Everyday Baby Steps

Today, instead of talking about Monday Magazine Motivation, I'd like to talk about a Motivation Mama. Denise Hart is The Motivation Mama.She's just one of the amazing women I've met online who's inspired me to be better and to do more. Usually when I'm not feeling terribly motivated, I'll come across the accomplishments or words of wisdom of an accomplished woman online, and it totally turns my mood around. Denise is one of these women.

I've talked about Denise before when she so graciously allowed me to review and give away one of her extraordinary motivational tees. That's right, she's an entrepreneur. Her business, Words To Live By Tees sells fabulous t-shirts with encouraging and motivational sayings on them. Denise shares her positive spirit with others through her business. Here's a picture of me wearing my "Live the Life You Love" tee from Words To Live By. I love it!

What I love about Denise is her positive spirt and her genuine nature. She's truly inspirational. She's a five year breast cancer survivor. She's also the epitome of one of her most popular tees, "resilient". She's come back from her ordeal to empower and motivate other women. Not only is Denise an entrepreneur, she's a playwright, a professor, and a mom. Wow, her energy inspires me.

Check out her blog, Motivation Mama. If you're interested in learning from The Motivation Mama, you may want to sign up for her 21 Days of Motivation Virtual Retreat. You're sure to learn alot and be one step closer to bringing out the best in yourself.

Thanks, Denise, for all you do and for always encouraging me to do my happy dance!

Everyone's heard of The Bloggess, haven't they?  Actually, I hadn't until September of this year when I interviewed Writer Dad.  Writer Dad gushed about how excited he was to receive praise from The Bloggess; she called him a "wordsmith", and he thought that was amazing considering he thought she was truly the one deserving of that title.  So I visited her blog, and he was absolutely right - she is certainly a wordsmith.  Jenny is remarkably funny, detailing snippets of her life and observations with such keen wit and humor.  If you're one of the few who hasn't heard of her, you simply must go check out The Bloggess.  But wait until after you've read her profile here, of course!

Tell me about yourself.

I live near Houston, Texas, which is partly awesome and partly horrible, and also, pretty much nobody wears cowboy hats, although we do all say "y'all" a lot.  I have a 4-year old daughter named Hailey, who I adore, and a husband named, Victor, who I want to strangle, but mainly just during election season.

How did you get started blogging and why?

I wanted to write a book, and I thought it would help me find my voice, so when I saw that a mommy blogger on the Houston Chronicle quit because she thought blogging was keeping her from being a good mom, I emailed the editor and was all, "I'll do it!  I'm a horrible mother!"  And they hired me.  Except "hired" is the wrong word because they don't pay me.  I don't know what the right word is here, although I'm pretty sure there is one.  Which is an excellent example of why I'm really not qualified to write a book or blog at all.

How do your family and friends react to your blogging?

Most of my friends and family read teh blog pretty infrquently, and for the most part, they are pretty nonplussed.  Probably because they hear most of the stories personally before they end up on the blog.  Or maybe it's because they don't like me.  I'm guessing it's the first one though.  A lot of my friends and family don't read it at all because they don't understand it or don't want to see that aspect of my personality.  Or they only read one of my blogs and refuse to read the other.  Both blogs are me...just different parts of my personality.  One part is just more fucked up than the rest.

What have you gained from blogging?

About $500.  Also some of the most amazing friends I could imagine, a community that makes me feel less alone, and the confidence to be myself with pride instead of with apologies.

How has blogging changed or impacted your life?

It's a great form of psychoanalysis that can either totally fuck you up or make you better.  For me, it's done both.

There you have it, in her own words.  I'm still enjoying having the chance to talk to and learn from mom bloggers.  Blogging is a culture all its own that is providing women an incredible platform to connect with others, to share ideas, and to find their voices.  Thank you, Jenny, for taking the time to tell us more about yourself and your reasons for blogging.  Please feel free to contact me if you're a mom blogger who'd like to share your story! I'll continue posting profiles on my blog and am working toward turning this project into an article.

This week, I started my telephone interviews with mom bloggers for my upcoming Friday Feature Profile series.  It's been so great connecting with other moms and hearing their stories about how blogging has impacted their lives.  The connection between moms is amazing!  However, today's post actually focuses on a dad blogger!  Yesterday I spoke with Writer Dad for possible inclusion in an upcoming issue of an e-zine for mom bloggers.

Writer Dad is a fairly new blogger.  He's only been blogging for 6 weeks and has already built quite a community and a following.  Guess what else?  In only his 3rd week, he received notification that he had been accepted into Alltop!  Alltop is like the holy grail of websites - if you're chosen for Alltop, it means you're among the best of the best.

If that isn't enough reason to check out his blog, let me tell you that you should go see him because he's funny and a super nice guy.  Go read his blog to learn a bit more about him and see what he's all about.  I'll let you know when my article comes out so you can read more of what he has to say.

But I will give you just a preview of my conversation with him.  I just had to ask Writer Dad the question I've been asking so many mom bloggers: "How has blogging changed your life."  He had this to say, "Thus far, I would say the number one thing it's done for me is give me a lot of confidence. . .when you have a community that appreciates your words, it's fuel.  Every one of those comments is just shoveling more coal into the fire, and it's important to me.  It does give me drive."  Writer Dad shows his appreciation to his readers by returning comments and by fostering a sense of community.  I highly recommend visiting his blog to see for yourself what's made him such a smash hit in the blogging world in such a short time.