It’s the first Friday in June, which means it’s the first giveaway of the Blogiversary celebration! Make sure you read all the way through the post to find out to enter. This first giveaway is geared at my current followers, so there’s no “follow me here, follow me there” sort of widget. It’s simply answering a question I ask in this post.
I love reading stories of how ladies got into blogging. There are so many different reasons that people start blogging, from “I stumbled into it” to “I wanted to work from home.” I will safely say that my story falls closer to that first answer. Grab your favorite drink and get ready to read the story behind the blog.
Hodge Podge Moments is three this month, but the story behind the blog goes beyond three years. I’m going to take you all the way back – all the way to the motions that set me on the path towards blogging.
My sister and I have always had huge imaginations. We would create entire worlds and storylines when we were playing as kids. It didn’t matter if we were at the park (we had an entire save the world super princess storyline) or at home playing with our Barbie dolls (no self image issues here – just lots of great story ideas). We could play for hours – just the two of us – because our imaginations would keep us going. In fact, a few of the storylines spans days and weeks as we acted out what would happen. Remember that giveaway question? Here it is! What was your favorite thing to play with as a child? Who was your favorite play mate?
I bet you’re wondering how our childhood play relates to my blog now. I certainly don’t focus on children right now. Our imaginative play eventually led us to the world of writing. We started writing down all of our stories together. (We even completed a novel together that will eventually be released on Kindle.)
During the years when we replaced our dolls with pens, we discovered the world of Livejournal (does Livejournal even still exist?). It was filled with aspiring authors and a great place to find others with similar interests. Now that I look back on it, my Livejournal account was probably my first “blog.”
Eventually the enthusiasm with Livejournal died out and I attempted a blog. It lasted a couple of weeks before it crashed and burned. The community aspect just didn’t seem to be there. Then, my sister and I started another blog together. This one had a purpose though – to share our fiction with others. It was called Two to Write and is still lingering (though not active) to this day.
Eventually life got in the way and I drifted away from the online community quite a bit. It was still there – it simply wasn’t my main focus. Then, my husband (boyfriend at the time) told me that the military would be sending him to California. California is about as far as you can get from South Carolina without leaving the country. I’m not entirely sure why but I decided I would try blogging again. This time, I started a blog called Stolen Moments.
This blog turned out to be just what I needed. It may have gone through a name change and a facelift, but it’s still going strong today. I started the blog just for myself – it had virtually no followers for the first few months. Then, I found the blogging community and I was hooked. Now, my blog is a major part of my life and my blogging friends have actually helped me through quite a few tough times – including that year of long distance dating and several deployments by myself.
The blogging community is why I’m determined to celebrate my blogiversary for a month. It may seem like a bit much to some, but to me, anything can be celebrated. You get to decide what you celebrate in life and I’ve chosen to celebrate blogging.
Did you read the entire post? Then you know which question you need to answer in the comments to be entered into the giveaway ($10 Starbucks gift card – this drink’s on me!)! I will announce the winner in next Friday’s post (6-10-16) when I share the next giveaway with you!
