Blogger Recognition Award

Happy Monday everybody! 😀

I’d like to start this week on a really positive note – a Blogger Recognition Award, bestowed upon me by the lovely Joanne @ A Glimpse Into My Journey.

Thanks so much, Joanne! ❤ I really appreciate this 😀 😀

The Rules of this Award (are actually pretty simple 👏 👏):

Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.  Write a post to show your award.  Attach the award to the post.  Give a brief story of how your blog started.  Give a piece of advice or two to new bloggers.  Select 15 other blogs you want to give the award to.  Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them & provide a link to the award post you created.

Okay then, here we go!

How this blog started:

It was on a flight home from LA. I couldn’t sleep, my head was swimming with so many stuff because things were happening career-wise and my personal life was also screaming for attention. In a bid to calm myself I commanded my brain to focus on things that made me happy.

I was riding this train of thought but my mind was still restless – up until the thought struck me that I should start a blog.  And that’s when I got excited 😀

I realized I needed an outlet, something that forced me to focus on the good things, the simple pleasures, the lessons, the fun and the crazy side of me. Something that could also be a platform for connecting with others of same interests but without the obtrusiveness of Facebook. I needed a happy space ❤ 😀

And thus OSB&V was born!

My advice to new bloggers.

1.  Be yourself.  Write to express, not to impress. 

When I started blogging I had no voice, I wrote to please the reader. I was tentative and needy of likes and comments. The things I wrote about were chosen with the reader in mind. Needless to say, I wasn’t really having much fun.

Then I started just expressing myself – this is my party, I can dance the way I want to, right?! 🙂 As I gained more confidence just putting myself out there I also started having fun. And that’s when the likes, comments, follows and even the awards came 😀 😀 😀 (Along with much much muccccccchhh appreciated comments like, “I like the way you write”, which always catapult me to the stars!).

In my experience, the posts that are the most “me” are the posts that get the most likes and comments.  So be yourself. Express yourself. It’s your blog 🙂

2.  That said, do pay attention to quality writing.

I don’t know if many will agree to this but it’s like when we know we are going to have a visitor, we do comb our hair and wash our face at the very least don’t we?

Just because we are expressing ourselves, being real and all, doesn’t mean we forgo basic rules of grammar, composition and presentation. I mean, I think it’s just being respectful to our readers. Many times I’ve come across an otherwise nice post but went away with less esteem for the writer because it was written and presented in a careless manner.

I value every visitor to my blog so much that I sometimes edit my posts to death! LOL! 😆 This is extreme of course and I’m no great writer by far but I do what I can to put my message out there in a way that is easy to read ❤

3.  Make it fun!

By now you should know it’s all about the fun factor for me 😀 To me this means, blog about the things you love, the things that matter to you. Don’t worry about finding your niche or your audience, this will come in time. Express your joy, marvel, appreciation, confusion. Express your crazy and unique sides.

Find other blogs of like-minded bloggers, reach out and make friends. Join writing challenges and prompts or make your own. Be as regular as possible, but allow yourself to take breaks whenever necessary. That way you come back refreshed and ready to put your piece of sunshine out there for others to find 🙂

My nominees:

Hmmm … I’m never quite sure how to do this part 😲

There are quite a number of bloggers I’d like to nominate but I also know that some bloggers aren’t into this type of thing.  So allow me to try a different approach this time – I will nominate these sexy people on their blogs personally 🙂 🙂 This way I feel that I’m not putting them on the spot if they choose not to accept.  (I don’t know if this is a good thing even 😖 How do YOU do it?)

~ oOo ~

And that is that! 😀 Thank you for reading and – what advice do YOU have for new bloggers? Share YOUR thoughts in the comments section and (if you’re feeling sexy today!) feel free to consider yourself nominated for this award ❤ ❤ ❤

And don’t forget to visit Joanne.  She creates really delicious stuff over there and her posts are always a joy to read 🙂

Have a wonderful week everyone! 💋