It has been 7 months since I have joined the blogging community.  Even though it has been quite a learning process, I absolutely love it, and thought I would share a few things I have learned being a newbie blogger. 

Be prepared to spend a lot of time at your computer.  I had NO idea how much time it takes to really put a good post together.  Editing photos, using social media, and just writing it all down definitely takes more time than I realized.  I have so much more respect for the bloggers I like to follow, because now I know how much time it takes to produce good content!

To have success in blogging, you have to educate yourself constantly!  I have read numerous books, taken an online class, and spend hours on Pinterest researching blogging and how to be successful.  If you read other blogger’s stories, advice, and how they became successful, and it really boils down to hard work, staying consistent with your content, and not giving up!

I work better with music in the background.  Music in general is such an important part of my life anyway, so this was no surprise to me.  It just seems to get the my brain functioning better.

Do NOT eat at the computer while working, you WILL gain weight!  Peanut M&M’s are my favorite.

Plan in advance, but be realistic.  It is so easy to get overwhelmed with something new like blogging, between learning WordPress and choosing projects to feature, I wanted to quit numerous times!!!  But, I set long and short term goals to help me stay on track.  With four children running around and a house under construction, I have had to be flexible, but having a plan helps, no matter how small it is.

Don’t forget that you are your own boss, and you are doing this because you like it.  So many times I pressure myself because I want readers, or likes on Instagram, but I would rather take things a little slower and have peace in my brain than rush thru things and feel all crazy inside.

Take a bunch of pictures now, even if you are not sure what you are going to do with them yet.  I have stories I would love to share with you, but not enough photos to go with it, so until I figure out how to go back in time, they will just have to wait!

I really don’t enjoy all the writing part of blogging… and now you are scratching your head thinking “what?”  I do realize that writing is one of the biggest parts of the job, but the projects themselves are my favorite!  Maybe someday I will switch to videos and then all I have to do is speak to a camera.  But, I use my hands a lot when I speak, so that could be dangerous.

Get up and do something!!!  My thoughts are continuously revolving around future projects, how I would write about them, and someday even having sponsors.  But sometimes “life” takes over, all I can do is take a few minutes to scroll thru Instagram and Pinterest.  Just keeping up to date with what is happening in the creative community, is better than nothing at all.

And for goodness sake, use spell checker!!!  I had no idea what a horrible speller I was until now, and I am forever grateful to whoever invented it!

So there you have it, just a few bits of information in case you wanted to know what life is really like as a newbie blogger!!  If you have any questions feel free to email me or leave a comment below.