The Birth Of One Blog

Welcome to the Carnival of Personal Blogging

This post was written for inclusion in the Carnival of Personal Blogging hosted by Good Goog and Blogs With Wings. This month our participants have shared their journey to personal blogging. Please visit Good Goog - Begin By Being Personal to view everyone's posts.

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A blog. But what about? Weightloss - nope, I don't need to do that. Wedding - maybe, but getting divorced and remarried is going a little far for the sake of a blog. Travel - getting warmer, but I don't do it enough to warrant a whole blog (I wish). Recipes - well, I love to bake but I'd get sick of just recipes. My opinions? Great, but do I have that many opinions? Parenting? Maybe, but I'm no expert. Fashion and style? That idea just had me rolling around the floor (in my trackie pants) with laughter.

After having my daughter, I was at home and bored. Suddenly unemployed for the first time since I was fifteen, career-less after only eight years of the corporate life.

What was I to do?

I turned to my newest love (apart from my baby daughter, that is) - my Macbook. I began reading blogs - beginning with Mia Freedman's Mamamia, which was great as it involved a lot of opinions, information and chatting with interesting people.

Reading blogs and coming across so many online writers brought to the forefront of my mind a dream that had been sitting in the background since I was a small child. Writing. I'd always dreamed of being a writer, of walking into a bookshop and seeing someone buy my published books, of producing something that becomes someone's favourite book or has a real impact on their life.

I began to think of ways to write. I could send articles to publications, but where on earth should I begin? And what if I was to be rejected by every place I tried? I couldn't bear the thought of my one big dream ending before it even lifted from the ground.

Eventually, I put the pieces together. I was interested in writing and I was intrigued by blogging... ta-da! Cue lightbulb moment. I would start a blog, practice my writing and not have to ask anyone to publish it. Writing without the rejection.

So, from the Mamamia website, I sought out some smaller blogs from other commenters. The first three I remember seeing were FatMumSlim (a blog I adore, but couldn't possibly emulate), Mummy Mayhem and Under the Yardarm (I've now met both Jodie and Naomi and consider them friends) and the latter two were of great inspiration to my blogging pursuit. One of my biggest concerns was whether anyone actually wanted to read about me, but here were two women blogging about their lives and making it interesting. This made me more confident in my ability to blog.

Next - a subject. So many blogs are 'about' something. Weightloss goals, upcoming weddings, a long trip away, parenting, food, style, products... none of it seemed to fit for me. In the end, I decided to just do it and figure it out as I went along.

Yes, my foray into blogging began with such little planning.

The last thing I needed was a name. I tried a method I had often used at work - jotting down any words and phrases that came to mind, seeing if any combinations seemed right for the title. Nothing. Then, a line from a song I love (by Rob Thomas) sprung to mind: 'And maybe, someday, we'll live our lives out loud'. This was how I felt, that I'd be working to achieve my dreams, no longer afraid to confess that dream with a fear of failure; writing, just like I'd always wanted to - living out loud. Hence, my blog title - Writing Out Loud.

As the months have gone by, I've become more comfortable in my blog. I've realised it's okay to not have the one topic. This blog is me and many of the things I do - I am a mother, I now consider myself a writer, I work from home, I have opinions, enjoy travelling, photography and baking, amongst other things. I write about all the things that interest me, and it seems these are often interesting topics for others as well.

My blog has done exactly what I wanted it to. It has given me a reason to write and lots of practice doing so; it has allowed me to meet some amazing people, with one of whom I am now writing a series of books and reviewing both children's and adults' books, and others with whom I have become friends; it has opened up a number of opportunities; and it has helped introduce me to some other wonderful blogs, where I read different opinions, learn and open my mind every day.

This is a blog about me and my life, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Megan