Writing a Blog

Years ago I started blogging before blogging was cool. I had once seen Ree Drummond do it to keep in contact with her family and show them what she was making on the ranch and their life. I thought that was the neatest thing ever and loved that she was able to share information and people wanted to read it. So, I dug deep. I thought what do I have to share with the world and thought I too could share what I make for dinner. Needless to say that didn't go very far. It took a lot of time taking photos, coming up with the meals, planning the pics at every step, editing, etc. I don't think it helped that my husband didn't care for it either. He didn't like me sharing our life, even though we do really cool things.

Back when I started my adventure I used Blogger. In fact,

I still have it to this day, but it's been years since I touched the site. After I started to blog about my dinners, I tried to transition into what I did, but my life was boring. I was a newly married woman working for a school district in the technology department and didn't do anything interesting to write about. So, I started to blog about our vacations and trips around the U.S. and the world.

One of my friends from college had also started a similar blog so her family and friends could keep up with her as well. So, I tried to mirror my site after hers. It worked for a while and all the funny journeys we took, I was able to document and show pictures. Mind you, this was pre-social media and Facebook and Instagram. A lot of my friends were older adults who I had grown up with in the church where I was raised. So, they were my parents page and I also considered them close aunts and uncles. So, they wanted to know where we were and what we saw. So, it worked out perfect. David and I would travel around and enjoy our time then go back to the hotel after dinner and relax and get ready for the next day and get an idea of what we were going to do. Then I would upload photos, write captions, and post what we did for that day. It was a lot of work. I guess really, I was making social media before social media existed. Needless to say, it was a lot of work.

If anyone is wanting to make a blog site, my advice is to think about what you love to do. That is what you can share. You will find inspiration from there. When you hit a road block and need ideas research, but ultimately just start. You'll change your page layout, the colors, the fonts, etc. It will develop and grow over time and you'll hone in what your style. It's not perfect, but it's you. Authentic. Genuine. From your heart. That is what the audience wants. If you noticed when COVID hit, all the cooking shows that survived where the ones that adapted with the times. They didn't read from scripts. their presentations weren't perfect. They were human. They showed what that average person does at home when they cook too. They showed the human aspect of it, not the refined side, planned out, picture perfect that we can't achieve at home.

Like when you see influencers talking about how they create the perfect photo, but when they pull the curtain back and pan to the left you see all the mess shoved to one side so it's not in the photo. That's blogging. Word dump. sketch out ideas, but just do it. That is the connection humans want. To know that they aren't alone on this journey and you have the same issues/ problems. If you are to unobtainable, then you'll lose people. It's the truth and authenticity that binds humans to one another.

It's been years since I have blogged. I'd say the most frustrating is I tried to rush blogging right after I made the memory. I didn't take time to plan it out or think about what I wanted to write about, so there wasn't any consistency. What am I most proud of is everything. I was able to accomplish something and share what was in my heart with the world.

References:

Drummond, R. (2006, May). The Pioneer Woman: Recipes, Country Life and Family. https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/

Speck, D. and Speck, A. (January 30, 2012). The Southern Girl. https://dandaspeck.blogspot.com