On Blogging...

At some point, every blogger blogs about blogging. (Say that 3 times..!)
I've been thinking a lot about my blog but haven't taken the time to sit down and articulate my thoughts very well. What better place to do it than here!

First of all, I love blogging. It's fun for me. It's a creative outlet that I really enjoy. It's a place I love to share and get ideas.  It's also a place that friends and family can keep up with our lives. I absolutely love (and am humbled) that people are actually inspired by my blog. When someone tells me that because of my blog,  they busted out the sewing machine that's been collecting dust, I'm so excited for them. I especially love helping people see the potential in ordinary, old, seemingly-hopeless items or furniture. I love sharing thrifty ways to redecorate and ways to save money. I just really like blogging.

I don't see an end in sight with my blogging career, I am just starting to wonder what it is going to look like. The question every blogger asks, "Can I make money off my blog?" has of course been running through my mind. It pretty much as been for a year or so after I had friend from high school contact me and tell me that he saw potential in my blog and thought I should monitize. I mean what creative woman doesn't want their job to be crafting and blogging about it?!

BUT, the more important question I have been asking is, is this something God wants me to do or is it something I'm taking on that he hasn't called me to do? Can blogging be glorifying to him or will it take away from areas that I know he HAS called me to (marriage, Adelyn, friendships, part-time work). Is this something HE is putting in front of me or have I taken the reigns without listening? Just lots if questions...

While in the midst of processing these questions, I found myself in a meeting with a guy I know from church who happens to be a web developer. He graciously agreed to meet with me and talk though what it would look like to have a blog like mine that generates income. As we navigated the waters of google search engines, meta-coding, blogger, wordpress, affiliates, domains, etc. I walked away from that meeting feeling a range of emotions. Excited, overwhelmed, confused, unsettled, eager to start but still very unclear about what I wanted.

That meeting was over a week ago so I've had some more time to process. At this point I know the following:

• Of course I would like to see my blog grow-but I also am determined to not change what I write about for that purpose.  I want to remain genuine, personal, informal, and free to write about a multitude of topics and not be tied down to a specific category.
• I don't want blogging to feel like a job. This is what I most fear about moving into monetizing my blog. Sometimes I just don't have anything to post about and I want that to be ok. 
• I realize that once Adelyn is born, I won't be able to do as much crafting, re-purposing, house projects, sewing, and thrifting as I now do. I'm an ambitious gal but I've heard an infant can slow down the busiest of women. My blog will probably morph into more mommy and baby stuff despite my best efforts.
• I realize that keeping blogging as a hobby and not treating it as a job will probably hold it back from being a "big timer" blog. I have to be ok with that.
• I DO want to give my blog a fair chance to grow, despite my opposition of making a commitment to be a full time blogger. I pretty much want to keep doing what I'm doing but set it up in a way that is more user friendly and easily accessible to search engines.

I'm pretty much a paradox right now. Trust me, it's more confusing in my mind than what it is when I write it out. Then add some pregnancy hormones to that and you get a very confused, passionate woman who can't make up her mind on what she wants.

So here's where I'm at: I'm going to take baby steps forward with Learn and Go. It started with creating a Facebook Group.  My web-designer buddy (Josh) has sold me on the benefits of moving my blog to Wordpress so that will eventually be the next step. After that, I'm really not sure! I may add some ads but I don't think my 300 hits a day will total up to much right now but I will eventually be moving in the direction of affiliates and adsense if it will earn a little something. Even if it's just enough to cover my crafting budget, I'd be thrilled!

But who really knows...

One of my favorite quotes is, "Men plan, God laughs."
I'm sure I will find this to be true, not only in my vision of my future but also with whatever direction this blog decides to go.

P.S.
If you made it all the way to the end of this post, consider yourself a true follower :)