Blog Introspection Challenge
(created by Guylty. read more here)
1.) What made you start blogging?
Well, I had been “researching” Richard Armitage extensively for about four months.
In the past I had connected with fellow fans through fan-forums but that outlet had run it’s course for me. I had been lurking on a few different blogs within the RA fandom and was drawn to the control that the bloggers had over their subject matter, as well as the engaging types of conversations that routinely took place in the comment section of each post.
I had always enjoyed leading different threads on fan-forums, coming up with conversation starters and posting images to critique and enjoy. I had been the global moderator on a fan-forum and even set one up on my own, so I thought I could probably handle the technical side of running my own blog well enough.
The subject matter and style of the blogs varied greatly and it seemed to be a supportive community so I thought that they would probably be welcoming to me as a new blogger and new RA fan. I decided to highlight the particular way that I had become familiar with Richard, the places I gathered information from and the projects of his that I had seen thus far. hopefully the seasoned fans would enjoy looking back at things through my fresh eyes and maybe I could direct newbies like me to things they hadn’t seen yet.
I wanted to have fun with it so I let my silly personality out to play, using RA related reaction gifs that I had collected to illustrate my posts along with screen caps that I presented out of context, adding in goofy captions to make them amusing. and whaddya know? people liked it!
I carved out a niche rather quickly and soon found myself part of the blogging community. it was fun, it was rewarding, and it filled up my days while my kids were in school. I laughed and I learned, I contemplated and I shared, all with people who liked the same things I did: Richard Armitage and the plethora of characters he portrayed. I was hooked!
Nowhere in Particular RA 
Dammit. That first gif. Must be the subconscious prompt that made me take up rolling my own recently 😉 Hard to get past that but I was too curious to see what you had to say than let it stop me. I like reading that it is the community aspect that made you start your own blog. It just tells me that there is more to our pasttime than ogling.
And dayum again – that last gif. Maaaaan. You really have a wonderful niche here, and I always get excited when I see one of your posts popping up because I know that I will be entertained and distracted and certainly amused.
LikeLiked by 4 people
yes, it was the community aspect that made me want to start my own blog. I had been lurking in various fandoms for years but I wanted to engage in this one and the new (to me) world of blogging seemed like a fun way to do that. it still surprises me that others find my goofiness enjoyable, it’s been a big confidence booster!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think that is an important point. Blogging can be really enriching and confidence-boosting. I suppose you need to find the right community for that. We are lucky that we have such.
LikeLike
I don’t remember when exactly you crossed my radar (either you left a comment on mine, or I saw the blog in Google Alerts), but at that time I was very heavily engaged in making sure that the parts of the community I knew, knew about new blogs and anything interesting that was being written about Richard Armitage, You definitely qualified. And I was constantly amused by your GIF illustrations.
LikeLike
getting welcomed into the community personally and being visited by so many new readers is very exciting for a new blogger. I remember being giddy when it happened to me, it validated that I was real and wasn’t just talking to myself 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes! Love your light-hearted approach, and your GIFs and captions are a HUGE attraction. OMG I’ve not seen the last one. Dying here.
LikeLiked by 2 people
that last gif just makes me want to pounce! *mind explodes with multiple “kitty” innuendos* and now I can’t form a coherent thought, damn it! I’m surprised I could even write this sentence, considering I also used the word “multiple” 😈
LikeLike
apart from getting addicted to the gifs you place so expertly 😉 i really like reading your perspective on things 🙂
I’m going to get a beck ache bouncing between the first and the last gif 😀
LikeLike
neck, not beck! he’s doing that thing to my brain again…
LikeLike
we all understand 😉
LikeLike
wait, someone reads my words and doesn’t just zone out at the gifs? this is a development I had not anticipated… and yes, Ricky is particularly mesmerizing in gif form 😎
LikeLiked by 1 person
i find your approach original and i like that we come from different places and sometimes fully agree sometimes see things maybe differently, it is always interesting to read what you think 🙂
and yesss, i need to find somebody /someplace where i can see that ep, i have been unable to find so far and i don#’t really want to buy the whole series! Grr… i will probably have to go back to subscribe to amazon prime, but i need to check how many of the RA series they offer before i do 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
the George Gently episode? it’s on YouTube 😉
LikeLike
oh thanks! for some reason i thought it was the pilot to this or something as this seems to have some historical theme, but will check it out asap :-))
LikeLike
yeah, IMDb has it listed as “episode 0” but on YouTube people are saying it’s episode 1. FYI: the version I linked has a smaller screen size for some reason. if you go to YouTube itself and use the full screen function then it’s still tolerable. there are other versions that have been uploaded in the regular format, but they’re in multiple segments. and if you only want to watch the scenes with Richard:
LikeLiked by 1 person
ack not available in my country! Uk of all things… sigh, but i’ll give the whole thing a view, one gains more in context viewing 😉 but thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry I’m getting to this late, but I’m still snowed under (but at least now it’s metaphorically and not actually :p )
This is a great retrospective.
Only one leetle disagreement
Fish & chips =/= John Mulligan
Fish & chips = Lucas North 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I cannot disagree with that. it’s good that Mulligan & Lucas look so much alike then, it saves the “word association” part of my mind from making a definitive choice 😉
LikeLike
I wanted a gif that said ‘I’ve got a craving’ but also showed Lucas eating the chips. Of course that doesn’t exist, but it would be perfect.
LikeLike
or you could use the one where he’s sitting on the desk, eating doughnuts out of the box, and licking his thumb.
LikeLike
But Lucas = chips not donuts 😀
LikeLike