Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Hallelujah! It's Been A year!


A One Year Anniversary Month
for the Let’s Get Real-About Life blog site!


Purpose Statement:

To reach women of all ages with relevant discussions about real life and to stimulate conversation about what we all have in common: Real life experience as a woman, wife, mother, friend, or employee. We wear lots of hats and juggle several plates - how can we do it all at the same time?

The Attempt:

Tired of the trite responses to everyday life, I knew there must be so much more that we are not talking about with one another and the goal is to dig a little deeper into real life. My writing is simple, but the effort is to be honest and authentic in every angle of my female experience. I’m looking for others who can relate and to create a place to learn from one another’s experience.

Over a year ago I started this blog. I didn’t really want to at the time, but I felt that I needed some online presence to get my name and writing exposed out there so why not start a blog. The theme came easily - I was just tired of half talk and had already committed myself to doing my best to be authentic and honest to others about life.


Searching for bloggers and faithful readers.

What I didn’t know before I got started was that my family and friends were not bloggers. I put an announcement in last year’s Christmas cards about my blog and very few from that group even checked out the site, fewer returned to the site, and even less commented. In a world that has become online, something like 500 blogs are started daily, it was my surroundings that had not adapted to the internet world. Some friends tried, but have such a real fear about commenting and leaving their name (they didn’t know that they can make up an online name and no one would know who they were). I knew there were women out there who sought relevant discussions on blogs, I just needed to find them.

Pouring out my soul to an empty page.


So, in the beginning it was frustrating to pour out my soul every week and only a few read the post and on a good day a few would comment. I realized that I needed to find some new online friends. It has been very difficult blog journey and since I work and have two kids and don’t have a housekeeper and have limited time to write, I just didn’t have the time to go searching for new readers. I really need my current readers to pass on this blog to their friends who pass it on to their friends by posting it on their facebook, retweeting it on Twitter (although, most of my circle of friends do not use Twitter – so I made new friends there), e-mailing it along to others, and sharing it with other women in their life.

A battle that turned into a pleasure.


It has been a year that started out as a battle, but then I started enjoying writing and even more enjoying the bloggers I have met along the way over the year. What was fun, more than anything, was the experience of writing. I never had a week where I scratched my head and wondered what discussion topic I was going to bring up. Every week I had three ideas and I a list a page long of more ideas. So, with all that in mind, I won’t give up and I have dedicated myself to yet another year of faithfully weekly blogging.

Thank you for hanging in there with me.

So, thank you to all those who have been with me from the beginning and for those who have joined me along the way. Thank you for sharing this experience of life with me.

My theory is that we can’t do it alone and we need those around us that can be honest about their experience so we can grow and learn from one another.

Summary

Readership:

Let’s Get Real-About Life is read all through the United States, with California having the most readers, which is not surprising since I live here, but then Alaska has several faithful readers who follow the blog weekly. (Thank you – I want to visit Alaska so badly). Next is Texas then New York and Virginia. It is also read all over the world such as in Australia, Canada, and Brazil as well as some parts in Europe.

Most Read Posts:

The Last Convertible

To Be a Working Mom or Not? – by guest blogger Maressa Conover

I Don't Agree With You Carolyn Hax on "Why don't friends with kids have time?"

Fashion Tips on the Fly – by guest blogger Catherine McCullough

Let’s Weigh In Ladies

The most read post in one day: Let’s Weigh In Ladies.

The most surprisingly read post over time: The Last Convertible. This was my third post on the site and there is about 20-40 hits on it every week since the beginning until even this week. Although there is only one comment and that was from my mom.

Most Commented on Posts:

Back to School Again – Are You Ready?

Julie and Julia – How these Characters Inspired Me

To Be a Working Mom or Not?

Thoughts About Marley & Me and Other Commentary

The Truth About Santa

Here Are My Personal Faves:

Never Give Up. Never Give Up. Never, Never, Never Give Up

Children Breaking World Records and The Parents Who Let Them Do It

What Does A Girl Need To Do To Feel Beautiful?

"Love Everywhere"

And a big thank you to our guest bloggers:

Sue Butzow, Maressa Conover, Catherine McCullough, Phyllis Hartigan, and Kimberly Scott. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to share with us!

Let's do it again. One more year of honest and authentic writing.
Together we can learn about life.
It's difficult to do it alone.


Which posts did you enjoy the most and what topics would you like to discuss on this site?

* I write a post once a week - to receive the next one in your
inbox you can “subscribe” (which is totally free) by clicking
here.
Enter e-mail address in top right corner.

3 comments:

  1. Way to go Sharon on completing one year of blogging! It's great to know that your blog has reached people over the world. Your writing is so engaging and I'm sure has touched many people. Congratulations to you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. @ Joann ~ thanks so much for following along! I so much appreciate you and I always love to hear what you have to say!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I can't believe it's been a year! Great perseverance and creating original blogs to keep us reading! CONGRATS!!!

    Can't wait to read more about you, your thoughts, opinions, in this upcoming year!

    t

    ReplyDelete