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Are you a SLOW MOVEMENT BLOGGER?

streettrotter - slow blogging movement

Four years of blogging, and I am still sitting with 70 percent of my trips not published. They lie captured in my hard disk, and summarized in my travel notes. I often look back at them, and try to find a story, but I continuously fail. Sometimes it’s not a set of good pictures, and sometimes it’s lack of good content and a purpose to my post. I always seem to find a fault. Truth is, maybe I am not the post-something-everyday type.

I know to keep my blog going, I can just put it all together as travel guides, like most websites do, and the homepage can overflow with content, but that sounds like injustice to my blog. Just because I crave for a lot more in my posts than just quantity. At times I get stubborn on the quality of the pictures, and often I feel the text does not express my voice enough. I know at this point, I am one of the slow movers in the blogging industry, posting at my own pace, and posting what I truly like and get inspired to write. I am totally sunk into the ‘Slow Blogging Movement’. 

And here I am. A “slow movement” blogger. A title, I have consciously chosen to wear up my sleeve.

For those of you who are not aware of the ‘slow movement’ just yet – imagine yourself in a chaotic race for life. Do you run along? Or do you run for a while and then choose to slowdown dramatically and watch others run, while you slowly walk to the finish line enjoying the view? This is how you picture the slow movement. Overtime this need for ‘slow’ had seeped into many industries across cultures such as slow food, slow travel, slow education, slow living, and so on, all in a desperate need make a connection and develop a thoughtful approach to living well.

Recently the insane amount of bloggers around the world, new and old, have shaken my thoughts a little. I see them post almost everyday, a new destination every time, and newer reviews. Ever since I opened up this space for sponsored posts, I came to realize the intensity of the race that I have entered. Its a new query each day in my mail, some paid, some for a mutual benefit, some for a beneficial brand collaboration. And yes, it has been hard to keep up. Yet again, I have started to say no to some very tempting offers, simply because they fail to fit into the essence of StreetTrotter.

So why have a I chosen to join the Slow Blogging Movement?

The most defining factor of this decision is my travel style. I am a slow traveler, who likes picking up destinations from my heart. I spend a long time in each destination, trying to understand the place, its people, its culture and giving back to its community through volunteering, if possible. I wander-about for long hours, traveling through the same roads, getting to know the locals, smile at them and often think about revisiting a few of my favorite spots. This leads to an unsaid attachment with the places I travel to, which is mostly difficult to put into words. I no longer can describe the place as a destination, because in my mind – even for a while, it has become ‘home’.

 

Naturally, I find it hard to connect with the two-day-weekend kind of short trips, unless it has really been on my wish list. In this scenario, I chose to sit back and like the good old days, plan my trips, make my day-to-day itinerary, search for the best ticket prices and pin down the places to eat. For a person like me who is still a little old school about travel, snail-paced and picky, the slow movement and ‘slow travel blogging’ fits my style.

Another reason which has tempted me to enter the ‘slow’ world, is the fact that I am still a part-time blogger. Having to manage graduate school, two jobs, and a steady blog is nothing less than running a marathon every single day of your life. I have gone through countless hours of maintaining a BLOG+WORK life balance, and therefore once again the slow blogging movement seemed to be a wise choice.

Also the ‘quality’ of content, still holds a deep ethical spot in the journalistic mindset. I remember my journalism professors regularly reminding us ‘content is king’, and in this fast paced world driven by the internet, its easy to get lost with the commercial aspect of quick, short and brief writing.

Last but not the least, The slow movement in blogging complements the way I look at life. Being in the moment and experiencing a place without technology is still a significant part of my personality. I think, and over think and come up with the best of my posts while in the shower or when I am half asleep. As I said before, I am indeed a snail-paced blogger, and I have found myself to be enjoying it, without comparison and competition.

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The fine line of responsible travel: Sharing the Process… I visited the Tushita monastery last summer near Dharamshala India for a 10 day silent retreat. It was a great trip for soul searching and diving a bit deeper into Buddhism. While we entered the premises, we were supposed to deposit our phones at the reception for the entire duration of the trip. The pure disconnect from the world left us at peace, while my parents were worried throughout of my wellbeing. After 10 days they were happy I was fine and had a fulfilling trip. This year I revisited mcloedganj, Dharamshala with my parents and the first thing I did was, I took back them to Tushita, and showed them where we stayed, spent our days, ate and lived. They finally knew what my experience was truly like, as they could now visually relate to it. I met the head nun again, said hello to a few residents I knew from my stay in the past and spent a few minutes reminiscing the program. Travel is not only a thing we do to just go visit new places, and never look back. In fact responsible travel also means to revisit, remember and show the people who care about you that side of your personality. In today's world when all travelers are fighting hard to be solo, there comes a point when you want your friends and family to know who you have become and how. Responsible travel is also about "sharing your travel process" and always reliving it in different forms time and again. #travelblogger #travelblog #streettrotter #placestovisit #tushita #silentretreat #retreat #monastery #buddhism #voluntourism #mcleodganj #mcloed #dharamshala #mountains #himalayas #soulsearching #solotravel #traveldope #travelgram #travellife

A post shared by Shraddha Gupta (@streettrotter) on

 

If you are a slow movement blogger, or connect to this thought, write to me with how you feel about it? Do you think it works for you and why? Or do you dis-approve of it for some reasons? I would love to ponder over this slow movement along with you…

streettrotter slow movement

CategoriesEditor's Notes
STREETTROTTER

StreetTrotter is a Travel, Culture & Lifestyle blog, inspiring people everyday with real stories to look good and travel even better. Founded in 2012 by Shraddha Gupta, Founder & COO, this space is all about experiencing new things in life, be it a daring mountain trek, a frugal backpacking trip, a runway look made local, or simply anything that scares you enough to live a little more deeper.

  1. I also think the same. 1 or 2 posts in a month. But, as a blogger, I wish to write a post at least in a week. That’s my criteria. However, I can’t due to the other commitments. So, It takes me 15-20 days to prepare a post. On the positive side, it gives some time to our readers to read the post. I don’t think that creating a post at every alternate day is a good idea, if you don’t have any commercial commitment.

    1. SHRADDHA GUPTA says:

      I agree. I think posting once a week is good though. Keeps the blog active and gives you enough time to write a lazy but quality and inspirational post. 🙂

  2. Anita says:

    I can relate with your post. Like you, even I consider a new place and feel at home. Much of my travel remains undocumented owing to paucity of time & the urge to present the best that needs time & effort 🙂

    Nice to learn of your Dharamshala trip. I plan to visit too.

    1. SHRADDHA GUPTA says:

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts Anita. I am soon working on an ‘Offbeat Dharamshala’ post, and I will keep you tuned in for that. Its a mixture of all my memorable Dharamshala and Mcloed experiences till date.

    1. SHRADDHA GUPTA says:

      Thanks! 🙂 I am glad! If you read up more on the movement, its pretty interesting overall too in other industries as well.

  3. I didn’t realise it, but I too am a slow movement blogger! I love to absorb the essence of a place, to linger taking endless photos, to read around a topic and to compose long form blog posts that take a day or two to compile. Thanks for posting your thoughts Shraddha, its great to meet a fellow slow movement blogger and know I’m not the only one!! Onwards and upwards, gently!

    1. SHRADDHA GUPTA says:

      Thanks LiZ. It’s great to see a few fellow bloggers who feel the same and work at this pace. 🙂

  4. Thoughtful post and I think blogging is best when you do it because you have the internal drive or an external impetus to keep posting. I blog once a week, rarely more, because I need that discipline and crave the feedback, the connection. I like most to slow travel and slow cook on my own idiosyncratic schedule. I’m working to become a better writer, provide a service and keep my numbers up to keep traveling and earn a living from it. What works for one is not for all and that’s part of the beauty of the internet. Now it’s time for a nap…

  5. Chrisitna says:

    Our blog posts go up once per week but my husband and I take turns writing so each person only writes once every two weeks. I find this is necessary for me as we are part-time bloggers and I have to imagine/live/breathe the post before I can write it. I go over it in my head many times before I ever start typing. I guess in this sense, I am definitely part of the slow blogging movement 🙂

  6. Joanna says:

    I agree with you! I myself am a slow blogger. I can’t keep up with my full time job and with my blog. I put a lot of effort into writing up my articles, I like to tell a story rather than drop a list of 10 things to do in x location. I also spend a lot of time editing my pictures and I simply can’t post faster than once every 1,2 weeks. Quality is more important than quantity.

  7. I am in the same boat. I try to post at least 3 times a week sometimes it happens most of the time it doesn’t. I work full time so it is hard to find the time to write somedays.

  8. Elena says:

    Frankly, I never heard about the slow movement blogger before. I prefer to write at my own pace that happened to be one or two posts per month. During infancy days of my blog, I tried to follow all the “best blogging practices” that I could find. Some things worked, others didn’t. After about a year of struggling with forcing myself to post at least 2-3 articles per week, I felt comfortable enough to form my own strategy. It suits me and my travel style (i.e. slow travel). Just like you, I have tons of unpublished photos and notes. Eventually, I’ll share some of them, but the majority would stay in my archive as precious memories.

  9. Andra says:

    I love this article! I am new in the blogging industry and I try to keep up as much as possible. I actually wrote a lot of articles before setting the blog just to make sure I would have what to post. And yes, I planned a 2 articles per week “project” but now I am pretty sure it is not the best recipe. I believe that in order to have good content and to make people relate to what you are writing you just have to write when inspiration comes. I am a former lawyer and even when I used to write statements I had a problem if I was forced to do it immediately. I needed time, to clear my thoughts and know how I wanted it to sound like. Thank you for sharing this 🙂

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