The Struggle Of Being An Amateur Blogger

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I think those who blatantly say that blogging is easy have never done it once in their life. Sure, you can sign up for Blogger and use one of their Simple template and call it a day, but there is so much more to blogging than that. There's blood, sweat, tears, and pulling an all-nighter just to have a post published at 8 am the next day. Or maybe that's just me

The struggle of having to create high quality contentsI don't know about you but whenever I'm about to hit that orange Publish button on Blogger, so many things are running through my head:
"What if my readers don't like it?""If I were them, would I read my own post?""I hate not having at least one comment on my posts. Please, let there be at least one comment."
I guess this depends on what type of blog you're running. If you're a personal blog who only blogs about your life and feelings, then you won't be having these thoughts that often but for my blog personally, I depend on interaction and engagement between me and readers so I can't avoid the anxiety that nobody comments on my posts especially when I work really hard on producing the contents. The feeling sucks. That 10 close up pictures and 20 paragraphs of text do not magically appear by themselves, okay

The struggle of having to set up your own photoshoot when your photography skill is basically zero to noneFor product reviews, demo, and tutorials, I spend around 3 to 4 hours sitting on a chair with a camera mounted on a tripod in front of me with the help of natural light from my bedroom window. Must. Finish. Shooting. Before. 5PM! What's ISO by the way?

I can produce enough photos for 6-7 posts depending on what products I'm reviewing. I don't do this very often because who has the time and effort to put on hijab and makeup at home? But I do take photos regularly for reviews or posts that don't need me in the pictures which I really love doing by the way

I'm not even going to talk about flatlays because girl sucks at it

The struggle of comparing your blog stats to other blogsThis one in particular is probably fitted for my blogging sins but I struggle with this every single day. I cannot stop comparing my blog with other blogs with bigger followers and views but they've probably been blogging for years and I only started blogging again back in February so I shouldn't be so hard on myself, right

I'm so proud of my blog and to me that's more important than comparing stats but sometimes I just can't help it

The struggle of writing in second languageIn case you're confused because you barely see any Malay words on my blog, I am so Malay. Malay af. So Malay if I could eat tempoyak and sambal belacan with ikan kembung goreng everyday, I would. I just prefer English more. I've always loved the language since I was a kid. I read Harry Potter book with both Malay and English versions on the same page side by side.

I don't speak English at home with my family or with anyone else unless I need to but I learn the language because I love it and I'm also getting an Education degree in TESL so I kinda have to be good in English if I want to be an English teacher. The struggle is actually not writing in English, but having to make my posts perfect because I'm really anal when it comes to grammars

Subtle errors, I can deal with. Obvious errors like the use of is/are, has/have/had, with -ed, without -ed, and a bunch of other simple grammar errors that we should not be doing because we have learned them in school, that — I cannot stand. I don't correct people out of respect to them but how will you learn if nobody is correcting you, right

The struggle of thinking you have offended someone with your postsI'm blunt. I write how I speak and I can be pretty offensive at times but I'm just keeping it real. I'm not going to sugarcoat things that I don't believe in because then that would be untrue. I know I've written stuff in the past that may or may not offend certain people especially in the 5 posts that turn me off that has gotten me my first ever hate comment (and hopefully the only one) but I'm still sticking to what I said and I have zero respect towards people leaving hate comments anonymously

Quit being anonymous and say it directly to me. I don't care, I don't mind, and I won't be offended. I have had worse things being said to me and about me in the past so your "Erin I don't agree with you, you shouldn't be saying this" isn't going to hurt me.

Nonetheless, I hope I haven't offended anyone with my words in the past and if I have, I am so sorry and I really didn't mean to.

The struggle of being a broke galOkay — I'm not broke but when you only count my blogging fund, I'm a broke ass gal. Those who say we don't need money for blogging have probably never:
1. visited Etsy shop2. had a desire to get your own domain3. felt like buying things just for the sake of doing reviews/hauls
We all have browsed Etsy shops and went through 65432345345676 template listings. We all have desire to get our own domain (because why not?). And we all have gone to the drugstore feeling like doing some makeup shopping so we can do a mini haul on our blog (because who doesn't like makeup haul?) but decided not to 'cause we're broke and mom won't pay for any of it including that nude Maybelline lipstick in your hand that you halfheartedly had to put back on the shelf

Or maybe that's just me

Do you have blogging struggles? What is the worst?

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