I Made It! A Successful 30 Days of Blogging!

Today's the day!

I have successfully completed 30 consecutive days of blogging. 

It's not something I ever would have set out to do on my own. I probably never would have even thought it was an important exercise to try!

But Sarah Arrow makes it impossible to resist. She says, "There is risk and reward associated with everything you do, and blogging is no different."

I honestly don't even know how I stumbled across Sarah's challenge, but I'm so glad I did. The wealth of information she sent my way each day almost turned my brain to scrambled eggs... but I'm pretty confident after I let it marinate that I will emerge a stronger writer and a more creative and organized blogger!

It was only a few months ago that I had a serious conversation with J about my goals to grow this blog into a business. 

It just made sense to join a challenge that (as Sarah says) would "exercise my blog muscle" and teach me more about taking my blogging to the next level.

So what have I learned? That I love this blog. That I love to write. That I love to inspire and encourage people, especially fellow moms and military spouses. That I want to write a book someday. That I like to write in large chunks. That I don't do as well when I haven't prepped for a post before 8pm. That I am hungry to understand more about how to market myself in a social media-focused world. That it's not too far fetched to think that I could make money blogging, or that I could morph my writing and photography businesses pretty easily. That this could be my job.

Don't they say that if you do what you love it doesn't feel like work?

That's my goal. To "work" doing what I love. 

Huge thanks to Jesse for putting up with me these 30 days. To my children who may or may not have periodically been watching more tv than is good for their brains so I could write. To Kirsten for high-fiving and gold-starring me to death this month. To my mother-in-law, who commented on pretty much every single post. To all the friends who spread the word about this blog, and to all the new members of the TABA family on facebook and twitter. To the new friends I made from the blog challenge facebook group, who supported, commented, and critiqued to make me better.

And to Sarah Arrow. Who wasn't just coaching from the sidelines. She was active on the facebook page every day... ready with live support, commenting on my posts, and walking through it with me the whole way.

This challenge has changed my blogging for the better! 

If you'd like to channel some of my excitement and take the challenge, too, just sign up here. It's free and it's awesome!