My site is still all messed up on my end but luckily I can still post for now. Hopefully they work out the issues they claim I was having and please forgive me for not getting to yesterday’s comments – I haven’t been able to reach them!
I really liked Alyssa’s post last week where she discussed her blog so I gave thought to my blog and me, how it started and where it has taken me.
I never ever thought I would become a writer. I didn’t think I had the patience for writing all of the time even though I always did well in English, could write essays with ease (since I had the ability to write paragraph upon paragraph that said nothing while saying a whole lot) and did well on the verbal portion of the SATs.
I always enjoyed proof reading and editing (one of my favorite things to do is to edit someone else’s work!) and composed extremely professional business emails at my first job right out of college. I didn’t know I was writing great emails until I was praised for it, not realizing that most people really didn’t have the ability to form a sentence.
I stopped working when my son was born but once I got divorced, one of the starting over changes that came from that mess was the idea that I had to return to some sort of career.
I really never thought I would work a regular job a day in my life again so after not working for seven years (aside from volunteering at my son’s preschool/teaching preschool art and cooking classes) I had to figure out what the heck I was going to do!
I will never forget my mother showing up at my door and dropping the LSAT book down on the table.
My mom is a lawyer so that meant I wanted to be a lawyer?
As if I wanted to start studying to take the LSATs to then sit through Law School while raising my son as the involved parent I wanted to be? Wasn’t going to happen.
For the record I would have made a great lawyer which is why my mom felt I should go to Law School and I personally think I deserve a law degree by default after battling through an almost four year divorce process.
Anyway.
I really didn’t know what I wanted to do but assumed that like everything else in life, it would just have to fall into place.
I fell into some part time event planning work and then slowly over a few years, my life and career began to come together.
My interest in running picked up, my focus on nutrition grew stronger even as I briefly had my own cookie business < – I know! I loved it but it was very tiring!.
I made the decision to focus more on healthy living and registered to take a series of courses for a Certificate in Sports Nutrition and Performance, to further my knowledge and see where that would take me.
And then, I started a blog.
I was reading healthy living blogs for a while and realized, I can do this too. I wanted to do this. I can write and I wanted to write.
Fitness Magazine Meet and Tweet May 2013 only a few months after starting my blog!
Right away I knew I made the right decision. After only a few months, I felt a part of the healthy living blog community, was contacted by The Dr. Oz Show to make an appearance and was offered a book deal from a company I was suddenly writing for on the topic of Co-Parenting and Divorce.
My blog immediately became my happy place and still is to this day. I have learned a whole lot and while I certainly don’t know everything there is about running a blog and realize there is SO MUCH more I could be doing with my site both in functionality and with my writing, I like things in this little space just fine the way they are.
My blog isn’t my main source of income but does act as my resume.
It gives companies, brands and people interested in what I have to offer a place to see my writing style and what I am all about. My blog is the reason I have received every opportunity presented to me in the last few years and is one of the main reasons I got my foot in the door with AllSeated which I will forever be thankful for!
The time I dedicate to this cute little space of mine though does take a serious amount of devotion, brain power and more energy than a typical job sometimes. If I didn’t love writing and the blogging community so much, I don’t think I could do it.
Sometimes the issue of privacy is on my mind.
I know that anyone can read what I say which was something I had to get used to realizing and accept. I always say that I am not that tech savvy but the truth is, I have a knack for investigative work and have the ability to figure out exactly who is reading my blog on a daily basis, should I need to know.
So, I am well aware that there are certain people here reading every single day who I would prefer never knew my web address but what can I do? Blocking IP addresses, although yes I have thought about it, really isn’t the answer (and doesn’t work, they find another one!).
I am careful about what I share with the world but if you have been reading for a while, I am extremely open. Of course I craft things in a specific way as to protect my privacy, my son and the details of my divorce but I do the best I can to share as much as possible. There is a time and a place for when, where and how information is shared and some things are best left unsaid — no one wants to hear negativity anyway.
Where do I see my blog going in the future?
I don’t really think about it! I am not a lofty goal setter at all. I just keep writing every day (or almost every day) with no plans on stopping, just going with my own flow wherever that may take me.
Sometimes I have more to say about running, sometimes I talk more often about amenorrhea and body image and sometimes there’s what to say about divorce. I don’t think any of those things will ever change!
So, while I never dreamed I would be a writer, I also never dreamed I would be divorced yet because of my divorce, I fell into doing something that I love. Interesting how that works, right?
For my Law School readers:
Since I brought up Law School, it’s only fair that I share for my readers who are currently in Law School that my mother is sort of famous when it comes to the Bar Exam. If you are preparing for the Bar right now or in the future, you may want to check out her books to help you study! I know that there are some new books out but I haven’t a clue which is which because, well, as you know, I never took that LSAT so I never needed to take the Bar exam and if I am being honest, I don’t pay attention to what my mother is writing all the time even though she talks to me about it on a regular basis. Oops.
Be sure to check out what everyone else is thinking about today!
If you are a blogger, how did you get started?
What was your first job out of college?
Are you currently in Law School?
Totally had to laugh at you not listening to your mom’s work stuff because my own mom is sort of a workhaholic with market research, talks about it constantly and yet I have a block when it comes to listening! And I agree with yours that you’d make a great lawyer.
Anyway, love this post as it tells your story in a succinct yet complete way. Amazing the opportunities that blogging can bring!
at least I am not the only one who tunes things out lol
Everyone else called that I would have a blog long before I did. My mom, Alex, ansd several others were like… Susie should have a blog. I was like nooooooo. But here I am. I’ve always loved writing, and I wrote a lot for academics, and sometimes I miss the art and pageantry of that approach. But I do like the colloquial accessibility of blog writing.
isn’t it funny how that happens?
It’s so interesting to read your story. I used to journal daily while in college and from there I fell in love with writing, at least for myself. In school, my writing was never that fantastic. After having a blog when I was abroad for a semester, once I graduated I wanted to start a blog but didn’t put in the time. 2 years ago I bought my domain to encourage myself to write more since I own the domain name. I am finally putting in the time this year because I love the creative outlet and it challenges me more than my day to day job.
I think that’s great! Who knows where it will lead!
I learned a whole bunch of new things about you in this post, and I love that. I didn’t know you had your own cookie business or were contacted by the Dr. Oz show or that you wrote a book. Amazing!
I loved reading and writing when I was growing up and did it all through grade school. The passion slowed in high school and college and then suddenly picked back up again 15 years later. I love blogging and being able to express myself creatively. I only wish I had more time for it.
I did have a cookie business! I make the best chocolate chip cookies 🙂 and yes, I was on dr. oz!
The Cookie ChRUNicles recently posted…week in review #7
Glad you enjoyed my post 🙂 Honestly, after going through law school and now working as a lawyer but ultimately wanting to find my way elsewhere, my blog also helps with figuring that out. It’s just not something you can, you know, write a post about haha.
I love posts like this – being able to see where people are in their blog journey and where they see it going! I love hearing that your blog has helped your career in life. I’m a SAHM and I know that one day I’ll probably want to go back to work after my boys are in school, so I always keep that in mind while blogging.
Isn’t it amazing how a blog can open up so many opportunities? I’ve met so many amazing people and had the chance to do so many fun things that I never would have been able to do without a blog!
Also. I’m glad you started blogging because I’ve enjoyed getting to know you over the years 🙂
I always though about becoming a lawyer but their crazy long hours would not work for me! I hope all of your tech problems get resolved! Those are so stressful!
Haha that’s like when my mom tried to convince me to go to med school because she works in healthcare. Nope. No interest. I love hearing about how people found blogging! For me, I don’t remember how I stumbled across blogs like Hungry Runner Girl, but when I did, I decided I wanted to be friends with these people.
You would have made a great lawyer, but you clearly made the right choice in blogging and it’s amazing the number of doors blogging can open.
I turned to blogging after grad school because I craved the accessibility and non esoteric conversation of writing outside of academia. I wrote and edited for a theology blog (which I left at the end of 2015 for a variety of reasons) and enjoyed it, so I decided to start my own and write about running, because I loved reading running blogs.
I read Virginia Woolf as a freshman in college and she spoke about how women just need a room of their own to write and earn money on their own. And that’s blogging: a room of my own, where I earn income by my own wit and hard work, without having to jump through the academic hoops, and hopefully with actually having a positive impact on others.
A cookie business?!?! AWESOME. You have stalkers too, eh? I’ve got a few stories for you. Yikes. I’m so glad you’re a blogger! You’re one of the first blogs I ever read!
In my early childhood, I wrote a lot. I still always felt silly and bad at it (I wasn’t), and told people I hated writing through most of middle and high school. I started reading blogs in early high school, and I wanted my own instantly. I started two and gave them up quickly because, again, I felt silly and like I was too young to really say anything. I started my current blog when I left for college and while I consider my college choice a pretty great decision, I consider starting a blog my best decision. No matter how much I denied it for years, I love writing. I love taking pictures. I love sharing my life and learning about other people. My blog is my happy place and I have ideas (and also no idea) for where it will go in the future, but I’m excited to go on that journey. 🙂
I totally agree that you’d make an awesome lawyer, which is why I turn to you when I have any questions or issues 😛 And I honestly never saw my blog becoming what it is today. I mean… I’ve always loved to bake, but I never thought I’d be coming up with my own recipes and photographing them. Definitely not what I went to school for 😆
I love your blog, because I see your honesty and yet your wisdom about now sharing too much. You are a great, straightforward, and no nonsense writer. Isn’t it amazing how we often end up doing things that we could have never imagined ourselves doing?
Four year divorce process? That’s four years of major stress, I’m really glad you are still alive, I love you and your blog! <3
Funnily enough, I started my blog in a kind of lazy way! When Jesse and I were going through the visa process so he could move here, I got so tired of answering the phone and telling the same story so I started Southern In Law to keep our loved ones updated! I also thought it was better to share my recipes online rather than scribbled on napkins and that’s really how it all started! Somehow readers from around the globe discovered the blog and it grew from there!