I began blogging in September 2008. I barely knew what blogging was, or how it would change my life. I was a Stay at Home Mom, dying for a way to connect with other moms. I had read a few blogs at that point, most notably Amalah and Finslippy. Here were two women who wrote almost daily about the trials and joys of being moms, and people actually read their stuff. A lot of people. They were even in a book.

This appealed to me, so I headed over to Blogger, and set up my first blog, Mommy Moments. I wanted to have a place to record all of Becca’s accomplishments, and the details of our day to day lives. I didn’t have a digital camera, or any other way to upload pictures. I hadn’t written anything in over a year. It was kind of a rough start, but I kept working, and kept improving. Although I still had no readers, besides my sister, I was enjoying being able to get my thoughts out, and make them available for sharing.

The Reason I Started Blogging

I did really well for a while, and then I started to neglect the blog. I was busy. Becca was running all over the place, we celebrated her birthday, then Halloween,and then the holidays were right there.. This was also the same time that I was starting my career as a freelance writer.

Sometime in November, I started blogging on a different site, and I have been pretty active over there. With an already built-in community, I was actually getting readers. And comments. Comments are like drugs for bloggers. We need them to survive, to know that people are actually reading. So the wonderful women that I was getting to know really inspired me to keep writing, and to keep improving.

At the same time, I was starting to realize that blogs were for more than rattling off daily life activities. They were a source of information, and most blogs were not about personal life. They were about business, and writing, and learning new skills. Blogs about everything. This was a huge turning point for me. I began reading a lot of different blogs, and began forming ideas for my own freelancing blog, which I started in the beginning of January.

Within a couple of months, I had a decent readership on my Write at Home Mom blog, hosted through Wordpress. In the beginning of March, I began plans for the next step– Getting my own domain names, and setting up some self-hosted blogs. I started writing, planning, and shopping around for good deals. On April 1st, I launched Writer Mom at Home and Writer at Home, my new freelance writing site.

When I wrote my first blog post, just over six months ago, I had no idea where it would lead. I wanted to build up a readership, and have a way to look back and remember what was going on in our lives. I didn’t know that it would lead to so much more. I have met great friends, made a little money, and I have learned so much. Blogging has given me an outlet and a way to connect with others. I am normally very shy, and I do not make friends easily. The blogging community has given me a way to get around that.

It has been a roller coaster ride, and not one that I am interested in getting off any time soon. A year ago, I didn’t know what blogging was. Today, I can’t imagine my life without it. I plan to stick with it, and eventually build both of my blogs up, along with a couple other blog ideas that I am still working out. I would really love to get a foodie blog up sometime this year. There is still so much to learn, and even more to do. But I can’t wait to get started…