A Really Big Reveal, and News for the Future of "Playing in the Pages"!

All right, let me just say this first: I have been cheating on you. That's right, my readers, I have been two-timing you... with another blog! 

After having posted on Playing in the Pages for three years, the art of blogging was pretty entrenched in my being. And yet, I wanted more than just what was available to me on the Blogger platform... I knew that there was more out there in the blogosphere, and I wanted to find out just what I could do. Here's how I explained it in my first-ever post on my secret lifestyle blog, Savannah Sweet:

Proof of my infidelity, at SavannahSweet.Wordpress.Com

"No matter how much of a boon it has ended up to be to be a blogger – impress your teachers, and land exciting editor positions with national websites, novices! – you know that there’s always so much more going on in the blogosphere, and as blogging has grown as an industry, I’ve become more interested in learning the secrets behind a well-run personal space. What makes a blogger interesting to readers, why people return to view similar information day after day, what sort of content proves to be most alluring to the general public, how bloggers parlay online experience into further forms of communication, etc. 

My first experiment this year took place starting in October through December, when I headed over to my friends in the Tumblr set and asked them to teach me their ways. Within a month, my blog (the now defunct) DrivingWithMiloandTock.Tumblr.Com, had amassed approximately 100 followers… and I was glued to my computer screen approximately 12 hours out of the day. Not so willing to sacrifice my mental sanity on the altar of a strictly scientific experiment, I deleted the account, and thus ended that blogger-ship. However, I am not one to be daunted by failure, and vowed to try out a new experiment when I had a little bit more free time. 

They say that genius is a product of necessity, thus explaining why I was most recently inspired during a jam-packed Dead Week, getting ready for Finals, last quarter. I read the likes of Cupcakes and Cashmere, The Londoner, and Kendi Everyday, on the daily, so why not try my hand at a lifestyle blog? 

I was already familiar with the WordPress format as a contributing editor for CollegeFashion.Net (“Looks from Books” column, in case you were wondering why I didn’t take this opportunity for blatant self-promotion ), so I decided to take a second look at this foundation for a blog of my own. I plan on keeping and building it throughout the summer, and seeing what sort of good work I can do on this platform, within the space of about three months.

I by no means plan on neglecting my other blogs; if anything, what this experiment means is that I can simultaneously compare various types of blogging formats: Blogger, Single-Author-and-Developer WordPress, and Multi-Author-and-Developer WordPress. I mean, I’ve already worked the majority of angles in the social networking microverse, so this shouldn’t be much more to juggle. And who knows? Maybe I’ll learn some coding while I’m here." 

I tried to keep everything on the new blog as basic as possible, with minimal writing and an emphasis on visuals, as well as simply employing the bare bones of what the Wordpress formating and themes had to offer. I didn't actively seek out new and interesting content, but instead, made a direct decision to incorporate only things that I was doing in my day-to-day life anyways.

And yet, by the last day of my experiment with Savannah Sweet, after only two months of blogging, I hit 50 individual "likes" on my blog, with 31 followers on Wordpress Reader, having made only 25 posts total, not including the "origin story" (documented above). In the time I had been blogging, I had garnered 117 site views, and 11 comments, which is more comments than I had achieved in the first two years of blogging on PitP altogether. Therefore, I would document my meanderings within the Wordpress format as a success!

I didn't learn much coding, but I did learn a couple of things about how blogs work, what sort of content interests readers the most, and which blogging platform I thought was best for what I do, and what others do. While the experiment may be ending early, as I find that as back-to-school prep kicks up again, I am, once again, left with a dearth of free time, and will stick to blogging on Playing in the Pages only.

However, I am taking some of those lessons I've learned on my other blogs with me. And they're going to be driving me to make some VERY big changes for PitP in the very near future. Expect a new and exciting updated look for the blog, and some interesting new features to come in the Fall!

And if that news doesn't excite you enough, here's a sneak peek at the new header graphic...

If anything, these experiments have made me so appreciative of the wonderful readers I have had across all of my blogging platforms, you lovely people, who continue to support me and other bloggers, by seeking out new and exciting content across the web. Thank you so much, and I can't wait to show you all what I have in store!