Hesitantly ready to do this...
I will be the first to say that currently my website looks so flawed and not up-to-date. The honest answer, I let fear and anxiety let me not write. It is different than writing for any other purpose or working. This is not producing a product for someone else. This is putting myself out there as a brand to be judged by others. It is doubly nerve-racking as ‘once upon a time in a land far, far away’ I had a successful website with 1.6 million viewers. Yes— that is totally small by today’s standards, but was a very decent following for something that ended in 2014. I have been fearful that my new website will not add up to reach that level and people will judge me for that. So, let’s just get that out of the way at the beginning— it won’t. This is not the same website. That one was lucky enough to have an article get picked up and shared. The old one originally had branding to military families, which was a natural audience. The biggest reason of all— blogging and online media is an overly saturated industry. I would love to find the same success again and make enough off of my website to live off of; however, the reality is that I likely will not. So, the easiest way to put that fear in a closet is just to address it— this is a new entity, non-comparable, and I am not expecting to turn into something big. Hopefully, people choose to enjoy, follow if the like the material, and share any relevant recipes or articles.
What this website IS…
An outlet for me to get back into writing.
A place for my girls and I to share our adventures and musings as we have people that tell us we should share the information out with the world.
It covers the topics of
FAMILY— anything from life, wisdom, musings, topics relevant to education or parenting, and lifestyle. I will say this is written by an all girl household— single mom, preteen, and college age. If you are looking for boy related topics or marriage advice— it likely isn’t here. However, stick around as there may be other general LIFESTYLE topics that interest you like I will be covering veteran related information and some health stuff, too.
FOOD- I am a total foodie. Some healthy issues this last year have made me a little scared on foods at times. However, the biggest way that changes my writing is in addition to regular recipes, there will also be some allergy friendly foods— to include highlights for others who have to watch their sulfur/sulfite intake. There will definitely be a lot of regular recipes, too, as I am not going to make my girls suffer just because there are now certain foods that I need to avoid. In addition to recipes, we like to try to new foods and do food reviews. Currently, we are living right next to Disney World and enjoy covering all of the foods there, especially the seasonal items at the festivals.
FROLIC- We all need a little fun in life. Currently, our fun is very Disney heavy. The “frolic” section of Family, Food, & Frolic was originally travel. After 2020, we still are not fully in the swing of bigger travel, but we have a lot of Disney content to cover, love National Parks— whether sharing ones we visited in the past or exploring more in the future, and will also be covering other excursion we decide to take in Florida or highlighting places we enjoyed in the past. Frolic can also be other fun activities that families can do. I will straight say that our life is very Disney heavy right now, but we have a lot of people asking us to share advice and stories on that content area.
This is also a place for me to leave a legacy for my girls. 2020/21 came with some health scares for me, beyond the whole world realizing that life as we knew it could come to a smashing halt in an instant. As I dealt with my health stuff, it got my older daughter thinking on the ‘what if’ something happened to me. She wanted me to get my website back up so, if nothing else, I could give her a collection of recipes or motherly advice for if a day came that I was not here. (Reassurance- health is fine now, but we never know for any of us what tomorrow brings.) When I started my first website it came from being surrounded by young military wives, about 10 years younger than me, that did not know how to cook or needed tips on parenting and life. After finding myself repeatedly giving similar advice or cooking lessons, I decided to put my writing degree to use and create a website. I found a niche of not just military families, but others starting off on their own admiring the information. Now, my own daughter is 21. She’s finding her friends in that same boat of starting off their lives and not having the outlet for advice. So, while my audience is not just young people, my recipes are definitely explained in a more narrative way that is friendly for people learning to cook. This was something that was highly praised on my old website, so I am keeping that…even if it may not be the best choice for my analytics— oh well.
This website may not be for everyone. The reality is that there is no way to please everyone and if my website does not match your styles or needs, then I truly wish you well in finding what you are looking for in a website to follow. For years, I have let the fear of pleasing others (or rather fear of not pleasing others) freeze me up. That’s another cognitive distortion that I am letting go. I gave up my original website for two reasons: (1) I started teaching, which made me no longer have time. (2) My writing had gotten to a point that I was writing to please everyone else, which made it feel like a chore… no longer something that I was writing for my own enjoyment and passion. This time, I am not writing to please others. If you do not like my content, that’s fine… we are all different and there are plenty of other outlets for you to follow. My biggest measure of success will be if I pass on information (in any of my topics above) that helps my daughters gain knowledge that helps them be successful in their lives. The second one is if I have the extra information that I share, like Disney travel information, helps at least one other person. If each article brings a value to at least one person’s life, then it was worth my time to write.
*At some point, I am sure that I will have a set posting schedule. Since I am just getting back into the swing of things, I am not there yet. I am currently in that vulnerable stage of opening my writing back up and just getting a library of content again.
