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| a throwback from the depths of my blog archive |
I started off writing a blog when I was about 15. I made moodboard posts about Clueless and Spice Girls, wishlists full of clothes I couldn't afford, and wrote about hazy summers spent trekking up and down to the seaside in a car full of rowdy siblings and sandy dogs. I rediscovered this blog a year or two ago and made all of my old posts private, (as the world doesn't really need to hear about how my GCSE mock exams went) but it has inspired me to get creative again over the summer and give this another go!
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| me circa 2012 |
Reading those old posts and revisiting my younger years was super interesting, as I think I've already started achieving things that my teen self would be proud of. In 2012, life didn't seem to expand beyond school, exams and revision, hence why my idea of quality content included such gems as 'Polyvore sets inspired by Lindsay Lohan in Freaky Friday'. Well, young Lauren, life kept moving, you finished your GCSES and A-Levels with top grades and are now studying English at your first choice uni. I regularly wrote about my passion for music, and how I was sometimes frustrated that I let self-doubt hold me back from exploring something that I had always loved. Fast forward a few years and I am in a band who have released an EP, played gigs up and down the country, played the Introducing Stage at Radio One's Big Weekend and are set to play loads of festivals this summer!
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| My band, Brand New Friend. Photo by Conor Kerr. |
It's also interesting to see how the community has changed since I started getting reading blogs in around 2011. The blogs I loved reading seemed to be charged with creativity, fashion blogs and journals generally ran by young women and girls my age who were inspired by Tavi Gevinson's Style Rookie. Checking my feed now, 90% of those accounts are either deleted or inactive. In recent years it has definitely evolved from a community into an industry, and whilst I don't think there is anything wrong with people monetising
their blogs and earning income from a creative field (after all I am a
broke student who is also trying to kick start a career in music), it
definitely seems like there is more pressure for bloggers to update regularly and adhere to a certain streamlined aesthetic.
I don't think I'm going to achieve that. However, my goal for this space is to use it as a journal of sorts, to document fun experiences and write about music/art/clothes and whatever I happen to be vibing that day. I've always enjoyed writing, so I'm going to write. I like taking photos, so I may occasionally get my Dad's old DSLR out and pretend I know what I'm doing. Eventually I'd like to collaborate with other creative people and shine a light on some cool talented guys and gals from Belfast and beyond. If anything, it'll be good craic.
- lauren xx
