Blogger Identity Issues

I'm having identity issues as a blogger

I'm a "food blogger".  I slipped into that label not long after I started my blog as most of my posts were about food.  I love food, I love cooking, I love visiting places that feed me and I love trying new things that are food related.

But I also like cats, candles, history, nail varnish, books, dresses, wine, films, technology, face creams, exploring London and napping.  Not so much make up - I'm utterly rubbish at that.

I didn't set out with the idea to start this blog as a food blog.

I've been a "food blogger" for so long and felt that every post needs to be food related but I'm starting to feel it's really limiting me on what I post and how often I post.  Lately I've been so busy with work that I can't even be bothered to make a meal from scratch, never mind coming up with a new recipe, taking pictures of it and writing about it.  I've been a pretty crappy food blogger lately which is what made me think about what sort of blogger I want to actually be and why I want to do it.

So here are my thoughts about my blog (and blogging in general)
I started this page back in 2011 as a sort of online diary.  My grandad always kept diaries and wrote notes about things and observations and I wanted to do something like that for myself.  When I wrote my first post back in 2011, my only intention was to do the same as my grandad but online rather than in notebooks.

Since then I kind of grew into being a food blogger, posting recipes for things I'd created.  As time went on I realised my writing and photography needed some work so aimed to improve both but also enjoyed both very much.

I got wrapped up in the food part of it, I made some fairly delicious thing if I do say so myself.  I was pretty good at posting new recipes on a regular basis and my photography went from "ugh" to "yeah, that's not too bad".

One of my first food posts from 2012...gyoza...really doesn't give one of my favourite foods justice...

 

...to one of my more recent posts for another main food group, guacamole - photography still needs work but I'm proud of how I've improved so far.

Anyhoot, I'm now thinking back to my early blogging days and the reasons I started.   Back in 2011 I don't think I understood what this whole blogging was or could turn into.  For some it's a hobby, for others they can and have made a career out of it.  I've made friends because of this blog, I've tried new foods and I've visited places I would have never been because of my little space on the internet. Thank you social media and internet!

So what's going on for 2017?

2017 is going to be the year when I don't really want to fall into any blogging category or hashtag.  I'm going to post about what I like and love, where I've been, what I'm doing...it's not about the hits or visits (although the number nerd in me does love a good stat, graph or pie chart!).  I want to post because I simply enjoy writing and photography.  I've missed not posting more frequently because I've not made a new dish.  I don't want to limit myself from doing something I enjoy!

Blogging for me next year will be getting back to basics and what the term for blogging actually came from..."web logging", an online diary.


What are your blogging goals for 2017?  Anyone else thinking about changing what they post about or their blogging style?