Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Working Mom’s Balance!!! Happy Birthday to you!
Can you believe that this little blog has been around for an entire year now? I’m kind of shocked. This year has flown by (don’t they always?). I have learned so much over the past year about blogging and writing and coding and things that still make my head spin. I’m certainly not an expert blogger, but I definitely have a lot more empathy for all of those famous bloggers out there. It’s a lot of work! But it’s also been a lot of fun. I have learned to love writing more than I did before. I love sharing ideas and stories. I love to inspire and put my tiny voice out there in the vast, big world.
One year ago today, I launched Working Mom’s Balance with nothing more than a short and sweet little Welcome post. Some posts over the last year were better than others. I’ve talked about everything from household cleaners to miracles to time management.
When I started this blog I had no idea what to expect. I hoped that people would read my blog and love it and come back week after week, but you never really know what will happen. It has been great to know that I have quite a few loyal readers and new people are constantly finding this small home on the big wide web. We’ve had readers from the US, Canada, Brazil, India, Australia, Argentina, Spain, Mexico, and most recently Hong Kong. People find this blog through Facebook, Pinterest, and web searches mostly. My most favorite web search that brought a guest to this humble abode was “working pickles”, which of course led them to this amazing pickle tutorial!
The most popular posts this year, in case you missed them were:
- For the Love of Marriage, Why my husband trumps my kids (definitely one of my favorites)
- How to make your own all natural laundry soap (I now have a powdered version that I’ll post about soon)
- 10 Tips for the Sleep Deprived Mom (using some of these today since my little one was up half the night coughing his little head off)
- How to work when you don’t feel like it (I visit this one about every Monday or Friday, or both)
- Twas the Week Before Christmas (I wrote a poem! I hate poems)
One of the things I wanted to do this year was “find my voice”. I’m still not exactly sure what I mean by that. I think I see lots of blogs out there with a very specific niche and I feel like I’m supposed to pick a niche and stick with it to become popular (that is what the experts say to do). There are blogs for frugal moms, blogs for natural/holistic moms, blogs for homemaking moms, blogs for high powered career moms, and thousands more. Here on this Working Mom’s Balance, I don’t have a really drilled down niche. I talk about ways to become better, I talk about ways to save money, and ways to stay healthy, I talk about my relationship and issues with God, a little bit about my husband and our marriage, parenting and motherhood, and I talk a bit about working out in the real world. I even do book reviews now. My niche is apparently my life.
But I think that my life is a lot like most other people’s lives. We’re busy sometimes and other times not so much. We get really stressed out some days and other days we find ourselves incredibly happy and feeling extraordinarily blessed. We work hard to become better and make a difference in the world, and then some days we really just want to veg out on the couch and watch Netflix for hours on end. This is life. The messy, the mundane, the crazy, the amazing, and the beautiful. We talk about it all hear. And I think I’m becoming okay with that. I don’t think I’m necessarily an expert in anything. I’m just hoping to be real and honest, brave and inspiring. To entertain you on some days, encourage you on others, and maybe cry with you in the middle. Here we love life, all of it. So I will keep writing about life, all of the varied and not very niche-ey details.
Back in July I started to try to put a theme on my posts each month in this effort to become “niched”. I thought it would be a great way for me to overcome writer’s block. It’s amazing how many fabulous ideas I had for posts when I started this blog and then my mind felt like it was completely blank. I think the stress of trying to come up with great content that people will love led me to over analyze everything I was writing as not good enough. I started reading this book by Jeff Goins
Last month, I decided to commit myself to posting something new every Wednesday and Friday to keep myself accountable and predictable. I’m sure it’s annoying if you check the blog everyday and I don’t post anything for two weeks. I’ve done reasonably good at this, and I’m still working on being more consistent (like, hey here’s a post and it’s only Tuesday!). If you don’t know, I do have an email subscription option that you can sign up for. I don’t send obnoxious emails out on a regular basis. Signing up for the subscription just means that you will get each new post delivered to your inbox everyday that I press the Publish button so you don’t have to worry about checking the website everyday or hoping that the magical powers at Facebook let you see my posts. You can sign up here (or in the top right corner or the bottom left section of the site):
I can’t wait to see what this next year brings. I think this year has been all about learning the ropes and figuring out what works for me and what doesn’t when it comes to running a blog. I hope that you’ll keep reading this year. My prayer is that you might find motivation, inspiration, and encouragement for your crazy every day life.
One of the things I hear the most is “I read your blog, but I’m not a working mom.” I have readers who are not moms, readers who are empty nesters, readers who are stay at home moms, step-moms, single moms, and there are even a few men who read this blog. Please know that despite the name, Working Mom’s Balance, all are welcome! I am a working mom, so I talk about anything and everything related to being a mom, being a working mom, being a woman, being a wife, being a child of God, and more. I talk about what I know and learn and discover. If you want to know and learn and discover along with me, then please, keep coming back this year. I have some fun things planned!
Love and blessings to you all. Thank you so much for your support these last 12 months!
Join the discussion!