As much as I enjoy blogging, sometimes I long for the good old days when I had no clue what I was doing. I totally spammed my family and friends because I didn’t know that wasn’t cool. My header and sidebar looked a hot mess because I didn’t know that wasn’t cool. And I wrote whatever and whenever I felt like it, and didn’t care about all of the “rules”.

Now I’ve been blogging for nearly 2 years, and I’m kind of like an old pro at this game. I know all of the protocol (no word verification on this site!), have written nearly 500 posts, and was even able to go viral once! Blogging success…such a blessing and a curse.

The blessing is that I’m a writer. This is my blog! I am free to take it as far as I want…or not. But it’s mine to do as I please. Even better than just being a writer and having a blog is that people actually read my writing. Sometimes they even comment! It doesn’t get better than that.

The curse? Well, the curse is that now I know too much. Yeah, I have BKO, Blogger Knowledge Overload. BKO is a real struggle, y’all. You know it’s not “right” to do this, it’s not “accepted” to do that. You have to choose a niche…and stay in it. Choose a community to be a part of…and stick with it. And don’t forget to disclose!

You can’t post political rants and heartfelt anecdotes and work with brands because, well, pick a side, why don’t you!

You can’t write reviews and sponsored posts and be considered a “real” writer, because, well, we don’t do that.

Sellout. Salesperson. Narcissist. Bitch.

Yup, I’ll be all of that if I have to. There is no way I’m going to let other people’s opinions of what a “good” blogger does or doesn’t do determine what I do on my blog. As long as my words are authentic and genuine, that’s the most important thing to me.

This post isn’t really for me, though. I have a pretty healthy sense of blog esteem. I’ve reached the point in my blogging career where I can make judgments for myself about what works and doesn’t work (for instance, I just purchased a new domain so that I can focus on issues that won’t sit well in between posts about spring dresses and Walmart). This post is for the new bloggers who are trying to navigate their way through all of the instructions about what a blogger is “supposed to do”.

Here’s what you’re supposed to do:

Whatever works for you.

Post reviews, recipes, editorials, pictures, poems. Write about your baby, your mama, your man, your toothbrush. Be as open as you want. Be as guarded as you want. The only thing that is an absolute necessity is that you do you, boo.

Your words. Your thoughts. Your blog.

Just do you.