Pay it forward

Why yes, I always type up my blog dressed like this… don’t you?

So it’s been three years since I started writing this blog. The first year was largely bereft of entries, because (I told myself) I was too busy actually cross-dressing to write about it. In reality I was just too damn lazy to put finger to keyboard. The second year was a process of getting into a routine and figuring out what I wanted to write about. Last year, I finally worked out how blogging’s supposed to work, tagging articles and connecting with other people.

So, it’s been a very slow, gentle learning curve that’s fed into other blogs I’ve started. It’s paying off – I’m gobsmacked at the global reach, and also at the ever-increasing monthly views. I’m also amused and bemused by the search terms that bring people here: “crossdressed in public“, “crossdress meme“, “crossdresser with big tits” and a whole host of search terms I won’t repeat (I don’t want to encourage them!), which I assume were typed in with one hand… (I can only imagine their disappointment when getting here). (Update 26/3/15: My new favourite search term to find this blog is “like cross dressing grave yard workers they dug in their heels”…)

Making contact with other people’s blogs (usually through seeing the links visitors have on their own blogs) has been pretty interesting. Every cross-dresser has their own story, or their own motivation, or their own challenges to write about. I think the most profound impact has been the realisation that the way we present ourselves online, and the things we say, can affect people for better – and I’ll follow this up in my next entry.

One of my inspirations was the blog of a cross-dresser called Becky EnVérité (now only available through the Internet Archive). Becky wrote from 2005-2010 before getting married and starting a family; life happened, priorities changed. But the way she regarded cross-dressing kinda chimed with the way I did: it’s part of my life, but maybe not the most important part; I don’t think I’ll be doing it forever, but I don’t want to draw a line under it; and -most importantly- no matter what else, I want to have fun with it while it lasts.

I cannot stress enough how important this is. Sure, it might be nerve-wracking and filled with uncertainty when you start out, but if you think it’ll turn out to be fun, do it.

So Becky’s blog was winding down at about the same time my cross-dressing was revving up. In many ways, I’d like to thank Becky for the inspiration – and also because she was part of a group trying to make cross-dressing more socially acceptable, and therefore easier for the likes of me to come along, years later.

So, this blog has mutated into my way of ‘paying it forward‘.

I like to think that if anyone reads what I say, or looks at the pictures of me mucking about having adventures in a skirt, and decides “That looks like fun! I want to try that!” then I’ve succeeded.

Maybe, someday, they’ll have their own adventures in cross-dressing, blog about it, and inspire someone else?

Pay it forward!

*puts on sparkly birthday costume*
*eats cake*

Today, a blog; tomorrow, the world! Muahahahahaaa- *cough cough cough*