Last week, I mentioned that I’ve been interested in expanding the scope of Plant Propaganda. A lot has changed since its inception in 2012. In that period of time, I’ve moved four times and held six different jobs. I’ve struggled with depression and, like most millenials, tried to find out where I fit in and what I want to do with myself. After the initial excitement of “having a blog” wore off, it became hard to post consistently, I was often distracted and lost interest. In a way, I think curating the successful work of others only served to remind me about what I felt I wasn’t accomplishing.
The good news is that recently, things have taken a turn for the better. I landed a job that I love, and I moved into a new house that got me excited about undertaking a lot of projects. I started to realize I was really excited to be documenting what I’m working on – it makes me more aware of the process, gets me out of my own head and lets me develop my photography skills at the same time.
I’ve been reading the Documenting Your Life series of articles over on Lune Blog, and I connect a lot with Jill’s story. She writes about her changing relationship with her blog: how it came to be, falling out of love with it and then rediscovering and reinventing it – and herself. For her, blogging is about staving off boredom. Like me, it’s inspired her to develop different skills and to always challenge herself. She writes about how even though blogs are an oversaturated medium, they are still valuable to us as tools for personal growth, and for sharing our experiences and knowledge with our community. That’s what I’m discovering.
As I’ve considered changing the direction of Plant Propaganda, I’ve dealt with concerns about “losing my audience” and “diluting the brand.” I wondered if readers would get confused by the name if I wasn’t always posting about plants. Now, after months of hemming and hawing and reading what Jill has written, I realized that what I really want – and need – is to write about what gets me excited. Otherwise, I’ll get bored. And you’ll get bored, too.
All that having been said, I hope you’ll stick around and see what I have to offer. I’ll still share my garden fieldtrips and art that inspires me, plus what I’m working on and thinking about – right now it’s pickled shrimp, refurbished Mid Century furniture and weekend trips to Astoria.
Thanks for all your support and keep the feedback coming!
Lots of love,
Dee
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6 Comments
Looking forward to seeing what the future holds. Glad to hear you excited about blogging again!
I’m excited that you’re excited! Looking forward to what the future holds… hopefully more amazing photos…. 🙂
Hey Delen, good to know you’ve rekindled the fun in blogging! I went through pretty much the same with the Concrete Canopy. But I’m recently back, and have decided on a slightly broader scope and writing about whatever interests me whenever I want to – and not worrying about ‘audience’ too much. Hope this works out better for you too!
Hi, Loy! Great to hear from you. It’s good to know other people go through the same things – sometimes social media presents such a perfect picture of peoples’ lives, it looks so easy to curate posts, come up with ideas and create original content. It’s important to remind ourselves that there are real (and talented! and kind!) people like yourself behind it all.
I just came home from my Friday plant care side-job where I was thinking about how in reality I am like a plant janitor. I opened my laptop to get working on my other job as gallery manager for my local botanic garden and this page was staring at me. Awhile ago when I discovered your blog, I thought hell yes! me too! and I added it to my bookmark bar so I could click it easily and have a look frequently…but I didn’t. In fact I don’t ever click anything up there in that bar because I am too busy with my various part time jobs that I don’t love (so my kids can go to private schools they love), my own art projects, and my own personal social media presences that are eeking along. Just the other day I thought maybe I’d get rid of @FLORAmemphis, my Instagram that’s exactly the content of Plant Propaganda…but then I realized that with my 261 followers no one really cares if I post a new thing every five months..so might as well leave it be. I will however delete its accompanying Tumblr, bc as you say here, once it becomes a chore it defeats its original purpose. I just wanted to write to say that I can so relate to everything you say here, and know that I also use these web presences as a way to sort my thoughts and see things “out there” far away from my head where I have a chance at objectivity. I also appreciate the point you make about comparison. I have a wicked addiction to seeking and visually organizing other’s art but then it can serve to paralyze me when I get caught up in the “what’s the point, it’a already too saturated!”. Thanks for reminding me that the point is always because its a necessity for my well-being and who cares if it’s not “viral” social media worthy. A special curse of the times…Congrats on a job you love, a place you love to live, and many projects on the horizon! Thanks for the lovely honesty!
Stephanie, thanks so much for sharing! I too was just revisiting this thought – I was at a work party last night and someone brought up this blog. I said, “I feel guilty for having abandoned it,” and everyone looked at me like I was insane. Why feel guilty for changing and evolving something that I started and belongs to me in the first place? You shouldn’t ever have any feelings but positive ones about your project, otherwise it’s time to reevaluate. Keep doing what you love, whatever it is – blogging, working, raising your family, some or all of it as you have time and desire! I struggle to remember that, too, but connecting with like-minded individuals like yourself is the whole point of sharing our thoughts online! Cheers always! 🙂