Down the Bunny Rabbit Hole Luv bunny's Wonderland
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I thought I’d try something different for this post, a sort of Q & A style interview with myself, if you will! It will give a reflection over the past year, including the following:
- Things that went well.
- Areas where I could have done better.
- What I learnt.
- Challenges I faced.
Without much further ado, lets get to the nitty-gritty!
What has happened for you, Luv Bunny in 2018?
Quite a lot really! Where to start…On the blog front, I went to Eroticon, my first ever meet-up with a whole host of other wonderfully creative folk. I met loads of cool people and went to some really interesting talks and workshops. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to go the whole weekend, but I did take home with me a wealth of information, particularly from Anna Sky’s talk, on how to ‘right your writing.’
I also ventured to a party hosted by Killing Kittens, for ladies only. It was eye-opening, though I did kind of feel out of place there. I felt a bit too ‘low-class,’ in a sense. So I have to say, I’ve not gone back to any more of their events. I couldn’t really justify the expense of hotel accommodation in any case.
And on a personal level?
At home, a lot has been going on, that I have alluded to from time to time on Social media. The main project for Casa Bunny, is well, the casa itself! We are planning a fairly substantial extension to our home. We have had to deal with applications to Building Control and water authority, as well as finalising architectural plans and structural designs. Then there was the *small* issue of actually finding a contractor. One we had originally planned to use was becoming difficult to communicate with, so we decided to choose another contractor.
On top of that, we’ve been thinking our little one may need eye surgery. Luckily, last month we were relieved to hear we can put that on hold til kiddo is at least at school. Her eyesight is doing better each time we visit the clinic. Over the summer we commenced potty training, which meant we did not do a great deal over the school holidays. I feel that the lovely summer passed us by to some extent, though we did grow plenty of veg in the garden.
What went well, in particular?
On the blog front, I feel that the reviews have done pretty well. I have gotten better at writing more detailed reviews, as succinctly as I can. My technical side has improved during the middle part of the year. I invested some of my affiliate earnings into updating my theme. I also had advice from a reader who helped me style my homepage in a more successful and engaging way.
Networking has also been something I’ve been striving to do more of. Not just with companies, but other bloggers and readers too. I was asked to provide the weekly round up to Sinful Sunday last month. And I was interviewed by Posy Churchgate.
My ranking on Kinkly has improved and I also got listed on Molly Moore and Dom Sign’s Chaturbate list of top 100 bloggers. Considering I had a hiatus in the summer, that is a pretty cool achievement for me. It’s motivated me to carry on.
What areas do you feel require improvement?
A few, to be honest. I really wanted to be more active on the Sinful Sunday and Flash Friday memes, as well as the Share Our Shit Saturday. I feel I’ve not been as loyal to my fellow bloggers, which is not how I wanted to be. In part, I have gotten caught in my own bubble of doing what I have to, in order to keep up with things going on at home. But I think the blog suffering as a result is a great shame, as it does give me something to focus on outside of my own ‘head.’ I like seeing other bloggers writing, whether it be reviews, fiction or their thoughts on a topic.
It was also a shame that I attempted pitching some writing to a couple of places and they weren’t accepted. It kind of put me off submitting more, then I got side-tracked as well. Though I did decide I would continue writing for my blog because I enjoyed it regardless. I think I accepted I would not necessarily make much money out of blogging. That’s ok. We all have our strengths, and writing is not necessarily one of mine right now.
So, what did you learn?
A lot of lessons in running and maintaining my blog. How to improve the SEO by using Alt text and Meta tags. (I still forget to add Meta at times, darn!) Making my homepage more engaging by using the most effective widgets. The importance of obtaining and keeping followers. You do this by posting regularly, and making sure content is a decent standard.
I think I want to try writing more erotic fiction still, though I do like testing and reviewing products as well. Oh, and choose your theme wisely, as some themes (including the one I use) do not necessarily provide technical support for adult content.
Censorshop is as problematic, if not more so. With GDPR regulations it’s important to be compliant with data protection. Social Media can be a great tool, but it’s also a huge distraction. I fall into the ‘Twitter trap’ more than I care to think. I signed up to Tumblr, but now I’m thinking that may not be so great in light of their deciding to ban pornographic/ NSFW content. We’ll have to see how that pans out. I was using Crowdfire to schedule tweets, but I hit my allowance and I decided not to opt in to a paid plan. That was part of my reason for signing up to Tumblr, so I could tweet from there.
What were the main challenges you faced?
There were a few challenges too! Firstly, finding some companies to work with. I approached some companies about testing products to be told they don’t work with bloggers. Ok. So it was a bit of a waste of time my signing up to some affiliate schemes. I am not really able to promote a company if I do not know what their products are like.
Inspiration for short stories has been hard to garner. My day-to-day life revolves around a youngster who is more interested in Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol than letting her mummy type for people at the other end of a computer or phone.
I’m not really good at technology. Like I can use my computer, but I don’t understand code and how to run things in the host’s C-Panel. Luckily, a company I have worked with recently has been super kind in providing me some support with a few issues.
And don’t even get me started on JetPack. Every time they update, they make it so the images do not load properly. They set them to load from their CDN servers, whatever they are. So each time I discover grey boxes where pretty pictures should be, I rant to myself and log on to the settings. I slide the setting for images to run from servers to ‘off.’ Then, bingo, all is right again. Until they fluff it up with yet another update. Grr!
Then with the stuff going on at home, that has been a major challenge in itself!
What a year! I bet you are looking forward to some chill-out time over Christmas!
I certainly am! I’ll be partaking in some mince pies and chocolate yule log munching as well as Prosecco quaffing for sure! But I will be back here before long to run my 2nd blogiversary giveaway. That was sadly postponed, as I was hoping to host it in December. A month later won’t be the end of the world, and it gives my lovely readers something to look forward to in January!
Featured image taken courtesy of Bill Ward, from Flickr.
It looks like you have been in 2018.
Looking forward to seeing what you get up to in 2019
Thanks Dougie! Hope you are well. 2019 will be busy on the home front that’s for sure!
Great well written post LB – Wishing you a good year in 2019 on all fronts x
Thank you May! Thought it a good idea to reflect on the past year. Lots more happened than I’d recollected! Xx