For Blog's Sake!

Once upon a time, I was a grown woman of a erm certain age, with a family and adult preoccupations and responsibilities.  I got up in the morning, I spent my days running around after the children, doing school runs and working in between.  Little did I know how my life was going to change when I discovered the world of blogging.

In the beginning, reading other people's blogs was great fun; previously I had no idea that blogs were such a wealth of information, you could find anything on any topic.  Then something came over me.  A nagging little voice in the back of my head that go slowly louder and louder until it was screaming; "For goodness sake woman, you could do this!". 

So in September of last year, I took those first tentative steps and set myself up with a Blogger account and wrote a few words.  Those words weren't particularly earth shattering but that feeling you get when you press 'publish' for the first time is amazing.  Even more amazing was checking back a few hours later to discover that a few people had actually read it. 

It then started to  spiral into something much bigger. Writing blog posts whenever I got the chance, constantly thinking about what to write about and then came the obsessive checking of stats. The funny thing being that very few people were actually reading, but it gave me such a buzz.  The discovery of memes and linkys fired my enthusiasm even more, giving me a constant stream of ideas and motivation and I busily signed my blog up to anything and anyone who'd have me.

Eight months later and I still love it and I have gone through highs and lows. The highs being posts which have received good comments, rising numbers of page views and the amazing community of bloggers and tweeters that there are. Blogging is a very supportive community and I like that; yes there are cliques and hierarchies in blogging, but they exist everywhere and generally I have found the blogging world to be a good one. When joining in with linked up posts there have been times when I  link up at three in the morning (I don't get up especially!) and feel disappointed that so many people have already linked up! What is the matter with me? 

The lows? Well sometimes you write a post that you feel sure is a winner and then it receives few page views or no comments. I have had a few lows when I haven't understood some of the technical issues, but there is usually someone who can help or who has blogged about it. Last months I felt really down when my Tots 100 score had dropped dramatically for the fourth month running. I know that it shouldn't matter and in the grand scheme of things it doesn't, but it is still hard not to take it personally. It turns out that I had put the wrong information in! D'uh!

The last couple of weeks I have had an enforced break from blogging and tweeting as the children and my husband have been at home for the school holidays. I have still blogged and tweeted a bit, but it has made me think a little about how I have let it take over my life a bit.  The whole thing with blogging and social media as a whole is to keep it under control.  As my husband often says to me when I am madly working away on a post when I really should be going to bed, it is a hobby, something that I enjoy doing.  It's not my job and as important as it is to me, there are so many things that are more important.

So am I going to stop? Absolutely not! I love blogging. It has changed my life but for the better. Blogging has given me an outlet to write, which I have always wanted to do, it has given me a hobby which I love and it has given me a sense of being something other than just a 'mummy'. Already I have connected with some really lovely people.  I have discovered interesting new products and some fabulous recipes.  I have even reconsidered my future career all as a result of blogging.  Next weekend sees my first visit to Blogcamp which I'm very excited about.

What I do need is a sense of perspective on the subject. It doesn't matter if I don't blog everyday, in fact it will probably be better if I don't. It's not the end of the world if my stats aren't great ; as long as I'm enjoying it and a few other people enjoy reading it, that's all that matters isn't it? As for the middle of the night link ups? Maybe it won't be the end of the world if I leave it until the morning or even maybe miss the odd week or two.