The Comeback!

A treble-sized ¡hola! to all my fellow footie aficionados y aficionadas and in particular, all the Blaugrana hearts out there! I’m near to bursting with excitement and my very fingers are tingling as I type these words, because I’m baaaack people, back again and hopefully, for good this time! School is behind me for good and I’ve got THREE. FREAKING. FREE. MONTHS. without a single care in the world before Uni kicks in at the end of September, and things are going to skyrocket from here.

Ya’ll are all more or less familiar with this blog, Barcelista, my first endeavor in the blogging world for about a year between the last two Decembers. I experimented a lot with it and it’s had its highs and lows, overall turning out to be an amazing experience from which I’ve learned so much. I return now after a six-month hiatus, however I’m not here to pick up that blog where it left off. Barcelista has been my baby, but it’s time to meet the new kid on the block.

The current Barcelista will stand as it is on it’s blogspot domain, to be remembered and cherished as the building block, the foundation for the brand new site that will hopefully embody all my rumble-tumble dreams of a bigger, better Barca blog.

The new Barcelista is currently under construction, and will be unveiled once the World Cup is over. In content, it will cover much the same things as the old one – all the gossip and goings-on of the Blaugrana, but with a different, fresher approach. I'd also like to stress that I'd be glad to hear ideas and suggestions from anyone if you have them. Tell me what you want to see on the blog; you can contact me here.

What I tried with the first blog was to create something of a news source with a real professional feel to it, with standard categorized pieces and labels. Another thing I was doing was writing my pieces from the plural, as if a whole news team were behind them. And I have to say that taking that direction was in imitation of sites like Kickette and Futbolita – indeed, my initial vision was not far from creating the ‘Barca version’ of a cross between those two excellent sites. But while my girl Ash over at Futbolita as well as the witty chicas behind Kickette pull it off beautifully, for me it’s felt rather contrived.

So, I’m dropping the whole ‘we’ thing, and aiming to make the blog more personal, spontaneous, funky and fun. Another thing I’ll look out for is accreditation – at times I’d be posting news and pieces without mentioning where I got them, if it wasn’t an exclusive source. I never paid much mind to that at first, but after the same thing began happening to me and I would see things taken from my blog and posted on others without so much as a mention or link back to me, I got to know how frustrating it can be. It’s unjust and not at all professional; and I’ll be sure to take it into greater account from now on.

Remember, the brand new Barcelista blog kicks off right after the World Cup. Till then, viva Barca y viva la fútbol!