How Blogging has Worked for Me

Hi everybody,

I am Jessica, I am a blogger ... and a sister, a daughter, a girlfriend, a friend, a photographer. No seriously now, I am completely excited to be here this weekend and talk to you a little bit about myself, my life in Malta and my blogs which are the reason why I speak here in the first place. Yeah, when I started blogging, little did I know what effect it would have on my professional and personal life. It all began only 10 months ago. I was in sort of a time strap waiting for my results from university and my final move to Malta. I stumbled across blogs quite by coincidence. I was "innocently" researching on interesting subjects such as photography, Malta, ... mmm some celebrity gossip *pppssssst* (don't tell anyone!) when I suddenly discovered it: a multitude of people sharing their piece of mind on their personalized and regularly updated websites. I have to admit, before I ever thought of becoming a blogger myself I became a blog stalker. That's what happened: First thing in the morning I would read my favorite blogs before I had even checked my Email. But hey, be honest, isn't it just plain natural?! Isn't a little blog stalking in all of us? Whatever, I got hooked onto certain blogs. There is something about the authors and their stories that gives you this strange feeling of "connection" and that although you might have never actually met them face to face and probably never will... still you keep waiting (sometimes yearning) for more... entry by entry you are following someone else's life, mind, ideas, etc..

(Sociologist would call that para-social interaction. Hey prof, if you could hear me speak about your subject now, you'd be proud of me, right! Oh wait a second... or was it ortho-social?..ehh, sorry! I still keep confusing the two ;-).

But after all, blogging really does connect. I cannot stress enough how sharing and blogging has helped me get in touch with so many different people from around the world. I'd say, my life has definitely become enriched by this experience. Here's a simple example. Eight months ago I moved to Malta and even though I had been visiting the island on a regular basis before I hardly knew anyone. Blogging has suddenly accelerated everything I do, including my personal and professional life. There is no denying, a blog puts you out there, makes you visible! To blog about my profession was the obvious choice. It's a great tool which works two-ways. It helped me to interact with people, create an interest about my work and also come in touch with other professionals. The difficult, challenging but most important part of blogging is (and every blogger will know this): updating, updating and updating! You have to keep your readers happy with a fresh flowing supply of content. Yep, that's a lot of responsibility and demands a constant effort (I admire bloggers who update daily!). Therefore, I call blogging a state of mind: you have to go out there, work harder and come up with new inspiring things all the time. Personally, all the extra work becomes worthwhile as soon as you receive comments, Emails and inquiries of people who love what you do and want more!

That's basically the story of how I got started. Then a few months down the line and some blog experience under my belt I came up with another idea. When people from around the world read my blog why not take the opportunity and share something about this wonderful island I live on. Why not let other people be part of my experience here, let them know that Malta, that small island in the Mediterranean, exists and it's so much more than a mere tiny dot on the world map. Malta is unique in many ways and I constantly try to promote that through my imagery, writing and publishing. So my second baby Gossip-from-Malta was born.

By time I was amazed to learn that Malta has it's fair share in the blogesphere. I started to love reading other Maltese blogs, it's a community in a community. The funny thing is that over here you actually DO bump into other bloggers (hi guys!!!) and it's fun to find out how the person is in real life! Sometimes, you'll be surprised!

Wow, so this was a lot of blah blah for today and since I have the whole weekend on Wired Temples I will tell you tomorrow something about my first love… Yeah…love stories are always nice! So pop in on Sunday. Don't forget to leave a comment. I love to hear from YOU (stalkers out there, c'mon let's hear what you have to say!). Post any questions you have in the comment section and I WILL answer!