I’ve decided to partake in the ‘Big Bad Blogger Challenge 2010’, because it’s always a lot of fun and it MAKES you blog every day for fear of the guilt trip that hits you if you don’t!

( If you would like to partake, the details can be found HERE upon Alicia Chenaux’s ever wonderful Ch’Know blog)

Today, June 13^th, marks the start of the challenge, and the first question is…

Why did you become a blogger? How has it enriched your life?

I became a blogger purely because I thought that it would prove useful to my Second Life experience and it would give me a vent for my failed journalistic ambitions. I’d studied Journalism at college, but done nothing with the qualification. When I joined Second Life I soon became aware of the blogging community, in particular a fashion blog called ‘Linden Lifestyles‘ which I adored (IMHO it was the best SL fashion blog setting the benchmark for what was to follow..the archives are still there but oh, how I miss it!)

By writing the blog I have grown a huge network of contacts, made wonderful new friends and visited amazing places. I’ve discovered some fantastic designers and had experience after experience in this mad crazy virtual world that we all call home. The blog gives me a kick up the backside when I most need it; I’m not writing for anyone else’s pleasure but my own really, but when I see the amount of hits that my blog has had it spurs me on to write something new. That can only be a healthy thing, and it means I have to get off my (virtual) butt and go and find something to write about. In other words, the blog helps to keep me mentally active and has stretched my writing and computing skills, and it also provides an artistic vent. I’ve discovered the joys of taking photographs in-world and have spent hours playing about with different effects in Flickr to make my photos look good. Kittywitchin’ isn’t your usual reviews blog, purely because I don’t get beseiged by review packs like other bloggers do. I tend to review purchases that I’ve made, but I also include features about in-world events and more recently have started blogged specifically about Witchcraft in Second Life, noting places to shop and visit aimed towards those of a Pagan persuasion, like myself.

Finally, the blog also serves as an advertising tool for my very own business in-world, Kittylicious shapes. I never thought I’d ever create anything that I could sell virtually but I do and I derive great pleasure from it. Owning the blog means I can plug myself a wee bit, but I am careful to not overload the pages with advertisements for myself because Kittywitchin’ isn’t about that. It’s about experiences I’ve had in-world and also the people that populate it, the fashion that they wear, the dwellings in which they live and  the content creators that make all those things. It’s all about throwing them a bit of love and saying thanks for making my virtual experience so pivotal to my real life existence…and that’s how this blog has enriched my life, because it’s given me a true meaning for my virtual existence that has had a direct, positive impact on my real one, and for that I am eternally grateful.