THE GROUND RULES
August 15, 2018I will always be honest with what I write, but I will respect my privacy and the privacy of my family.
I don't just like sharing my experiences with people, I get so much out of it. I get balance and perspective and really genuinely helpful advice. I get the chance to see the big picture and I get moments of realizing that not everyone has is figured out. I see that we are all different but mostly all just trying our best. To that end I promise you my honesty and integrity, on the the understanding that not everything is for public consumption and that I'm the one that gets to make the decision.
I'm no Annie Leibovitz.
I used to spend hours turning my kitchen into a photography studio to take three photos that would end up on a blog post. It was a ball ache and used up so much of my time (and ultimately my sanity when I over promised myself to people based on mental resources I wasn't in the possession of to offer) that I dreaded having ideas for new content and recipes because of the photography standards I'd set.
I'll take nice pictures, and probably focus on making them look pretty but they'll also being a really useful and true picture of what i'm talking about. I'll also take videos if it makes sense, but everything will mostly be from my phone so expect a finger on the lens or a blur here and there.
I want to start conversations.
I want to hear what you think and feel about what I write and say. I am not an expert at ANYTHING, this is not an advise site or a set of rules by which to live your life (the irony of that appearing in my ground rules post). I do not know the answer- you might though.
I will probably get this wrong and I want to know about it. I promise everything I write will come from a place of the best intentions and be considered, but that doesn't mean it'll be correct. I know we're all different, we think and feel very differently about a huge number of things. This blog is from my point of view, I couldn't authentically and truthfully write from the POV of anyone other than me, but that doesn't mean I don't want to talk about other perspectives.
I'll be posting a instagram story, and saving it to the highlights, after each blog post is published. Think of it as the Cliff Notes for the post, I'll talk through what I wanted to say in case my writing missed the mark, and I want to hear what you think on the subject. It won't all be deep and meaningful but it'll always be a conversation.
I will look like me.
Whenever you see my face I will look like me. I might look like shit with my adult acne and unwashed hair; or I might look nicely put together for someone, something or myself. But I will always look like me, it doesn't serve any of us for me to primp and preen before I turn on the camera, or pretend I'm not still 20lbs heavier than before I had babies. I also won't apologize when I do look like me, because that's my face and my mum worked really hard to make it.
I would like to write consistently and build a community that enjoys my writing, photographs and videos, but I won't make myself sick to get a blog post out every Wednesday.
Pop in when you want, see what's new or what's not, drop me an email to say hello or make a date for a coffee (if you're local and not a serial killer), but please don't take my less than rigid posting schedule as apathy toward how appreciative I am of everyone that does read a post, hit like, or send a DM. I'm incapable of underdelivering to the point that I broke myself when I couldn't say no to work because I didn't want to let people down or have them think less of me. I'm not going to do that again, because it's not fair to my family who put me back together so I hope you can enjoy what I've got when it's there for what it is.
Don't be a dick.
I'm very lucky to have a lovely group of followers and readers that comment and write to me regularly. I want to encourage anyone and everyone to respond and engage with me and each other on instagram posts, in comments on the blog, and (hopefully, you never know!) in real life. But I will insist that all conversation and discussion is done in a respectful and kind way. Life is too short to be a prick on the internet.
I want this to be my job.
At the moment I am a stay at home mum to my twin toddlers, and that is a job in itself. I have worked, lots of different types of jobs, in my lifetime and I am acutely aware of what it takes to earn a wage. I will also not pretend I'm not in the exceptionally fortunate position to be able to stay at home with my children. My family is a team, we all add value to our team in different and incredibly skilled ways, I'm afraid that is not up for debate.
But, I would very much like for writing to become my job.. again. I would like to be paid for my words, my opinions, my thoughts and my ideas. As such if an opportunity to work with a company or brand that I align with presents itself I will do that. If that partnership involves my blog and my audience you will know about it, you will not be used or abused for me to get paid. But right from the start I want to be clear about my intention to pursue a career by writing about what I know.
If a brand or company contacts me and it is not a product or area that I have interest in or affinity with with I will always recommend someone to them to work with if I know the right person- I don't get any thing out of hiding work from someone that would do a better job at it than me.
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I'm pretty sure that's it, I hope that's all ok with you. If it's not let's talk about it.
Find the highlighted story on instagram at @hellohollyblog to hear more about this post, and chat about it if you fancy.
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