Everyday Baby Steps

Allison Worthington is the driving force behind the successful online magazine, Blissfully Domestic.  You probably also know her as Mrs. Fussypants, from her extremely popular blog.  What you may not know is that this incredibly talented woman is modest as can be, fun loving, and generous of spirit.  One of her top skills is bringing people together to do amazing things.  Read on to learn more about this dynamic woman.

When did you start blogging and why?

I started in May of 2007.  At that point, I actually did not know how to go about sending an email with a photograph in it.  I had no idea how to work the computer even, other than just doing a Google search.  I accidentally fell upon a couple of blogs when I was researching how to homeschool my oldest son, and I thought it looked like something fun to try.

You haven't been blogging all that long!  It seems your success has happened very quickly.

It does.  It happens quickly.  There seems to be a tipping point.  I first blogged for maybe three months and had maybe ten readers because I assuemed that I could start a blog and all of a sudden hundreds of readers would arrive every day.  And then I started reaching out, and after about six months I realized that a community was beginning to form, and I felt part of the whole blogging community.

How did Blissfully Domestic get started?

That started February of this year.  I fell into it, actually.  I wanted to branch out my own blog because I felt like I couldn't write about homeschooling and marriage without boring people because I realized that I don't have any writing skills.  I embraced the fact that I don't have  writing skills, and that's what's so wonderful about blogging.  I've utilized so many other different things, pictures, funny things, and building a community around my own site so that I don't have to write well because it's not my strong suit!

Back to how the magazine started.  Shannon Entin, who ran Homeschool Hacks, I was asking her when she was going to restart her blog because it influenced me so much when I wanted to homeschool my boys, and she said her heart wasn't in it anymore and that she would just give it to me.  So I said, "Let me give you something in return."  I made her some jewelry because I make jewelry, and we did a trade.  So I just started collecting these websites one by one.  and then finally decided to make the leap to start a magazine with around ten women, everyone writing an article a week.  And over time, it's grown.  At this point, everywhere I look online, I have people coming to me, saying, "Let me be part of Blissfully Domestic.  It just looks so fun!"  It's amazing.  I accept help everywhere, gratefully, and it's growing by leaps and bounds. Considering it's just me trying to carve out time on the computer while I raise my son, a woman who doesn't have any writing skills at all, it's working out well.  My talent, I'm learning, is just bringing good writers together.

What did you do before this?  Did you have any publishing experience?

Oh no!  I can't even explain how out of the loop I was.  The first blog I read was Melissa Wiley's site, Here in the Bonny Glen.  She's a children's book author with five kids, and I just thought, "This is the most amazing woman ever!  I don't know what this blog thing is, but this is great."  So she's the one who inspired me.  And I found different links about homeschooling.  When I started Homeschool Hacks, I had contacted her and asked if there was any way that she could contribute.  She said, "Oh, sure.  Anything that you want to use, just feel free to copy and paste.  I"m happy to share with anyone who needs help." This is what's so amazing about the internet.  The two sites that I had first discovered, one of the women says, "Here, take my site." and the other woman says, "Sure, anything you want!", and we've become friends.  It is amazing for a woman at her computer to have access to all these resources while still being at home with her children.  The internet just really levels the playing field.  That's what I love about it.  Everyone is accessible.