Finding My Way in the Plus Size Blogger Arena

When I first started blogging in the days of yore i.e MySpace, I remember just needing an outlet to say the things that were on my mind. I didn’t even know at the time that what I was doing was actually considered “blogging”. At that time in my life I felt like I had little control over the things that were going on. Bad relationships, career choices, being a single mom and a host of other things were constantly bombarding my thoughts. It started with me sharing my poetry and evolved into full on thought pieces.

11 years later, 3 different blog host sites later I am still here, doing my blogging thing and loving it. I remember my husband telling me on several occasions that he thought I should venture into the plus size fashion blogging. I completely ignored him at first, thinking to myself that I could never hold weight next to the likes of Garner Style or Curvy Fashionista. I was just some wife and kids mom. Who would listen to me anyway? Despite that, I went ahead and started Fat Moms Closet. However, pregnancy took my attention away from fashion and I all but gave up on it. My heart just wasn’t in it.

Then there was the fact that I felt like there was so much more to me than clothes. I am some kids mom, and someone’s wife, and a full-time working woman, and a person who has been navigating life with depression and now Hashimoto’s. I felt like I didn’t want to be identified as just one thing. How was I going to make this work?

It dawned on me; I could be all those things and still love fashion. The fact that I love clothes, especially specifically plus size clothing and styling, doesn’t have to take away from all the other things that I am. I always say that humans are complex beings capable of versatility; why can’t I be multifaceted in how I blog?

I’ve been given a lot of advice over the years about how I should blog and market myself. I’ve been told to “pick one topic and stick to that one topic”, I’ve been told to blog about things other people aren’t already blogging, and I’ve even been told not to mix my subject matter. And for a while I took that advice, but having 3 or 4 different sites was exhausting to maintain and I hated that I didn’t have cohesion in my blogging. Why was I taking this advice??

I finally decided I had to do things my way. I had to trust that though I am not your typical plus size fashion blogger, I was still good enough to share my thoughts. And though I may not be everybody’s cup of tea; the right audience would find me.  And slowly but surely my audience is finding me. And I absolutely love when I get messages on here, via email, Facebook or Instagram telling me how I’ve encouraged and inspired someone. That’s what it’s all about for me. So I may not have thousands of followers yet or possibly never will, but I’m glad that in an arena full of beautiful women sharing their stories and ideas, I get to be one of them.

And that is enough for me!