HOW I TAKE MY COFFEE
[www.howitakemycoffee.com]
Briefly describe the evolution of your blog.
I initially started writing out of frustration. Frustration because I was going through a personal phase: the ’20-something sedentary stuck in a state imposed by our dysfunctional country” phase. This personal phase turned out to be a public one. That’s how the blog’s evolution started; it came from the comments I was getting. No matter how negative they were I took them as constructive criticism, which allowed me to understand what people wanted to read. For example, after the outrage that spun when a Lebanese reality show aired, a lot of people were saying how they wished to know more about ‘inspiring’ young Lebanese, that’s how I created a new section named ‘How They Take Their Coffee’.
How did you first decide to launch?
At first, I wasn’t planning on making the blog public. It started as more of an online diary (hidden somewhere in a drawer on the World Wide Web). I started writing what is now ‘How I Take My Coffee, because I felt that the Lebanese blogosphere didn’t have anyone who shared my opinion, or talked about what I wanted to read. The majority was either too ‘correct’ or rarely formulated a biased opinion that doesn’t conform to that of the general public. You could say it was for selfish purposes. When I eventually summoned up the courage and shared a couple of posts I realised that some were going viral; I got more love than hate messages, which indicated that I am not crazy and some people do share my point of view.
What makes your content unique in your opinion?
In today’s world I think the word ‘unique’ no longer means what it once did. My posts are not one in a million. Lebanon is a small country where news spreads fast, hosting too many talented bloggers! So I constantly try to have a different point of view on things, whether it’s sarcastic, funny or serious. I don’t really like to bank on bad news or scandals to post, so I mostly share my point of view about a certain situation based on its topic, tackling the topic itself and not the story that happened. Most importantly, I stay true to myself, controversial or not, I aim to always be as transparent, straightforward and as honest as possible.
What motivates you to keep going with your blogging after all this time?
At first I was blogging on and off. Just like going to the gym, it takes a while to commit. Having chosen a career in copywriting, it’s not particularly easy to write all day for work, then go back and write online. But once I started getting feedback from people, I enjoyed posting even more. Now my posts have become the public therapy sessions that I can never get enough of. It’s a Lebanese lifestyle blog, so there’s no limit to what it can be, since everything in Lebanon changes rapidly, even if a lot of things stay the same unfortunately.