A few weeks ago, I thought I lost my blog forever......
But I am glad I got it back, even just partially. I learned about blogging from my dear friend Wein, who told me about this blogging like it is an online diary. You see, I love writing. If I am not a doctor, I rather be a writer, if only it can support me financally. So the blogging idea appeals to me. However, I was ambivalent with writing down my thoughts and the invasion of my privacy. I remember how I started writing about how hard my Neurology exam in medical school and I was so scared my Neurology professor will see what I wrote online, I deleted it after writing two sentences in the blog. Then I said I am too cowardly to do this.
By 2008, I just passed my medical board exam. Before I was entering into my Family Medicine residency training, I went to a pilgrimage trip with wonderful young ladies to Sydney, Australia. After our wonderful experience there, we wanted to keep in touch, so we opened a Multiply account (now defunct) that is similar to Friendster and MySpace (remember these?). The Multiply network can allow us to tabs of each other and it has a space to create blog entries which was really cool. KC Concepcion used to have a Multiply account during her school days in Paris and she post lovely blog entries with photos of her life in Paris. So I eventually started writing there and eventually move to Blogpost (or Blogger) when my sister encourage me to join her there. That was 2009. I was a Family Medicine resident training in a hospital in Iloilo City, my hometown in the Philippines. I enjoy writing entries after entries on my blog - www.littlemisshoney.blogspot.com, though sometimes not really consistently. I started dating my husband in 2010. I enormously enjoyed my blog stories and he encourage me to keep writing. And writing, I did. I wanted to monetise my blog and to actually feel like a "real" blogger with brand collaboration, sponsorships and more readership. Frankly, I didn't know how to do reach that but I just continued writing on my blog. My writing voice would change from time to time, mimicking blog voices of other bloggers. I really didn't have enough blog identity to begin with.
By 2012, I got a job offer in Singapore and started working there by the end of the year. By 2013, I told myself I want to improve my blog and become a legit blogger. First I got my own domain and removed the blogspot in url. I migrated to Wordpress and said goodbye to Blogspot/Blogger. I got a professional blog coach to evaluate my blog and give me pointers how to improve my blogs. She gave me wonderful advice and I even hired a web designer to design my blog. I joined Facebook blogging communities in Singapore. And slowly, I started working with different brands. I would received emails from brands and PR agency inviting me for blogging events and collaboration. I got lots of freebies, free food tasting, and got modestly paid for it. I met wonderful friends through blog events and had an amazing experiences. It was an awesome gig! I worked with Zalora, SK II, Sephora, Pink Parlour, Tobi, St. Ives, and many more. I enjoyed it immensely though it was difficult juggling it being a mom of young kids. There were times when I did get burnt out. And my love for writing was replace by the need to get more followers in Instagram to keep up with my blogger colleagues. It was all about having more followers to attract brand sponsorships and PR companies. I didn't like that aspect of the blogging world but I have to play that game to keep up. I hate marketing myself and I just want to write. I also have that nagging feeling to keep my life private.
By 2019, I moved to Oman with my family for another work opportunity. Life in Oman was more laid-back. I relaxed more and I blogged less. Plus we didn't have any helper in Oman so even if my work life in Oman is relatively relaxed compared to my work in Singapore and work hours are quite short here, when I get home I have to do some house chores and take care of the kids than take some quiet time to blog. I started to become more private that I even stopped posting in Instagram by early of 2022. Though I was still blogging on & off, with long gaps of months in between. I wasn't ready to give up blogging just yet.
Early this year, my website crashed. Sometimes, this would happen and my blog host, GoDaddy, would be able to fix it. But after 3 calls with GoDaddy IT people, they were able to get my website back up. I have to accept the inevitable - I will have to say goodbye to my blog. I told my blog host to delete my hosting even if it means that will lost my content. I do I lament at the lost content from 2013 to early of 2023. Those years were the years that I was on my A-game in blogging. But thank God, I still have some bits of it, ready to be resurrected. I will still need to fix a bit of my blog because it is not quite there yet. I am taking my time. This is not a race. Hopefully, I can fully put it back again. I hope to monetise it too. I want to write as I used to write, with my voice to tell a story and share a thought, not to become a emotionless copywriter to promote products only because it is the assignment. I will continue writing here. I will write more..... soon.....
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