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Recognition. As writers, we all hope for that, don’t we?
I mean, there’s recognition, and then there’s recognition. And nothing is truly better than being nominated by a fellow blogger for an award. With that being said, I’d like to thank Ben Leander of My Casual Trainwreck Life for extending the Blogger Recognition Award to Truly Madly Sassy! From the bottom of my heart, I gratefully (and humbly!) accept!
Ben
Part of the award means telling the world about how your blog started.
Truly Madly Sassy started as a creative outlet for me in December 2016 as a way to express my grief over the death of three friends as well as the parting of ways with the man who had my heart. For the most part, I expected it to be a mere ‘dear diary’ — yet as I started to write, it became so much more than just an online journal. And the more I wrote, the bigger it got!
Most people can really relate to things like death and the breakup of a significant relationship.
And before I knew it, I was getting messages via my contact form from people who had a similar story as mine. It was then that I realized that the blogging medium would be a tremendous way for me to reach those who were hurting just like I was. And while blogging has been rewarding in that way, it has become more humbling than I could ever convey to you, the reader.
Advice? You want my advice?!
Along with the acceptance of the award comes a tiny bit of housekeeping in the form of giving two pieces of advice to new bloggers. Honestly, I learn something new every day, so I don’t pretend to the be expert by any means, but these are the two things I would tell someone who is thinking about starting a blog.
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Make sure your blog is a realistic representation of who you are.
What I mean by that is this: as writers, we hide behind keyboards all the time and in order for our readers to feel connected to us, they need to be able to see that we are tried-and-true human beings. It’s difficult to glean anything about a person just from text on a computer screen, so it’s important that anything we put out there is as transparent as possible. Not only that, the content has to be something a reader can relate to or your stories are for naught. Just be yourself and everything else will fall into place accordingly.
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There will be times you’ll want to quit. DON’T.
We all lose motivation for the things we create at one time or another and I’ve considered quitting more than once. Guest writers are your biggest asset during those times, so utilize them! If you have friends who blog, as them to write something for your blog! If you don’t have friends who are bloggers, find some! I found Ben simply by reading his work and before I knew it, I was asking him to write for Truly Madly Sassy. You’ll make connections that you never expected once you’re part of the blogosphere, so use that to your advantage when you just don’t feel like you have anything to offer your readers.
I meet lots of writers in the blogging world and I’ve come to especially admire the work of two other bloggers and I’d like to nominate them for the Blogger Recognition Award as well:
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Miriam Ford Rhymes of But, Still Breathing
Miriam
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Kari Touchette of A Machinist’s Wife
Kari
Share the love!
- Write a post recognizing your award.
- Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
- Give a brief story of how your blog started.
- Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
- Select other bloggers you would like to recognize with this award.
- Comment on each blog to let them know you have nominated them and provide the link to the post you created.
- Don’t want to participate or have already accepted the Blogger Recognition Award? No hard feelings here! Just enjoy the limelight and carry on with the great work I know you’re doing!
Til next time, stay sassy!
Such a lovely story! It’s amazing that your outlet for sharing what was happening in your life became a place of hope for others. I strive to be as real as possible with my blog and hope to inspire as you do!
Hi Tabbie! Thank you so much for kind sentiments! I appreciate it more than I could tell you! Happy to share the blogosphere with you!
What an honor! Love your advice about not quitting. I think everyone in this biz loses motivation from time to time and we all need to hear the DON’T QUIT words more often.
You’re so right — it’s easy to lose motivation and want to quit. So far, hanging in! Thanks for commenting, Leah!
Hi Kristi!! Congratulations!! Recognition from those you admire can be such an awesome encouragement to what you’re doing!
I love your advice about having your site be a realistic representation of who you are. That is so key. Be You! You’re the best at it after all. . .
Thanks so much, Tiffany! Hope to see you again on Truly Madly Sassy!
How wonderful to have been nominated! Your advice is so wonderful too, there are times this is so hard, but to keep going is key!
Thanks, Ashley! Drop back in anytime!
Great advice for new bloggers! I know I always turn to my contributing writers on my blog when I see that I’m just not able to put my thoughts down to share. It really does help. The Machinist Wife has pop up in my social media feed two days in a row, I will definitely be checking her blog out.
Hi Jay! She’s rebranding and the site is looking awesome! Definitely check her out! And woohoo for contributors, right?! Thanks for commenting!
Hi Kristi! Love that you participated. Being able to connect and finding other bloggers who are very different from me (both personally – as far as I can assume – and in the way they write) is an awesome way to broaden my horizon. I like your advice, especially about being yourself. I also made the experience that the harder it is to press ‘Publish’ the richer the article is. Also, thank you for cleaning up the rules of this award 🙂
Hi Ben! Thank you for the nomination, first and foremost. I had fun writing this one, but struggled with the advice part because there’s so much I would tell new bloggers that I couldn’t choose which thing I wanted to talk about! I think you’re so right about the harder it is to press ‘publish’, the richer the content. I’ve had a couple of those and I’m following your lead and doing a series in August on the man I dubbed Mr. Hottie (8 pages, so I need to spread it out). As I was polishing it up last night, there were times I was like ‘can I really publish this?’ and the answer that kept coming back was ‘not only yes, but hell yes’ — so I guess it’s a go! HA! I always wonder if there’s such a thing as too much transparency, as I sometimes walk the edge of that fine line and find myself teetering. Such is life. As for the rules, I wanted to give the option of not participating only because the Blogger Recognition Award has been around for so long that they might have already been recognized (it’s that duplicate content thing). Not only that, I wanted to take the pressure off regarding participation. It makes it a little easier for everybody I think. Ha! Hope you are well, friend. XoXo!
Love this!!! Being a part of the Blogging Community is a sincere reward because we all stick together! Thank You, Kristi, for the nomination!
You are so welcome for the nomination, Kari. It is well deserved!