I am really shocked to be writing this, but I have been writing my blog Grown-Up Party for over a year now, to the point where I sometimes even call myself a “blogger”. I know how ridiculous that sounds and that may not seem like a giant feat, but I tend to quit things. Not to say that is always bad – some ideas are not meant to last – but I tend to get crazy excited about something and then lose interest quickly (such as my non-profit Pins+Needs, my tumblr BANGED YA, and previous blog, ALL-DAY BREAKFAST GURU).
Initially when I started this blog, I battled with the question of “does the world really need another blog?”.
The answer is most certainly “no”, but I did it anyways, and I recently realized why I enjoy blogging so much.
In my paid professional life, I am always looking to get things “approved”, by bosses, higher powers at be, etc. And I think this is common for MOST jobs. Sadly, very few of us are at the very top. Even if you are fortunate to run your own business, you often are still trying to satisfy a client of some kind and seeking their thumbs up.
But my blog, like any personal creative project we find for ourselves, is the one place I get to have total creative control, and it feels oh so good.
So for anyone out there wondering if they should join the masses and become a “blogger”, let me be the first to say “GO ON AND DO IT”. Not because it’s going to be the most unique, most read, or most hilarious blog of all time … but simply because you don’t have to ask anyone to give approval for it.
And for anyone looking to get a blog going, here are my top 4 hottest tips for blogging:
1. Pick a super broad “name” or topic, so that you have a wide umbrella of things to talk about. In the past I had blogs that felt like I could only talk about one subject (such as All-Day Breakfast), and it was really limiting and therefore I lost interest in them quickly.
2. Commit to posting once a week (or something that makes sense for you). I see big bloggers – ones that blog for a living – and they can post EVERY DAY, which is necessary for them to keep their numbers up, but for NORMAL people that work every day, I think once (or maybe twice) a week is a realistic goal. Whatever you set for yourself, make it consistent and doable.
3. As for what to write about, a good test for any post is “would my best friend find this interesting?” (although every post isn’t going to be interesting to everyone – my best friend might love one post, and my mom might love another). But if you don’t think the people who love you won’t even like it, probably not a great post.
4. And then as for what platform to do it on – blogger, wordpress, squarespace – you can’t really go wrong. They have made these blog platforms so user friendly and good lookin’! I just picked a free wordpress theme for Grown-Up Party (and didn’t even buy the domain!). Honestly it takes like 15 minutes to set up a blog, it is so damn easy! The hard part isn’t starting it, it’s keeping it GOING.
But now that I’ve been doing Grown-Up Party for over a year and I am still enthusiastic about it, I stepped it up a notch and invested in a redesign. My pal Ellen did the design, and code wizard Jason made it come alive. Thank you to them for giving my blog a much needed face lift, and for anyone that is reading my blog right now, THANK YOU for supporting it!
Alright, now back to just hours of me doing this because I am totally a blogger:
