Faking it at Blogfest

Yesterday I was lucky enough to go along to Blogfest! For anyone who doesn’t know it is a one day conference put on by Mumsnet- a chance for bloggers to get together and learn from great speakers.

I wasn’t sure whether to go at all actually- I am still so very new to the world of blogging and to be quite honest with you I was terrified. Would people talk to me? Would they even know who I was? I am such a shy person in ‘real’ life and am totally rubbish in group situations. Not really the type of person to mingle with others and promote myself to brands.

I woke up super early (not as early as some!) and found myself twiddling my thumbs at 6.15am. I hate to be late but my train wasn’t until 8am so that is a record even for me! Eventually it was time to go to the station and suddenly I felt very ill. My stomach began to churn and I wished I was going to zoo with my family instead!!

As I got closer to London a sense of calm came over me. I knew that I was going to have to muster all the bravery I could, to fake my way through the day. That’s not to say I wasn’t going to be myself- just be a more confident version of me.

My #trainselfie

I met up with a lovely group of bloggers at Kings Cross and suddenly felt at ease. These were not people to be feared, they were simply friends I had not met before. It is such a strange feeling to meet someone you feel you know already. As bloggers we invite people into our lives, share our highs and lows. This is such a unique friendship that many people will never understand.

I am not going to share everything I have learnt just now, I am sure you will see many a post about all of the different talks and fantastic speakers. But I will share one thing; the overall message of the day (at least what I took home from it all) was to be yourself. Lisa Jarmin (How to be a Domestic Disgrace) summed it up for me when she said that she told people she was a writer, people believed she was a writer, therefore she was a writer.

I started off the day feeling like I had to fake it to make it through the day. By lunchtime I was laughing away with other fantastic bloggers and by the end of the day, on the train journey home I truly believed that I was– I AM a blogger.

Remember these as a child?

My proudest moment was handing out my business cards to brands. I could have kept them to myself, not put myself ‘out there’ to just be another card in their stack but I faked it. I handed them my cards (which I was pretty chuffed with!) and I chatted away as if I had been blogging for years!

I had the most amazing day and have come away with so much knowledge that I cannot wait to put into practice! I have also come away with a renewed sense of belief in myself. I CAN do this, even if I have to fake it for a little while.