As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I made the choice to be a more active blogger. I didn't want the blog to become only a series of reviews, so I purposed to write personal blog entries more often.
As I began to become better acquainted with the other Crew members, we began to discuss our blogs and the art/science of drawing more readers to our blogs. Everyone wants to have more readers, but I also felt it would be best for the Crew and the vendors we were reviewing, if I had more blog traffic. The more people who came to my blog, the more who would see my reviews and learn about the TOS Crew.
So I set out to have more giveaways, participate in more carnivals, post more often, and participate in more memes. I began to read more articles and blogs about increasing blog traffic. New terms like "google page rank" became important to me. (FYI, I didn't have a page rank at the time, but I'm now at 3/10. For now ... it will probably fall again.)
As the Crew began to wind down, and our last items began to arrive, I didn't want the fun of reviews and visitors to my blog to end, so I eagerly signed up to review books with several publishers. And then the books started rolling in, 5 at once, and the emails for more review opportunities kept coming in.
And my laundry piled up, the garden called me, the children whined at me, and I took a look at myself. I realized I was so focused on me, my blog, and others ... that I was neglecting my calling to my family and my home.
I am a stay at home mom. I am a homeschooling mom. I am a wife. I am a homemaker. Those are my first callings. Those are what really matter to me.
I'll still be doing some reviews, although in the future I'll be careful not to overcommit. I'll still have occasional giveaways. I'll participate in some memes and carnivals (I'm looking forward to more regular additions to the Simple Woman's Daybook actually). But I want my blog to be what it originally was: a place to share with friends and family about our family, a place to encourage other homeschoolers, and a place to record my thoughts about motherhood and being a Christian.
Even more importantly, I want my marriage, my children, my homeschool, and my home to reflect that they are my priority. I have some work to do here, to restore order, peace, and beauty to our home and school. I need to spend more time reading God's Word and listening to His Voice than I have been.
I hope that the changes I'm striving for will be evident in my blog, as well as our home.
Trusting in Him,
April
