I’m suddenly really excited about the Bells tonight. Not that I’m planning a big one, but an evening with friends and the little cookie snoozing in a nearby bedroom will be just fine. The end of the year has come around so quickly, certainly the last six months have dissolved in a haze of blissfully happy sleep deprivation, if there is such a thing. And although I never did manage to start that second novel (the idea, yes, the writing, no) I have given this blog enough life and soul for it to have got up and running. And that really does feel good, especially at a time when I was worried that exchanging freelancing for mothering would take a toll on my sense of self. But blogging, as cliche as it may sound coming from a new mother, has been a fantastic outlet – a great way to feel creative and affirmed, make new connections and meet new people. I love nothing more than scratching my head for a new blog post idea, trying to think of ways to make my blog more appealing and to produce genuinely good content. I hope I am on the right track. In terms of competition and a saturated market, yes, the world of fashion blogging is a busy one and it’s seems almost impossible to stand out and yet all the numbers have created a real community. I’ve loved meeting other fashion bloggers, all extremely friendly, and I have been amazed at how well brands and PRs treat the bloggers they work with. So far, it’s been a real pleasure. Yes, on a few occasions my emails have gone unanswered but so much less than the world of freelance journalism where an echoing silence is often par for the course. This October I redesigned my blog, gave it more of a fashion focus and started blogging almost daily – I immediately saw an increase in traffic and got a real taste for it. Brands have kindly lent me samples to feature in outfit posts and offered prizes for blog giveaways (first one in January!) and I have a couple of pieces of online press coming out (also in January). In the space of just a few months I went from a freelance journalist who occasionally blogged to a committed fashion blogger motivated to grow her blog and traffic. And that motivation is growing by the day. In 2013 I hope to grow my blog and my readership further (increasing pageviews to 500 a day & Facebook followers to a 1000 if that’s not too ambitious!), meet more bloggers and make connections with new brands. What about you?