On a personal note, I've been using my Belle de Jour Power Planner for four years now. They made my life organized. They gave me a sense of control in managing my life. They hold all my thoughts and feelings, my secrets, my fears and the all the great moments that happened.
With the help of my planner and the love to jot down each and every details of my day-to-day living, it lead me to involve myself into blogging. I believed that I have learnings that's needed to be read and shared. There are certain questions in my mind that's needed to be answered and I thought it would be great getting anyone's share of their views and opinions. I have friends but it would be fun having my set of friends online. I may not be able to see them personally but I will definitely get to know them thru their comments and messages.
Blogging releases the stress in me (a bit!) and freeing my mind from the whirlwind of thoughts. And it's satisfying to see all your thoughts in writing, just how marvelous you are coming up with those things in mind. It surprises me.
Good thing, Belle de Jour came up with an event that is "for bloggers only.." Having heard of this, I didn't let the moment pass to send in my details and answer their question on why I love to blog. Belle de Jour didn't fail me. I got the slot!
I was surprised to have experienced fashion and writing in a single event. Both were my passion . What added to my surprise was having seen Tricia Gosingtian (triciawillgoplaces.tumblr) and Ana Santos (sexandsensibilities.com) do their share of talks on fashion and writing. I so adored these two gorgeous ladies. I never thought I would have the chance to see them in person, but heard of their name often in the fashion world, online, magazines and blog world.
Tricia talked on the art of fashion blogging. I love her way of blogging by incorporating pictures (mostly of herself). That is called photo blogging. I can tell Tricia's a very strong-willed person, she never let every opportunity pass her. I admired her for using blog to make fashion friendlier. Her vision is to see people able to dress themselves like the mannequins we often see in boutiques.
She also discussed the essentials of creating a blog. It must have a design, content and brand. Let people become aware of your individuality and value. Incorporate sophistication on your layout. Cater to a specific demographic.
She relayed that by blogging you get to enjoy some perks. You build personal relations with brands, rare opportunities like mingling with celebrities and other who's who in the society and freebies!
As a fashion blogger herself, she did end the talk by giving helpful styling tips for this year. People can play on color blocking, prints, 60's and 70's inspired and minimalism. This I've got to try!
Ana Santos was a journalist by education and profession, a sexual health activist and the founder of Sex and Sensibilities (an advocacy for health-related issues especially of the reproductive health). It's good to know that she used blogging as an instrument to spread their advocacy.
Ana talked on finding our writer's voice. To define, a writer's voice is an individual's style of writing. It is what we hear as a constant track in our head.
She revealed that in order for us to find our writer's voice we must start writing. When writing, we have to be experimental. We need to know our writing style. We should not be a victim of our own words. Write what you feel.
Observing ethics in writing is also a must. Let us respect our readers. Be careful with our choice of words. In turn, we'll build reputation. According to Ana, reputation is like virginity: Once you lose it, it's gone forever!
I may say that for us bloggers, to ignite our passion for blogging, we must remain passionately curious!
My big thanks goes to the girls of BDJ for bringing this kind of event. I believed we were gathered there not only to meet our fellow blogger BDJ girls, not only to plainly sit there and listen, not only to enjoy the freebies but to participate in the discussion, share our views and opinions, and to imbibe the spirit of a true BDJ girl in fashion and in writing.
Sounds like an awesome event. Hope I could attend one like this :)
ReplyDeleteAll you have to do is to be a certified BDJ fan. Buy urself the BDJ planner, own a lifestyle card for free and subscribe to receive alerts on their upcoming events. You'll definitely enjoy to be part of the BDJ circle. :)
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