What I Learnt From Blogging Every Day for a Month

October is over which means one thing... Blogtober is over! Ahhh I can't believe I did it! I  managed to blog every single day for whole entire month! As you probably know, I'm not the most consistent of bloggers, I blog when I have time and I blog when I feel like it. Blogging is not my priority, it's a hobby and for the moment it doesn't look like that will change. As much as blogging for a full time job is any bloggers dream, I'm not unrealistic and will keep my priorities in sight. Anyway, away from the negatives. my point being, until lately I would have never had time to blog every day but due to a change in circumstances, I have and as much as I have enjoyed it, it has take up so much time! But here's what I learnt from blogging every day for a month...

1. Traffic

Probably the noticeable thing this month was my increase in traffic, far higher than I've had before. I have no idea what kinda traffic is the average blogger gets, I'm embarrassed to say what it is mind you because I know mine is still so little in comparison to others. But, that's not the point. the point is it all made it worth my time to know more people were seeing my content!

2. Time and Commitment 

So I obviously knew it was going to take up a lot of my time but what really got me was the days where I'd been at work and then came home knowing I hadn't done the blog post. There were some days when I didn't want to spend time out of my evening writing, I just wanted to sit and do nothing. However, using that time to blog made me feel productive and proud that I'd created something. 

3. Quality of posts

I was pleased with all the content I put out, I would never post something on my blog I wasn't happy with. But quality is another matter, there were some posts that probably could have been of a lot better quality and maybe because of blogging everyday the quality of my posts suffered? Although, because I haven't spent hours editing and perfecting them I kinda like that they are just me rambling on and maybe more... relatable? Despite this, I wish I had more time to improve the quality such as taking more of my own photos and adding my personal touch that way which I want to in the future.

4. Chatting with other bloggers

Being a more consistent member of the blogging community means I've talked to a lot more bloggers and consequently means I don't (always) feel like I'm talking to myself!

5. A huge sense of achievement

I committed to blogtober on a bit of a whim, I knew I had enough time to do it so I did. I admit, I had doubts, I thought there may be a few days skipped and a few posts saying "sorry I didn't feel like it today". But no, I did it! I managed it! Not that I thought I wasn't capable, but it does show that if you put your mind and heart into something the results are amazing.

You never know, in the future, I might do another month where I blog everyday, who knows! I might continue to blog every day but not beat myself up when I skip a day or don't feel like writing. One thing is for sure. I want to be more consistent in my blogging and not give up!

Do you think you could blog every day? Maybe you did blogtober too, how did you find it? Let me know in the comments or tweet me @_bowsandbuttons

Hayley x

October Summary

Bad luck seems to have been following me around this month, more seems to be going wrong than right, one annoying thing has happened after another! Let's hope that the start of November will see the end of this bad luck spell! 

October seems to have flown by! I won't go into details about all my unlucky bad events but it hasn't been an easy month. Most of the annoying things have been sorted and hopefully the other unresolved problems will be soon.

I didn't get up to much thing month, I've started a new job and been trying to get into a routine. Unfortunately, I've completely failed as I only work part time and haven't found a good way to structure my days off as I haven't been sleeping well so I've been exhausted most of the time. The whole dark evenings and cold weather really seems to have affected me this year!

The biggest goal for me this month was to attempt to blog every day for the whole month, which I have achieved! I must admit I've found it hard to find the time and some days have just felt like skipping a day but I didn't and I'm proud that I've made it through the month. Although I'm pretty certain that for now daily blogging will not be a thing for me unfortunately!

With regards to my goals that I set myself in my September Monthly Update post, I've tried to be healthier... kind of . Now it's got more colder and wintry I seem to have lost motivation to exercise and haven't been able to go for the long walks down the beach which I was doing over summer. So again, for November, I'm going to try to be healthy because let's face it December will be full of mince pies and roast dinners! 

Looking forward to November, I haven't got a lot planned except for going to America again where I will be celebrating Thanksgiving! I'm going for just under a week but I'm really looking forward to it! Also November is the time to do the Christmas shopping... which I hate as I never know what to get anyone!

How was October for you? Have you got any exciting plans for November? Let me know in the comments or tweet me @_bowsandbuttons

Hayley x

Childhood Nostalgia - TV shows

Ah wasn't childhood so much simpler? No bills to pay and no jobs to go to! I must admit this post was sparked by the fact I'm having mashed potato for dinner and my boyfriend and I started discussing other shows we missed from our childhood. And we now can't stop singing the Mona the Vampire theme tune. Crazy Thursday night huh! So here's a little post dedicated to the childhood tv that I loved and the ones that really stand out in my mind! 

1. Bodger and Badger! 

Is it just me that every time I have mashed potato thinks of the theme tune to this programme?! 

2. Tracey Beaker

I think every girl that is now around my age (21) has fond memories of coming home and watching Tracey Beaker and also just being overall obsessed with Jacqueline Wilson. I remember queuing for hours to meet her at a book shop to have her sign my book!

3. Funny Bones

Kinda creepy and don't really remember what it was about but the theme tune just reminds me of being little! In a dark, dark town there was a dark, dark street and in the dark, dark street there was a dark, dark house,and in the dark, dark house there were some dark, dark stairs...

4. Noah's Island

Again, don't really remember a lot about this one either but I know it was one of those shows I adored! Always having been obsessed with all animals big and small so this cartoon was right down my street!

5. Little Bear

The show about the cutest little bear and his friends won my heart. The little grizzly bear always wanted to explore and go on adventures and it was always a favourite of mine.

5. The Herbs 

I don't know if this was shown on TV, but we definitely had it on video - do kids now even know what a video tape is?! Apparently this was first released in the 60s! It was basically about a Lion called Parsley and his friends also named after herbs!

6. Come Outside

Forget cartoons and the modern shows such as pepper pig, Come Outside was where it was at! This is possibly my favourite out of the whole list. Pippin the dog is just so incredibly adorable!

7. Arthur

Getting home from a long day at school then watching this... oh yeaaaah. Never really understood what Arthur was until I was a lot older though!

8. Mona the Vampire

Show us your fangs! Another after school favourite of mine that I remember watching with my sister!

What were your favourite TV shows as a child? Do you remember watching any of the above? Let me know in the comments or tweet me @_bowsandbutttons 

Hayley x