It’s been 12 months since I started writing my blog. The main aim was to try and understand a bit more about websites, SEO and social sharing. I chose ‘mummyhood’ as the topic as it was the only thing I thought would give me regular new material. As I was well aware I had no particular USP; I was just a first time mum when so many eloquent, funny first time mums were already doing the blogging thing so well. With that in mind, my blog became part diary, part therapy and a place to share any newly discovered life savers to help even just one fellow new mummy or mummy to be.
One thing that’s surprised me is that I’ve never run out of something to write about, from challenging topics like being an older mum, a working mum or breastfeeding… or not, to my personal experiences of holidaying with a baby or dealing with a toddler who’s still not walking...and everything inbetween.
Sometimes one small observation triggers a whole post while others are more considered- written in response to a current talking point, or taken from my bank of ideas listed in my phone’s notes app that gets added to when I have inspiration.
One thing my post-October posts have in contrast to my earlier posts, which were drafted and re-visited and tweaked and finessed, is my more hand-to-mouth approach. As mad as it sounds, being back at work, and a mum, makes it a challenge to even find half an hour every couple of weeks to draft something. With snatched time on the train home or 10 minutes here and there on my day off while Harriet sleeps (inbetween loading the washing machine or trying to make a dent in my life admin) my posts are now more ‘what you see is what you get’. As much as it pains me, the odd spelling mistake or badly worded sentence does slip through the net but I hope it somehow makes my posts a bit more authentic and real!
There are posts that still bring a tear to my eye like the one I wrote around Harriet’s first birthday, and ones that seem like they’re written about a different child as time flies so fast- challenges and concerns change suddenly or evolve. There are those topics, however, that are timeless like how much I need and value my mummy friends.
I may not (yet!) have an audience of thousands but every share (including by the wonderful mum resource and community Bump, Baby and You), comment and view, even random ones from across the world, is something I appreciate. I may not have a USP either, but from the interactions I’ve had it seems people don’t necessarily want ‘different’ all the time; they want something familiar and to identify with what’s being written. And, as for me, I’ve got something tangible to share with Harriet when she gets older- mummyhood: my journey- the tears, laughs, frustrations and, most importantly, and overwhelmingly, the love.
Mummy Musings 