This is the second post today-scroll down for the first! Now on to today’s #spreadbloggylove post!

Hi everyone! I am so happy to be here today. Kristi is such a good friend to me in the blog world – friendly, supportive, encouraging, and on top of all of that a fabulous blog designer! I am happy to be part of this series that is focusing on positive in blogging – something we can’t have enough of.

I get a little stuck when I think of being asked about best blogging tips. Sure, there are many things I have learned in 3 1/2 years of blogging. I’ve made mistakes and I’ve done things right. For me, I am not comfortable making blanket statements about what to do or not to do in blogging. For every tip – a do or a don’t – there is someone who breaks the rules and does it well. Whether it is “Don’t use more than X number of words” or “Don’t use more than 3 pictures”, “Make your post titles more interesting” the fact is there is something for everyone. So, my best blogging tip is don’t try to be everything to everyone.

Put another way,

be yourself.

Just like in the real world, we don’t mesh with everyone, have something to talk about with everyone or get along or have the same interests as everyone we come across. There will be people who don’t care about your weekend project, or those that aren’t interested in hearing about your trip to the beach with your kids, or people who want you to talk more about something that is part of your life but you just don’t feel compelled to write about. Let your blog be a reflection of you – your thoughts, feelings, experiences, lessons learned – and those who can take something away from your blog will stay. If you try to be something you are not, they will leave.

There are so many bloggers that I have “met” since I started blogging – those that have been immensely supportive, given me opportunities that have helped me and my blog to grow, and those that have simply helped by being a good example in the world of blogging. All of them have helped me see through their example that a blog should be a reflection of who you are and what you are passionate about. Even the most focused in a niche bloggers know that everyone is more than just one thing.

In November of 2009, I was reading one of the many blogs that I love. Kimba of A Soft Place to Land is as sweet as they come in the world of blogs that I know. She’s genuine, kind, funny, helpful, and drop dead gorgeous too. She’s someone I’d love to sit on my porch with and share a glass of wine. I read her blog that day in November and a girl who I only knew through the computer as someone who had pretty pillows on her couch and cute DIY ideas suddenly became a real, feeling, genuine person to me. Not that she wasn’t real before that, but she strayed from her usual talk of making her house beautiful that I loved and shared from her heart something that had nothing to do with pillows and everything to do with life that I also loved. Her post about her broken sugar bowl spoke to me. She wasn’t afraid to stray from what her readers “expect” of her, instead just being herself and sharing from her heart. I learned that day that to be successful you have to be you, no matter what that means.

Last October, The Nester invited me to participate in a series throughout the month of October focusing on one topic. She asked a group of us who write on different topics to join her and we all networked and linked together to make what I think ended up being an inspiring month in a slice of blog land. She asked us each just to be us – write about what we were passionate about. She embraced each of us with our unique voices and topics and was so encouraging, helpful and kind throughout. I will be forever grateful for that and I learned something really interesting in the process. Here were 8 of us writing about different topics with unique voices but each day it felt like we were telling the same story – one of passion, living out what matters most to us, what drives us each to grab the camera and put to words what is in our hearts. That is what blogging is about – telling your story and sharing your passion. There is no way to go wrong when you approach your blog this way each time you sit down and click the publish button.

Go out, be you, share yourself, live your passion.

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Have a happy day,

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