tackle those lingering negative thoughts when I'm struggling against insecurities regarding my appearance.

2. When it comes to me professionally – I owe a lot of who I am to: In high school, I had the "pleasure" of being in Mrs. Pollard's AP English class. There was nothing pleasurable about Mrs. Pollard. Tough, snarky, nit-picky, and critical, Mrs. Pollard challenged everything about my writing, from grammar to word choice to subject matter. Nothing was good enough for her high standards. I grew to despise both this woman and the class. It wasn't until I was in college that I realized how much she helped improve my writing. I learned to pay more attention to grammar rules and double and triple and quadruple check my work when proofreading. By sophomore year I was writing for my college newspaper, and my work never would have been accepted if it wasn't for Mrs. Pollard's instruction.

3. When it comes to the art of blogging, I’m grateful to these people for helping me through some rough spots: When I'm feeling down about my traffic being lower than other bloggers, or having less followers, I always think of the wise advice given to me by Erin of Work With What You've Got. Erin reminded me that obsessing about the stats of other bloggers was a fruitless cause, that I would never really know what made them so popular, and to get over it. This wise advice always helps me recover from moments of inadequacy.

4. One blogging challenge I’m grateful happened because it made me stronger was… As a woman in recovery from a 20 year-battle with anorexia, taking my photos every day is a constant challenge. But I continue to do it, fighting the little voices in my head questioning my worthiness as a style blogger. I'm grateful that I can overcome insecurities about my body and appearance, and put myself out there for the world to see. That's something I never thought I'd be able to do.

5. To my readers, I’d like to say… THANK YOU!! Thank you for coming back post after post. Thank you for your thoughtful, supportive, and intelligent comments. Thank you for thinking I have something here worth reading. Thank you for supporting my fledgling writing career - because of your encouragement, I've submitted posts to online publications and am now getting paid for my writing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

No comments:

Post a Comment