UNAPOLAGETICALLY BLOGGING

An unrepentant message regarding blog content OR Fuck what everyone else thinks. You do you, I do me.

---

---

Often, when I write a blog post, I feel the need to write a warning about me rambling on, apologising for not being consistent or for the lack of bookish content when I want to discuss something else (such as a theatre review etc.) but recently I had an epiphany... it's my blog.
 
I know that seems like such an obvious thing but it really took me this long to say to myself ‘hang on a minute’. I pay for this domain, I created this site with its layout and logo and all the content. So why am I saying sorry for being myself?

Who doesn't love a bit of narcissism?

Yes, I market booklycat as a bookblog, and it is and always will primarily be a blog full of bookish love – reviews, hauls, blog tours and the like – but if and when I see a wonderful show at the Fringe, or go down to London to see ‘Aladdin’ and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and want to rave about how (hopefully!) brilliant they are then I will. If my mental health is particularly bad and I want to talk about it, or I want to share with others things I do to get through the day then I’ll post that.
 

Equally, I’m not going to spend so long stressing about my posts not being good enough. I’ve spent the last few months worrying about the content I post. Worrying that not sticking to a schedule and not consistently posting Unboxings, Monthly Hauls and Wrap-Ups or sharing a lot of reviews makes me seem unprofessional and thus undesirable to read. I’m always second-guessing how good my blog writing is, if saying ‘fuck’ and ‘shit’ puts people off me. I’m not going to change how I am. That’s just me. I’m a (nearly) 21 year old Scottish gal who grew up in a small fishing village where the most commonly said words are swear words. I can’t help it. I mean, I can, but there’s no word that can quite convey your emotion like ‘fuck’. I mean, it’s a verb, noun, adjective... it can be anything. It’s a great word.
 
I won’t apologise for it. I won’t apologise for being me. My blog. My rules. I blog for me. I blog to document my reading life and my life in general as I see fit. I blog to share my opinions and whatnot with likeminded people and I’m not comfortable censoring who I am – be that to do with the language I use or discussing my health every now and then - or constantly.
 
I am from now on unapologetically blogging. I don’t care if you don’t think I’m good enough at writing. I don’t care if I don’t have thousands of followers. I don’t care if I receive ARCS or if I don’t read the “right”, most popular books. I don’t care about bashing books that are labelled “problematic” by one person. I read for me. I blog for me. I don’t blog for any other reason than to share my thoughts to look back on and for others to take with a pinch of salt when deciding if a book is for them. If that leads to me chairing events like I have in the past, or receiving an ARC to review or participate in a blog tour then that is absolutely incredible and I am so grateful someone thinks my opinion matters on a higher level. But that doesn’t change the fact that I am unapologetically me. If you want a cookie cutter ‘nice gal’ who’ll rate every book five stars except to occasionally bash a ten or twenty year old book for not being diverse enough then look elsewhere. I’m here for myself, nobody else. And I’m happy with my blog. I won’t apologise for it not being good enough by others standards.
 
I am unapologetically me. Sorry if that upsets or offends you.