One Year Anniversary + Blogger Recognition Award!

2/7/2019

With the one year anniversary for my blog I celebrate by being nominated for the Blogger Recognition Award! I share why I started this blog, tips to new bloggers, and also recommend 15 other blogs you should definitely check out!

Cartoon flowers on green background surrounding text: blogger recognition award

I was looking through articles in my LinkedIn feed when I saw a post from my fellow Proofread Anywhere graduate Beth Wojiski. She has been nominated for the 2019 Liebster Award for her blog Positively b.e.e., which is awesome! Congrats, Beth!

It made me remember in the very back of my mind that I was myself nominated for something similar a while ago, that I completely forgot to post about. The Lyme disease affects my memory, so some things just completely disappear from my brain. (-.-)

After a lot of digging, I found the email: I was nominated for the Blogger Recognition Award by Sunday Morning with Sandy! She gives 15% of her blog earnings to the Leukemia & Lymphoma foundation in honor of her son and friend who battled with it, so check it out!

The Blogger Recognition Award is given to bloggers by bloggers as a way to show appreciation for all the hard work we put in. It might not look like much, just writing once in a while, right? If you only knew the countless hours that are spent working on posts, schedules, graphics, social media, business strategy. . . .

So this is an awesome way to spread some love to other hardworking bloggers! Thank you, Sandy, for the nomination!

The rules are:

Write a post saying "Yay! This is awesome!"
Tell everyone how your blog began
Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers
Thank the lovely person who nominated you and include a link to their blog
Nominate fifteen bloggers

How my blog started

A year ago I created my website for my new proofreading business. I also started a blog, and the idea was to write about ways to add adventures to your life. That is still something I write about, like my guest post in My Lifelong Improvement, How to challenge yourself to an exciting life, but my main focus quickly became mental health and personal growth.

I have had depression for years, especially during my abusive marriage, and anxiety since I was a teenager. I know just how much it can affect your life and I want to help others who are going through it too. Through therapy and a lot of personal work and research I've become pretty good at managing it, but it's a daily struggle. So I keep searching for ways to get better, both in my mental health and personality, and I share my findings with my readers. If I can help someone find new ways to manage their mental health, it's all worth it. :)

woman in gloves and red coat hugging man

My advice to new bloggers

1. Create a content calendar. This took me a year to do because it felt overwhelming (which is ironic since I thrive on having a weekly schedule), but I finally got one set up in the free task-management app Trello. I've been using it since I started to write down blog post ideas, but I learned how to properly organize it and plan things out in the calendar. Instead of just writing when and about what I'm inspired about, I now have a plan for weeks out including Facebook posts and emails to my subscribers. Game changer!

2. Be passionate about it. The reason most blogs fail is because at some point it gets hard and people get discouraged and give up. I've certainly felt this way many times! But if you're passionate about what you're writing about, and not just in it to make money or something, you can push through those times and get to the good stuff.

My nominations

These lovely ladies are all dedicated to sharing inspiration and tips to improve your life, whether it be regarding mental health, work, or personal growth. I really recommend checking them out!