Blogger Recognition Award

Thanks so much to Kelly from Kelly’s Rambles for putting me forward for the Blogger Recognition Award. I often feel like I’m struggling with my blogging, so receiving this tag was a lovely boost.

The main idea of this blog is to:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
2. Write a post to show your award
3. Give a brief story of how your blog started
4. Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers
5. Select 15 other bloggers you want to give this award to
6. Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them & provide the link to the post you created.

How Pretty Purple Polka Dots came to be

I first had the idea to blog in 2012. I was 20 years old, and had just finished my first year at uni. I knew I wanted to be a writer, but I had very little experience at the time. I decided to start blogging so I could hone my craft and find my voice.

At the start, it was a mash up of everything. Fashion, pop culture, music, and books all appeared in some guise. I soon realised book posts were the ones I most enjoyed writing, and in 2016 PPPD became a bona fide book blog, with the vast majority of posts dealing in some way with books.

Two pieces of advice for aspiring bloggers:

1. Just write. I often see people on Twitter who are “wannabe bloggers” or “blog coming soon” and seriously, just write. Your first post doesn’t have to be anything Shakespearean – mine certainly wasn’t. Just put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard, as the case may be) and let it flow.
   

   I said FLOW. Not go. Bloody women. | Image via Disney.

    

2. If writing your blog is one of the most important things you can do, then talking is the next one. Get active on social media, whatever this means to you. Show your haul to your Instagram followers. Bring your Snapchat followers on a mini tour of your day. Ask your Twitter followers a question, or make a poll. Whatever you do, get yourself out there and definitely make a good impression.

The bloggers I would love to see get a little bit of love are:

• Sarah from Sarah’s Chapter
• Shae from Diary of a Beauty Padawan
• Kate from Coffee In One Hand Book In The Other
• Bookaholic Babe
• Dani from Dani Reviews Things
• Rachel from Confessions of a Book Geek
• Charlotte from Wonderfully Bookish
• Danielle from Underland to Wonderland
• Dee from The Dee Who Lived
• Mariam from Hello I Am Mariam
• Claire from CMClaire Reads
• Emma from Damp Pebbles
• Sabrina from OMG Books and More
• Ciara from The Ciara Chronicles
• Aisling from Total Make Up Addict