Learn Hardcore Russian: Я давно мечтаю стать популярным блогером, но пока пишу только для друзей. - I have long dreamed of becoming a popular blogger, but for now I write only for friends.

Я давно мечтаю… ≈ I’ve been dreaming for a long time… / I’ve long dreamed… (and I still do).
Я давно мечтал… usually sounds like I used to dream a long time ago… (the dream may belong to the past, or at least it’s not clearly ongoing).

Russian doesn’t have a present perfect like I have dreamed, so it uses the simple present (мечтаю) with давно to express that ongoing, long-lasting situation.

What exactly does давно mean here? Is it for a long time or a long time ago?

Давно can mean both, depending on the tense and context.

With present tense (as in this sentence):
- Я давно мечтаю… = I have been dreaming for a long time.
  It emphasizes duration up to now.
With a completed past action:
- Я давно прочитал эту книгу. = I read that book a long time ago.

In your sentence, present tense мечтаю + давно clearly means for a long time (up to now), not a long time ago.

Why do we say мечтаю стать and not мечтаю быть?

Both are grammatically possible, but they’re used in different situations:

Мечтать + стать + (кем/чем) is the normal way to say to dream of becoming (something).
- Я давно мечтаю стать популярным блогером. = I’ve long dreamed of becoming a popular blogger.
Мечтать + быть + (каким) is more like to dream of being (a certain way), stressing a state, not the change into it:
- Я мечтаю быть свободным. = I dream of being free.

Here, it is clearly about changing your status (from a non‑blogger/unknown blogger to a popular blogger), so стать (to become) is the natural verb.

Why is it популярным блогером (instrumental) instead of популярный блогер (nominative)?

Because after стать (and становиться) Russian normally uses the instrumental case to show what someone becomes:

стать кем? чем? → instrumental
- стать учителем (become a teacher)
- стать врачом (become a doctor)
- стать популярным блогером (become a popular blogger)

So популярным блогером is the instrumental form of популярный блогер, required by the verb стать.

How do the verb aspects work here with мечтаю, стать, and пишу?

You see both imperfective and perfective aspects working together:

мечтаю – imperfective, present
- Describes a long‑lasting, repeated or ongoing mental state: I (keep) dream(ing).
стать – perfective infinitive
- Points to a single future change of state: one moment when you become a popular blogger.
- Dreaming is ongoing, but the becoming is a single event.
пишу – imperfective, present
- Describes an ongoing / habitual action: I write / I’m writing (these days).

So the sentence says: I have been dreaming for a long time (imperfective) of eventually becoming (perfective) a popular blogger, but for now I (habitually) write (imperfective) only for friends.

What does пока mean in но пока пишу только для друзей?

Here пока means for now / for the time being / so far.

но пока пишу… = but for now I (only) write…

Compare its other uses:

Пока я готовил ужин, она читала. – While I was cooking dinner, she was reading. (conjunction = while)
Пока! – Bye (for now)! (informal farewell)

In your sentence, пока is an adverb meaning temporarily, at this stage, not while.

Why is пишу just a simple present form? Shouldn’t it be something like I am writing?

Russian has no special continuous tense like English I am writing. The simple present пишу can express:

I write (habitually)
I am writing (now / these days) (ongoing)

Context and adverbs (here пока, только) show that it means for now I (only) write…, describing the current situation and general practice, not just one moment.

Why is it для друзей and not something like друзьям?

Because:

Для always takes the genitive case → для кого? для чего?
- для друзей (for friends) – друзей is genitive plural.
There is also a meaning difference:
- писать для друзей – to write for friends as your intended audience (you create content aimed at them).
- писать друзьям – to write to friends as recipients (you send them messages/letters).

In this sentence, the idea is about who the blog is for, so для друзей is correct.

Can the word order be changed, for example но пишу пока только для друзей? Does it change the meaning?

Russian word order is flexible, and several versions are possible and natural:

…но пока пишу только для друзей. (original)
…но пока только пишу для друзей.
…но пишу пока только для друзей.

All essentially mean the same: but for now I write only for friends.

Moving пока and только changes the emphasis slightly:

пока пишу только для друзей – light emphasis on it being for now that this is true.
пишу пока только для друзей – can sound a bit more like I write, for now, only for friends (a bit more contrast on only for friends).

But in everyday speech, the difference is small; all are acceptable.

Why is there a comma before но?

The sentence has two independent clauses:

Я давно мечтаю стать популярным блогером
(я) пока пишу только для друзей

They are joined by the coordinating conjunction но (but), which shows contrast.

In Russian, when и, а, но connect two full clauses (each with its own verb, and usually its own subject), you must put a comma:

…, но …
So: Я давно мечтаю…, но пока пишу…

If the speaker is a woman, should anything change in стать популярным блогером?

Common options:

стать популярным блогером – perfectly fine for a woman too.
- Блогер is often treated like a gender‑neutral job title in modern Russian.
More explicitly feminine (colloquial/less formal):
- стать популярной блогершей (feminine noun блогерша, instrumental блогершей).

So a female speaker can say either:

Я давно мечтаю стать популярным блогером… (neutral, very common), or
Я давно мечтаю стать популярной блогершей… (emphasizes female gender of the blogger).