Blog Business

Hi Everyone!
   I decided to do a blog post all about....blogging! First of all, I want tell you a bit about how I got started in blogging. I began reading blogs around 2010. I was in grad school for teaching and enjoyed the light reading material. Plus, I am fascinated by how other people live, so blogs were perfect to learn a bit more about others. I started with reading a blog called Kelly's Korner that I still read to this day.  I started my own blog to document my first years teaching and living in Chicago. I wrote about two dozen posts and then I stopped. Life got busy, I didn't know much about the tech side of things, and just wasn't really feeling it. I wish now, looking back, I had kept that blog up, if for nothing else, to read my 22 year old perceptions!

image from lovequotesimg.com

   I started this blog that you're currently reading, A Sunday Kinda Love in 2015. AJ and I had been married about a year and we were thinking of starting a family soon. I wanted a place to document our lives and that journey. I named the blog "A Sunday Kinda Love" after the song by Etta James that we danced to at our wedding (I realize it's actually A Sunday KIND OF Love" but this is a chill space so I shortened kind of to "kinda," sorry if that bugs the grammar/spelling folks). I love that song because I adore Sundays and I felt that the relaxing, peaceful, spiritual, comforting feel of Sundays perfectly described our love story and I'm a sucker for sentimentality, so A Sunday Kinda Love was born. I originally kept the blog to myself, only handing out the link to close family and friends. In time, however, I began posting my blog links on Facebook and commenting on other people's blogs and the link spread that way.

     When we knew Hadley would be born premature and I was hospitalized before her birth, the blog became a space to update friends and family. Honestly, I viewed the blog as therapy of sorts and I credit writing out my thoughts and feelings surrounding Hadley's life as one of the main elements in my grief and healing journey. Life didn't make sense (it hardly ever does!) and somehow by writing, I gave voice to my feelings and could sort things out via the written word with more clarity than I ever could by speaking, or even keeping thoughts inside. It was painful to write some of my posts. I kept doing it, though, for two main reasons. One, it helped me! Writing heals my soul. And, two, I want to help other people. I have received a few emails over the years from people who have experienced loss. If my experience and words can make someone feel less alone, then I am more than glad to keep typing away in this space. I don't have it all together, not at all, but if I can shed some light, give someone a chuckle, make my readers think, try and bring about community, and help women (and men) learn how to truly savor the "sparkle" in their lives, then I will consider it a success.

I try to sit down and write at least 2-3 times a week. Does that mean each "writing session" makes a blog post? No way, but I think if my writing (anyone's writing, really) is going to be something, then I must work at it often. Even if what I do that day is garbage. At least I put some words together that day. I've written and scrapped a few posts over the years and I don't share all the writing that I do. At any given time, I usually have a few posts brewing in my brain (like in the next week or so expect a recipe post and my monthly book recap). I write best first thing in the morning.....Lumineers/Brandi Carlile/Joshua Radin/Mumford and Sons Pandora playing and a mug of hot coffee (throw some avocado egg toast into the equation for good measure).

   Just like in the early days of blogging, I really don't know a lot about the tech side of things but I did want to let you know some features!

1.  I updated the categories at the top of the blog page. Here, you can click on pages to give you quick links for: About Me, Marriage, Books, Hadley, Recipes, and Hank. I can't say these pages are always updated but as of today, they are! Woohoo! If you're a new reader, that gives you the basic run down of the heart of this blog.

2. You can input your email and have new posts sent to your email.

3. You can follow the blog on the "Blog Lovin'" network here (full disclosure: I really don't know much about how that all works, haha!). You can also leave me a message/question or comment on the side. I promise I will get back to you.

4. Categories are where you can see all my posts organized by topics. Want to read posts all about "teacher life" or "holidays" or "travel," this nifty area will take you right there.

5. Finally, there's the Blog Archive where you can go all the way back to the beginning.

Ok, now I have some questions for YOU!

1. Does anyone know how to transfer the blog to my own url but still maintain the ease of use of blogger? I'm not positive I'm ready for this step, but it's something I've been considering. I don't want to learn new things (spoken like a true educator, sheesh!), so it'd need to be easy peasy for me to make a change.

2. What are your favorite posts? What do you want more of? Is there anything I haven't written about that you'd like? (My page views tell me you overwhelming read posts about pregnancy).

3. Any seasoned bloggers out there have any great tips?

4. What would keep you coming back to Sunday Kinda Love again and again?

5. Will you share this blog with friends and family? Maybe a post makes you think of someone in your life who might enjoy it, maybe you want to share it on social media or Pinterest? (The social media share buttons are at the bottom of each post).  I firmly believe if someone's meant to read a post, it will somehow end up on their screen.

I love writing. I love blogging. I love that I have all these crazy and amazing memories documented. I love you all for reading. Thanks for sitting with me a minute....for many of you, lots of minutes over the years! Thank you.

Savor Your Sparkle,
-Leslie