Blog Thoughts – Two Weeks Out

As I approach almost two weeks since my blog launch, here are just a few of my thoughts:

Start Date (No regrets!) – I couldn’t have picked a better day to launch my blog!  Chase’s birthday.  As I mentioned in my prior post, ‘Hello…World?’, I can talk myself out of pretty much anything.  This was my push.  Birthdays typically highlight how much the birthday boy/girl has grown over the past year, how excited we all are for the year to come and for cake lovers, how eating a quarter of a 9×13 pan smothered in frosting can be deemed socially acceptable.  For the record, this is always acceptable.  Chase’s birthday isn’t about any of these things.  It’s a reminder that he’s gone.  For anyone who’s gone through grief, this is what it is.  As much as our angels want us to party, we may hold off on buying the streamers and kazoos for another day.  I know my son would (does) not want me dwelling on the sad part of this whole birthday mess.  This year, I was proud of myself.  I stuck to my guns and pushed the ‘Go Live’ button for me, for my family and for my birthday boy.  I still cried in the middle of a very cute coffee shop, but crying in public doesn’t really bother me at all anymore and they were good tears.  This is me pre-tears.  I was going to ask if you could tell if this was pre or post tears, but after careful consideration, I don’t think I want to open myself up to that kind of polling.

Be Patient – I’m writing what’s on my mind and in my heart.  In that respect, I’ve got a lot invested in Juggling Rainbows.  I’ll usually write something, post it and then “marinate”.  I’ll wait for the texts from my parents and my best friend – the people I’m pretty sure will read it as soon as they can.  My husband has already read it by then.  Well, more like a book-on-tape version (did I just date myself?), because I’ve woken him up twenty times during draft phase, to read my post out loud and get his feedback – about the post, not his lack of sleep.  Then I’ll check my Google Analytics, emails, watch for new subscribers (hint, hint) and hope in the back of my mind that I’ll hit one million followers by noon the next day.  No matter how much I read from other bloggers that it doesn’t happen overnight and I know that it doesn’t happen overnight…I want it to happen overnight.  I’m excited to connect with other people and get my thoughts out there.

Keep Writing – If I stop writing after a handful of posts, I don’t think I can consider that a blog.  It’s more like a large electronic post-it.  I have way too many thoughts swirling around in my head to stop writing now.  Don’t get discouraged and take advantage of the free therapy!

Get Yourself Out There – I first thought of starting a blog as a good way to reach people.  A medium to get out what I was thinking.  I also thought it was a great way to do it, because for someone who tends to cringe at even the word ‘confrontation’, I could still plan to hide behind my words a little bit.  Um, wrong.  Yes, I’m not planning a forty city blog tour to promote this thing, but putting yourself out there for other people to see, no matter the avenue, is hardly hiding behind anything.  If I want people to read my blog (see ‘Be Patient’ above), I can’t be afraid of putting myself out there and I shouldn’t be afraid of a little self-promotion.  So please, share my blog!

Keep Learning – I’m learning all sorts of new stuff.  I’m teaching myself about hashtags, plugins, domains, stock photos, themes, creating subscriber lists, subscription campaigns, policy statements, and the list goes on.  At some point I may change my LinkedIn profile to show I double majored: Finance AND Information Technology.  I’d say I’m in the entry-level courses at this point, but as long as I’m enjoying it, let’s keep it going.  Since it has only been two weeks, I’m in favor of keeping the grading scale to a pass/fail for a while.

Thank you to those who are reading, sharing your thoughts, reaching out and showing me so much support!  I’m going to listen to my own advice about blogging now when I tell you that it’s not for nothing.  It means more than I can put into words.

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