Inquiring Minds Want to Know

• How did you start blogging?

I was on Lisa Whelchel's site, and she sent us all to Sarah's Blog and I read a really, really great post there. I bookmarked the site, and came back a few times and read about Sarah's family and her kids and realized that this was such a great way to chronicle my children's lives and fulfill my desire to write at the same time. I have started books for my children, but never seemed to keep up with them for long. With the blog, it was so easy to type in the memories and things I wanted to say at the end of the day, that I decided to go ahead and start one of my own.

• Did you intend to be a blog w/a following? If so, how did you go about it?

I had really started writing just to keep a chronicle of the kids, but I did kind of hope that maybe some people would come by and want to read what I had to say. I've always wanted to be a published writer of one kind or another, and you know every writer likes to have an audience! But all I really did, was visit other blogs and leave occasional comments. Some of those people came by my place to check out who was leaving the comment, and slowly but surely, I started to get a couple of people that checked in on me regularly, and I checked in on them as well. The Preacher's Wife was the first one to add my link to her site, and I added hers to mine. From her site I found Real Estate Girl and we linked each other as well. As far as I know those are the only two who link to me on their sites, but the site meter shows that about 20-30 people check in here every day, so I guess the word got out somehow!

• What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?

I'm pretty happy with the way the blog is going. I have been able to record memories of and for my kids and share them with friends and family all over the world (literally). The only thing I wish is that people would leave more comments....ahem! I have found out that several family members, and friends read here, but I never knew it because they never left a comment...ahem, ahem!! Seriously, any blogger knows that they live for the comments, but just knowing they are out there reading, makes me happy, and thanks to SiteMeter, I am aware of just how many are out there reading every day. :)

• Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?

My focus has changed just a bit. One comment asked for pictures of the cakes and cookies, so I decided to post some. Once I did, it became part of the daily postings to include chronicles of my cake and cookie life as well as life with the kids.

• What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you started?

HTML codes!!! Learning how to link within text, and make pictures into buttons, has been a blast! I still don't know much, but I'm trying to learn as fast as I can!

• Do you make money with your blog?

Nope. But I'm not opposed to it! :)

• Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?

As stated above, there are members of my family who read but don't tell me that they read. Then there are some that I sent the link to who may or may not read. And then there is my husband who thinks the whole thing is silly and has never even wanted to know the site address! He keeps asking me, "Who are you even writing to anyway?" Trying to explain why I was taking pictures of my purse and its contents for the purse meme was a real challenge! LOL!!

• What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?

First of all, just start writing. After a few weeks, you'll kind of find your little niche that is different from other bloggers and you'll find that your blog will take on its own personality and will draw its own type of reader. I learned this from Barb's blog where I go to learn how to be a better homemaker and wife to my man. She comes by here to learn how to paint cookies! Which leads me to my second piece of advice...if you want to draw readers to your blog, host a bloggy event! I got the idea from BooMama and I hosted "A Bloggy Cookie Exchange" back in March. We all baked cookies and posted pictures and recipes on our blogs. I made painted cookies and posted video how-to's on how to make them...that's how Barb found me and started painting cookies herself!

So that's it. That's my bloggy story! So head on over to Chilihead's place and read everyone else's story! And if you haven't done it yet, post your own bloggy story at your place and sign the Mr. Linky at Chilihead's so we can all come and check it out!