Confessions of a Blogger

I've been tagged by the lovely, Bonnie at A Compass Rose and Gina at Sweet Serenity to share my confessions of blogging.

The questions and my answers are as follows. 1. When did you first start blogging and why? My husband actually started us on blogging after our twins were born in 2006.  Being far away from family, it was an easy way to let everyone know how we were doing after my emergency c-section and keep everyone updated on us.  It wasn't consistent at first and I was using a blogging program through Apple that has now disappeared.  It wasn't until about 2007 that I got more into it. 2. Have you had any past online presence? My online presence began in 2005 when I joined Hannah's Prayer, an online Christian ministry for women who struggle with infertility and loss.  It is what began my openness to online friendships and have met many dear women through this incredible ministry.  From there I start blogging, then joined MySpace. Then jumped over to Facebook, included Instagram and Twitter and Pinterest.  You just can't stop me in the social media arena! 3.  When did you become serious about your blog? I've always had a desire to keep my blog going even if I haven't written consistently.  It was about 4 years ago when I started joining link ups in an effort to meet bloggers and make my blog more public. 4. What was your first blog post? It's long gone now as Apple did away with their blogging program, but that first post was to announce that our twins had been born.  The first post on blogger was our visit from Flat Stanley. 5. What have been your biggest challenges blogging? Once I decided to put my blog out there on a more public platform I found it difficult to find a niche.  I was trying to get in with other mom bloggers and I have kept in contact with a few, but I didn't feel I had a niche in that group.  It's only been since moving to England that I've found a great group of travel/expat bloggers to share in the journey. 6.  What is the most rewarding thing about blogging? Having a record of our growing family and life overseas is something I will cherish.  Along with that are the friendships made through blogging.  I'm not a great writer or a great photographer. For me it's about our experiences and sharing them with others as well as connecting with people in this great wide space.  It's so rewarding to get a comment or email that our journey through infertility, adoption or even as an expat has helped someone in their own journey. 7.  What is the most discouraging thing about blogging? When I put myself out there to people and I get no response.  That might be when I've written on a particular subject on my blog or when I comment on someone's blog about a similar experience or journey.  I eventually get over it, but it can be disheartening to reach out to someone with no reciprocation or response. 8.  What is your lasting inspiration or motivation? My motivation is that we'll have years of blog posts to look back on to remember this time in our family's life.  With that is connecting with bloggers in similar stages of life or similar expat journeys.  I'm inspired to improve my photography of shooting in manual, although I don't seem inspired enough to put the hours in to make that happen.  We'll see if that changes! ;) 9.  What is your blogging dirty little secret? I'm an over editor, as in I read my stuff over and over and OVER before hitting publish.  Bad little habit I have. 10.  What is your current goal as a blogger? (Bonnie's question) I just want to keep doing what I'm doing and sharing our lives as we live it out wherever we may be. And maybe to work on my over editing habit!

I'm suppose to tag some people, so tag, you're it!!