Long time, no see! I have returned from a four month break, with a clearer head and a newfound enthusiasm. I temporarily stepped back from Thunder and Threads in February to concentrate on the last hurdle of my degree; it was inevitably the right decision. Putting some aspects of my life on hold to concentrate on finishing college was essential for me for maintaining a calm mindset and giving it my all.
I'm thrilled to let you all know that I got an honours in my degree! I put my heart and soul into my course, despite knowing it'd hinder my online work, as I wasn't able to work on my blog full-time during the academic year. I knew I had to juggle my priorities around. I'm incredibly proud of myself and my classmates. Completing a degree surrounded by likeminded, feminist women was an honour and it made my college experience extremely special and worthwhile to me.
I finished college in May and hastily escaped to Paris and Rome for a week each, to give myself the headspace and break to think about future endeavours. I was determined to get straight back into blogging but I was lacking the confidence and drive, somewhat.
This industry has changed dramatically over the last few years, which I've discussed before. Although many see this as a negative - I admittedly did and sometimes do, too - I think it's the perfect opportunity to reinvent and renew yourself and your content. Blogging is an oversaturated world but in an oversaturated world, uniqueness stands out and shines bright.
I've been planning my blog relaunch for a while now. I didn't want to start blogging immediately last month, as my goals weren't clear and my head was still spinning from countless essays and a thesis. I knuckled down recently though and with the help of
Ann-Marie Deady, a fantastically talented budding Irish graphic designer, I started to see Thunder and Threads in a fresh light.
Thunder and Threads' new design is clean and crisp, offering a blank canvas to my content. It's also incredibly easier to navigate (on both a desktop and mobile). The layout of blogs is changing, alongside the industry. I wanted to keep my blog looking like a 'blog', without it morphing into an online magazine hybrid. I hope you'll all agree that it looks great! I'm over the moon with it.
I'm approaching my 8th blogging anniversary and it's a brilliant feeling to see myself still adoring all of this and planning ahead, nearly a decade on. I'll end this post and keep it short and sweet by saying a huge thank you to my readers for sticking around - and your constant support. It doesn't go amiss.
I hope you enjoy the new Thunder and Threads as much as I do!
