Feather’s Past Lives - From A Teenage Rant Blog to an Information Blog To Sims Builds And Arts and Crafts

Feather Charm

10 minutes ago

11 min read

Hello Everyone!

So, I’ve mentioned before that Feather’s Charm used to be many things before it became what it is today. That’s because over the years (decades even), she (yes, Feather is a “she”) has been a constant presence in my life. What started out as a diary of sorts has now become a platform for me, to express my artistic and creative interests. So, let me walk you through what Feather’s Charm used to be, and what I hope it will eventually become.

What’s In A Name? The Teenage Rant Blog

Feather’s Charm didn’t start out as Feather’s Charm. In fact, she started out completely differently. She initially started out on a website called BlogSpot, now Blogger, and was originally called (now don’t judge me for this, I was a teenager at the time, and I wanted to be “different”)…Updates Abducted Whatnots. I told you don’t judge me!

The whole reason I gave it this name was because I was typing essays and revision notes at the time, and I think it was while I was writing something for a piece of homework, for an ICT lesson, I can’t really remember, but what I do remember was when I was typing it up, I was writing something about “updates and…”. Instead, what I wrote was “updates ab…”. I saw it, and I thought let’s roll with it, so I came up with the title “Updates Abducted Whatnots”, and that’s when the blog began (it's no longer active, so please don't try to look it up). I created one, because I wanted somewhere to put down my thoughts, when my actual, physical diary wasn’t in arm’s reach. I needed an outlet, and I thought it would be a good way to improve my writing skills, since I loved to write, while I was at school. It was sort of like, my own personal therapy, because while I put it on the internet, not many people really read my blog, there were far too many more interesting things to look at. So, I wasn’t really in danger of being bullied by my articles.

I kept this up for years, and I even created another blog, to satiate my fiction writing skills. I wanted to create actual stories and snippets that I thought would eventually become proper novels, after some time. That one didn’t last long, because I didn’t have enough time to sit down and write from my imagination, and I kept getting writer’s block. Eventually, I deleted that one and just focused on UAW. Then, I went to university and fell in love with filmmaking. That’s when my YouTube channel started. It actually started on my personal account, but I stopped that after I started work, because I just didn’t have time to create films or work on anything that would be video or YouTube worthy.

Provider Change And Name Change

In the year 2015 I started to join the workforce. At the time, it was a part time role, so I still had some time to myself, to work on my blog, and while I was working, I realised that I couldn’t continue having a professional website, with the name “Updates Abducted Whatnots” it was just too random and, at this point childish, to use. So, I ended up going with a name that I had found when I was stepping into my gaming era. I don’t know if any of you remember this, but back in the day, when Pottermore was a big deal (it was riding off the back of the ending of the Harry Potter series), they actually started you out with usernames, and they generated it for you. I remember vividly that my username was FeatherCharm27099, and the name stuck.

I loved that name, I used it as my username for other gaming platforms, except without the numbers. Then I thought, FeatherCharm could be the name of my new blog. So, I separated the name, and added an “s”, to make it seem like someone named Feather had Charm (cheesy I know, but that was the whole vibe I was going for), and ever since then, Feather’s Charm was the name of my blog. However, BlogSpot was just too simple a website for me to use, at the time (I’m fairly sure they’ve upgraded massively, to compete with the likes of other websites, but I’m not about to go back, I’ve grown too comfortable with what I have now). They didn’t have all the bells and whistles that could make the blog look good. So, I changed servers. I moved to Wordpress, and I actually I liked it. I had used it for a work experience stint I needed to do, while I was at university, and I was very familiar with their back-end spaces. It was a no-brainer, when I started working on Feather’s Charm, this time for real.

The Professional Segmentation

At the time, I had wanted to write about all the things that interested me, and I was sure that if I kept writing, more and more like-minded people would find my website, and choose to stay and be contributors, or eventually help me make a living off the website. Yes, the dream to become a self-made business started very early on. For a year or so, the blog was doing well, or at least, I was constantly writing for it. I even roped in a couple of friends to write some blog posts for me, at the time, but I was getting frustrated by the lack of response from my audiences, and thought I should change direction, so I told them to pause their writing, until I could reassign them. Oh, I forgot to mention, the topics that were on the blog were about film, music, gaming, crafts, and travel.

As I mentioned before, I studied filmmaking, but because I wasn't in the industry, I wanted to keep my knowledge of the subject alive, by continuing my research into film theory. So, I continued to write essays and articles about film history and film theory, while trying to actually get into the industry (it never happened). One of my other friends is in the music industry, and is part of a band, called Red Paper Cranes. They do some gigs in the UK. I thought she could write for the music section for me. There was another friend, from university, who loved gaming, so I thought he could write for that section for me as well, and I could work on the crafts and the travel section, because I used to go on frequent trips abroad with my parents, so I thought I would document them. Eventually, that didn’t work either.

In the end, I changed direction and removed some of the topic areas. I removed the music segment, because I didn’t know what could go into that section other than my friend's articles, and even then we were starting to grow distant. The friend who helped me with the gaming segment lived quite a distance away, and I couldn’t drive at the time, neither could he, so we couldn’t meet up to talk about what he could write, and I know he was rather busy as well, so I didn’t want to disturb him too much. And I wasn't paying any of them, so I couldn't incentivise them to stay.

So, other than the film section, crafts section and the travel section, there really wasn't much else I could write about. Not only that, but eventually, the travel section had to be scaled back, because I wasn’t travelling as much anymore, once I started working. Because I was working part time, things had to be scheduled around busy periods, or other colleagues who wanted to go on vacation, and everything was becoming more expensive. So, really, things weren’t looking good for the website, and I eventually began to abandon it.

Server Refresh And Purpose Revived

After a couple of years of focusing on my job, and trying to get into the film industry, I grew tired of where I was. I was itching for something new, something exciting, and so I started looking for other stable jobs, still with the hope of finding something in the film industry. While I was doing that, my passion for my crochet crafts were revived, because my assistant manager had commissioned a blanket from me. He saw what I created for myself, and for our store manager (he'd commissioned a cushion from me, and I sold it at a ridiculously cheap price), and when he asked, I got inspired to revive my blog and turn the subject into arts and crafts. Thus I started again. I picked Feather’s Charm off her feet and dusted her off.

Unfortunately, Wordpress, like BlogSpot didn’t have the things I needed to make Feather’s Charm impressive. So, once again, I moved her. This time, to Wix, and I’ve been with them, ever since. I think it’s been about 7 years now. Wow! Time really does fly! I essentially wanted their platform, because of the shopping aspect that they seemed to be good at, and I liked the way they laid out their websites. If you’ve read my previous post about my 10-year plan, I tried to make her a business, far too early. I didn’t have products, I didn’t have anything valuable to show off, and I didn’t have the audience who wanted to buy the things I make.

So, when I started the shop, I had about 3 items in the shop that literally sold nothing. That’s mostly because I didn’t promote it enough. I’m still not promoting myself enough, but that’s ok. Like I said, I’m still trying to find my people, and until I do, I’ll slowly make Feather’s Charm a viable business. I also wanted to continue writing about the things I like, so Feather’s Charm wasn’t just about the shop. I still wanted her to be a blog, and I kept writing to keep that aspect going. Sporadically. Until COVID-19 hit.

No Job? No Problem

At the time of the lockdowns, I thought that solely relying on my blog posts were going to help me enough to become a business. I also thought that making a few graphics for social media would be a good idea to promote the website, and get people interested in reading my posts. And at that time, those posts were about all sorts of things. I still had a film section, although my hope of entering the film industry had died by this time. I still had a crafts section, which covered my crochet craft, journalling, and funnily enough, my fiction writing (we’ll get to this in a second). And finally, I had a lifestyle section, where I tried to write blog posts on style and beauty, travel and my honest reviews (yes, I had a whole section on reviews of things from beauty products to games to books, to films…pretty much anything and everything).

I worked on that website dedicatedly, for the entire year I was unemployed (because yes, I was made redundant before the furlough scheme was announced, since the company I started working for, at the time, didn’t know if they were going to pull through, after the lockdowns – they did). I also worked as a freelance article writer, on Fiverr (I still have gigs on there, so if you like my style of writing, send a message, and I'll be happy to write articles for you). Now, my gigs at the time were not enough for me to live on. They were barely enough to pay for a cup of coffee. So, no I wasn’t earning enough to call myself self-employed. I still needed a job. So, that’s why I was working on Feather’s Charm like my life depended on it. I was hoping that, one day, she’d take off. Again, she hadn’t, because I later realised that graphics and pictures were no longer what interested people. It was video, and I didn’t have the equipment to make videos. In fact, I didn’t have room (or at the time, I didn’t think so).

I also realised that the topics I was focused on were far too different from each other, and again, I had to change things up, because, halfway through the lockdowns, I was starting to work on making Feather’s Charm an educational blog. I had sections on Ancient History, Languages and yes, my ever-present Arts And Crafts section, and while I loved learning about these topics, I knew I didn’t have the academic know-how to advise or educate anyone in these topics. I’m not a teacher, and if I said something wrong on my website, I would get chewed to bits by people who did know what they were talking about, who spent years in the academic fields I was just dipping my toes into. So, I had to switch gears again, although I didn’t do that, until a few years later.

Time To Play And Film!

Now, we all know where Feather’s Charm has ended up (here, obviously), and the reason we landed here was because about 4 years ago, my employer at the time, encouraged me to use my knowledge to create. He knew I loved to make my Sims 4 houses. He knew I loved to crochet and knit, he knew I loved my bullet journal art, and he encouraged me to pursue that. He even let me use the office, out of hours, to film my videos, for the channel, and that’s when I started to post videos up on YouTube. Granted I had attempted something a couple of years before, but I was still working with some clients from Fiverr at the time, who offered to help me edit my videos, in exchange for articles which quickly ended, once I started working again.

However, with my employer’s encouragement, I started filming, and I was posting quite regularly, until I left that job. My restlessness was starting to sabotage my work style, and I needed a break from being alone all day, every day (because yes, I was physically alone in the office, although my employer and the rest of the team were just one phone call away). So, I went back to being a barista (which upon hindsight, might not have been a good idea, but I did it anyway), and with the unpredictable schedule, I couldn’t keep up, so I had to go barebones, with my uploads, and eventually, I stopped completely, for a time, because things were getting rather stressful at work. If you’ve read my recent article, about my sporadic year, you’ll know why.

Now, fast forward to early this year, and I was laid off, yet again (this time, before I even started), and the latest iteration of Feather’s Charm is here. I’m sure I’ll change her around, again, many times in the future, but for now, we’re here. I have all the time in the world, to improve, and develop her into the content platform I want her to be, and eventually make her a business, of course, that is with your help. I can only earn from her, if you guys are willing to invest in her. I can only do so much, with what I currently have, and while I am improving, little by little, I can’t do it without help. So, if you guys are willing, please think about supporting me through the price plan I have here (eventually "price plans" because yes, there will be more than one, once the plans pick up traction), on Feather’s Charm, or on Patreon. There are many exclusive access downloads that I hope you’ll love, and hopefully, once I have your backing and the time, I can sell physical things to you, although for now it’s a far-flung dream.

Living On A Hope And A Prayer

Honestly, I’m still unemployed, although I am trying. However, with plans and projects underway (because yes, there are other projects at work here), I am focusing most of my time on Feather’s Charm and all the content I have planned for her. Some might be sporadic, others might be more regular, but as you can see, I’m just one person, and I don’t have extra hands to help me.

So, for now, please forgive me for not keeping up with a few things, but I promise, as I continue to grow and develop Feather’s Charm, I will get better. For now, to those of you who support me, and have supported me from the very beginning, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. It does not escape me just how much you’ve had to endure over the past couple of decades, while following Feather’s progress, and the fact that you’ve continued to follow me is a great blessing in and of itself. Thank you.

Ok, I’m going to stop there with the emotions, we don’t need any more of that. I’m going to go off and continue working on making more content for you guys. Of course, while I go do that, you know the drill! Please don’t forget to like, subscribe, comment, share and follow me, here on Feather’s Charm, on my YouTube channel, on my other social media channels (Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok), and on Patreon. Your support really does help me make more content like this, for you guys.