January 16, 2013 Bell On Heels was born.
I released my very first post. Which was actually an About Me page explaining why in the world I was writing a blog anyway.
There was an endless sea of entertaining and interesting blogs. What gave me the right?
When I read that About Me page now, I almost don’t recognize that writer. Every day that goes by, every day that I write something new, it changes me. Hopefully for the better.
I started this blog because people told me that I should. More times than not my blog posts seem to write themselves. Walk a mile in my shoes. It is like a post waiting to happen.
My Facebook posts were getting longer and longer and I was updating them way more frequently than the normal poster.
Okay so that last part is probably still the case. So block me.
(Please don’t block me)
I wrote a few blog posts. Most of which were way to wordy. And not great. But people read them. Maybe they felt sorry for me.
Then on Feb 6 I discovered the website BlogHer. And I sat up an account. Not like I had anything to lose.
Blogher is a site for women bloggers. Bloggers in all areas of expertise. Each one has something to say. You add your blog posts in hopes of new people discovering you. Hearing what you have to say.
The first one I posted got 7 whole views. It was a rush. Because those seven people mattered.
Then one day I received an email from BlogHer saying that one of my posts was going to be a featured member post. Meaning that they were going to promote it on their site and other social media outlets.
I almost threw up. Someone at BlogHer liked me. I didn’t even know that I was auditioning for that. I was just hoping someone would read my posts.
Then on February 18, You Are Pregnant: One Day You Will Have Nice Things Again was featured.
And 2,519 people read it. As in, they read it because they wanted to.
I had only just started this blogging thing. It was an unbelievable feeling. Surely I was not destined to be a one hit wonder.
I continued to write. Getting a little better each new post. Which really wasn’t saying much when I go back and read the early ones. I cringe at the typos and wording.
But I was growing. I am growing. I am a work in progress.
I am sure I will cringe at this post one day as well.
Through the months, some posts were featured, more were not. Every post meant something to me though. Every post that I have ever written is now a part of me.
Then in May I wrote about a little known and even less talked about epidemic among mothers:
And BlogHer chose it to feature. And then it happened.
It got just under 18,000 views. Just on the BlogHer website alone. That’s far from viral. But you couldn’t have told me that.
I had arrived.
Except not really. But I was so proud of that post.
Too bad it wasn’t about something of substance. Oh well. More people knew about Bell On Heels after that. That was a great thing.
Then somewhere, somehow, Mamapedia saw that Candy Crush post. And they too began to feature some of my posts. You are the best Shannon.
Kim Bongiorno of the award winning blog Let ME Start By Saying read one of my posts because a friend offered up my blog in an all call for favorite bloggers.
Then Kim gave me a shout out on social media and my blog was mentioned in her weekly wrap up email. I could have died.
But I didn’t
My honest and hard work was not in vain. People had noticed. They noticed that I was trying. Really trying.
When I write a post, I don’t do much planning. A topic usually just comes to me and I sit at the computer and hammer it out. Things just flow. It is not the most professional way to blog. But it is where I am right now.
Hopefully one day there will be more planning behind things that I write. Hopefully I will get better and better. I am a work in progress, learning as I go.
The first year of my little blog has been amazing. I have learned so much about myself. And people.
The most important measure of writing this blog, is NOT how many views it gets. That certainly is an exciting aspect. Because in the beginning I didn’t know if anyone would read it.
I am still amazed that people, a lot of whom I don’t even know, type bellonheels into a Google search or click on a Pinterest link. That still blows me away.
Some of my favorite posts are the ones that not many cared to read. Only my mother. And my best friend.
If only one person tells me that I made them laugh or cry or helped them not to feel so alone in a struggle, just ONE person, then that was a post well worth writing.
I have tried to be authentic and honest. Which is hard sometimes. Some of my topics have made me feel vulnerable. Vulnerable isn’t something that I do well.
But I have never had a single regret after pressing the publish button.
Except for those typos.
Some of my posts are just silly attempts to keep me from losing my mind, as a stay at home mother of four. And a woman.
It is an outlet. An escape. As a friend once calls it, cheap therapy.
People make ME feel not so alone in my day-to-day struggles. Everyday, normal struggles. Thanks to everyone who has commented on a post.
Whatever the reason you read my blog, thank you.
I hope to only get better. I promise to keep trying. And I will certainly continue to talk about anything that crosses my mind.
Here’s to 2014. The second year for Bell On Heels. Let’s make it a great one!
Happy Blog Birthday!!!!
Keep on blogging!! Welcome to year 2!!!