The Power of Me: My Voice on My Blog

Hello Island Guests today I am talking about a topic that is very important to me. A motivator a life goal yet something on the internet that is both trickier and easier than in real life. Being  yourself. Today I want to talk to you about some lessons I learned while blogging, that I apply. Chosen routes that lead to distress and choices I made I am happy about. Like Mario said… let’s go.

My Moe Voice

The first thing you need to do to be yourself is pick out a style that works for yourself.  These will be a framework for your posts but will be able to tell you when you are a bit off track. For example I think I have a fairly light hearted style where I cute things up a bit. Yet originally I tried that a bit to much, like I was writing as a character, and while Pinkie still is an exaggerated version of my truest self for entertainment purposes she isn’t anything I am not.. except for pink haired or donned with twin spirals.  Personalities work to draw in readers quicker, as people like flamboyant characters  more in general take a look at YouTube. However all YouTubers who do personas regularly burn out and I noticed on WordPress this is much the same. 

When I originally started this blog I dreamed of YouTube fame, but my lack of vocal control and my friends help of time to support led into me going to WordPress, however I took those same expectations with me. My gimmick on YouTube would not work on WordPress so I deluded myself into dreams of grandeur.. I threw my voice to reach that and burned out.
While that cutesie thing is a part of me, I am actually not an anime character so I can not constantly write like one. I wanted to be genuine.. and I think that inspiration is important to be on WordPress. Blogging unlike YouTube I think works best if you are yourself. If we want to simply be entertained, I’d imagine we all go to YouTube.. WordPress is more about community, so while I have my natural Moe elements, I really should not exaggerate it Desu Nee Nyan!?

Talking to Myself

The second thing I noticed was that I should not write my blog for my followers. It’s impossible for me to understand you all and even rude to think that I could do so. It is very easy to follow like patterns and base my blog on that. Talks like these usually get a lot of likes, I should do them more?! Anime stuff gets more like than gaming stuff, I should drop gaming and just focus more on anime right? No! When I want to play a game, I do not want to watch anime instead just because 5 people in america pressed a button more than on that gaming post.  With all due respect to you all you would not be worth that. In fact I dare say we all ignored these type of pleas in the past, when we became geeks and people told us cartoons are for children.  We should play outside instead of inside. We stayed ourselves then.. yet when anonymous people like your post it suddenly is harder?

I discovered my blog is something I do for me! I do not want to crush anyone’s dreams here but if you wish to go pro, I am not sure WordPress is the way. Commercial writing usually means writing without a voice. Write based on numbers and statistics, catering to the market. It  means following a set of rules which would break my heart and spirit to do. Irina wrote about those. That blogging bloke said some things I really did not like or support. As it wasn’t something I could do I had to make a choice. I could attempt to make the best of it and prove them wrong and make it big my own way, which is just a delusion and set-up to disappointment, quit blogging as what I wanted to reach and how I wanted to reach it was not meant to fit together or I could write just for the heck of it. I chose the latter. I write because I want to, write about what I want to and you follow because you like me doing that.

Talking to my Followers

A good follower doesn’t follow you because you share their opinion on Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, a good follower doesn’t follow you just because you made three anime posts and now he expects a fourth. A good follower follows, because they like your voice. Everyone who comments here and interacts with me stuck with me since I just blogged about Pokémon. Most of you aren’t even that on Pokémon. No one stopped following me after I changed my style and my comment section is the liveliest it has ever been. Sure my game reviews and fan fiction perform a lot less than my talks about anime or movies, but I like what they add to the blog in their own right. Each day I can write something diverse, explore new things on the internet and that makes me happy!  After my most recent mental spell in which I really had to cut back blogging I came back for me. My likes have dropped a bit but I have never been happier.

I honestly do hope you have a great time with my writing but honestly, I think the healthy way of blogging is to see your appreciation as a side effect. I see it more as a fun puzzle. What jokes can I put in there to make people smile? How can I phrase this as me! How do I put myself on paper as a brand but still get my point across. I do not always succeed but what you see is me. I try to leave something of myself behind, I wanted to meet people through this blog and I have made some awesome connections. Maybe a bit more silent as I thought but bonds nonetheless.  Would I love internet fame? Sure! Yet I shifted perspective.. I do not want to be famous because I CAN appeal to to the masses. If I happen to be so charming and pink that eventually I gather an army and riches than I happily welcome it. I call it the zero expectations plan. When I write for you all, I can set myself up for failing. You could dislike a post I made for you. When I write for me I am more in  control?! Is the article good? Nah! Did I have fun writing it, yes! I still win. 

So I guess the true way to  draw people in is make them actual fans. You’ll gain a lot less of them but I know there are people out there who genuinely care.  Who genuinely enjoy reading my work because it’s my work and it has my voice. Those are the followers I want to write for and those are the followers I do not need to write for because I am already doing that by writing for myself.  Foovay is perhaps the biggest example that comes to mind, she has been so supportive and sweet for so long now. I known Senpai spends a lot of time on my blog as well and my friend the Holy Mailman even made an account so he can interact more. Yet there are plenty of you out there that I very much appreciate. Everyone commenting and  plenty who like as well. The blessing of a small community!

Speaking from the Heart

I am not as much into anime as the most of you, I watch it weekly rather than daily, sometimes several times a week.. but hey I think my average anime episodes a week is far below PAR here. For a while I thought that would make me an outcast.  There is so much I can not talk about. I chose to let it make me alien and alone. I felt adrift. Trapped in between worlds. I saw it as a weakness. Yet recently I began seeing it as a strength.  That is who I am, I am different. Same goes for gaming, I care not for most recent games , I hate Fortnite with a passion, I am not likely to get hyped about the new Assassins Creed, I don’t even like Kingdom Hearts all that much. I like retro stuff more.  I do not care about romantic comedies much, I mostly like geeky movies, yet on occasion I really enjoy the first as well and would still like to talk about it.  At times I might be alone and I am easily misunderstood, yet at the same time that is what makes me interesting. 

Because of how the internet reacts to things it can be easy to believe you can only form bonds with those who share your opinion. If I proclaim that I dislike Lelouche on Twitter for example people would threaten me with death or bow to me like I am preaching the gospel of a new god. It is hard to flip that switch, but just because I disagree with some bloggers out there, or you disagree with me doesn’t mean we can not bond. I was afraid of that. Friendships are often formed by being the same but what makes friendship nice is being different.

Imagine this scenario. You have two friends Bob and Rob, you are now called Gus btw… say you say “I could go for a burger” Bob says “me too” Rob Says “I’d rather have a pizza” , two votes win so you get your burger.. point for Bob!  “I want to go to the Drunken Donkey” you say next “Me too” goes Bob  “I’d rather go to the Pissed Pig” Rob says. At the Drunken Donkey you and Bob order the same drink, dig the same girl and Rob drinks another sort of beer.. a special one.. how pedantic.  Now you begin to talk about how much you liked Steins Gate..  Bob says “Me To” 

Rob disagrees and talks about the pacing issues in the first episode. Which of the two is a more interesting friend to talk to? With Bob you would always talk about the same thing, drink the same drink, stare at the same girl and talk about anime you both like. With Rob you go places where you have never gone before you might argue more ..but  you might try a new beer, you might discover anime you didn’t know about. I want to be friends with Rob’s rather than Bob’s and I rather would be a Rob than a Bob as well. 

No one is 100% the same if Bob says Me too all the time, and believe me I know Bob.. he does,  he is not being genuine with you. Well unless he is your clone of course.. but why would Gus name his clone Bob. Wow I really got of track there. Point is don’t be like Bob. If people really like Animal Crossing and you don’t do not write a post in which you love it. Yes you might get more views and more likes but your true followers will know this is not you. Do it to often and maybe even those loyal followers will just stop following you, thinking you are not genuine.

I’d rather have 1 Irina or Foovay as 50 people who like I post because I did a popular thing. If I could trade you guys in for 50 followers each as long as I write about popular stuff, I’d honestly choose you guys. Well unless one those 50 tips 1000 dollars on kofi each week.. then I’d sell out. Still I rather have one follower who follows me because they like my voice rather than a group following me for what i once said.  If you read this I already count you to the better category. By being me without compromise I also hope to only gain people like you!..Well plus that 1000 dollar guy… 

And the Rest is Silence

Now this means I will be a much more rogue element in the future. I will change things when I want to them to change. I might promise you to write about one thing and then write about another. Feel free to remind me in my comments I probably had an idea when I came up with said topic.. but for now I embrace the chaos in my head.  Pinkie’s Paradise is an island in my grey matter  and I should use that habitat to make it the best it can be.  Where happy unicorns can float by and weird analogies are plenty.  My wisdoms might be different from the more studious under you and I might write less analogies that I could publish to universities, I might not win a Pulitzer  either..  how do those even look? I somehow imagine it to be Eiffel-Towerey. I used to care.. because I wanted to be acknowledged..  I wanted people to remember me, should I one day be gone.. I just focussed on the remembering part to much while I should have focussed on the me part.

Now I am much happier. Regardless of message, popularity and electronic stats, what I leave behind is me. Geek Girl Joy noticed my love for ducks from my posts, Holy Mailman might commission one of my Pinkie  gets anime powers  stories because he really liked it.  That is the true beauty of blogging. Someone saw me through my posts, another was really happy with something I came up with. I know my blog-tag did fairly well and I have another new one coming up soon a rather unique one that is bound to fail, but by Arceus will I have fun with it. So while I might sound like a selfish brat,  that is something I can be , because you allow me to. This blog isn’t for you.. it is because of you!  Because of you blogging becomes even more fun than it would be without you. You are my Fire Flower, and at times my Invincibility Star. You are my mushrooms! Yet I am Mario. You might help me on my adventure..but it is I who has to hit the flag post! Now that I realise that everything seems easier!  I follow my voice, I follow my heart and I hope you guys will follow me as well, but that one is optional.