I’ve been seeing so many thankful posts this week, and it’s made me think about the blogging things I’m thankful for. I can’t believe how different my life is today than it was three years ago, before I started blogging. It’s kind of mind boggling when I really think about it!
Before I started blogging, my life revolved pretty much solely around my family. I’m a homeschooling mom, so I spend pretty much all day, every day with two of my three kids (my youngest has some learning disabilities and attends the special ed program at our public school). And don’t get me wrong – I love my kids, and I think that homeschooling them has been the best decision I ever could have made for my two oldest. I don’t regret it at all. But I will say that, as the years have progressed, I’ve felt less and less like I had anything just for me.
That all changed when I started blogging. Honestly, when I started out, I just thought I was going to write some reviews and hope that someone might read them. Why not, right? I had no idea how HUGE of an impact this blog would have on my life – or how it would change me. Honestly, my life now, in many ways, revolves around Feed Your Fiction Addiction. (Of course, I still put my family first, but FYFA is a major part of my daily life.) It’s almost hard for me to even remember what life was like pre-blog.
Just a few of the things I’m thankful for when it comes to my blog:
- The people. I now interact daily with people around the world. Most of you I’ve never met face-to-face, and yet you lovely readers and bloggers have an enormous impact on my life. You make me a better person with the bookish (and sometimes non-bookish) discussions we have. You brighten my life in so many ways and give me a sense of community that I didn’t really have before.
- My perspective. I’ve really expanded my horizon when it comes to the books I read since I started blogging – mostly because I read reviews and you lovely people convince me that I need to read so many books. I feel like my perspectives on people and issues has grown exponentially since I’ve been blogging – books (and book blogs) are an incredible way to see the world through other people’s eyes. This has had a dramatic impact on me.
- The events. Bookish events? The best. Events. Ever. I had no idea how much I would love them. And I would attend them all the time, except that I do have a family who actually needs me for things. And I can’t spend all our money. Oh, and my husband likes to see me in the evenings sometimes, too (Anderson’s Bookshop is dangerous – if I lived a little bit closer to it, I would be there at least once a week!).
- Editing. This is actually the biggest impact that blogging has had on my life. I never imagined when I started out that blogging could lead to a career in books, but that’s exactly what it’s done. And editing has been incredibly fulfilling for me – it’s something that’s mine. And it also helps that it’s something I can do on my own schedule so it doesn’t impact my family all that much. (Right now, I edit very part-time – unless I’m rushing toward a deadline. But I love the fact that this has the possibility of being something I can do full-time in the long-term, once my kids don’t need me as much. They’re already getting more and more self-sufficient when it comes to schoolwork. Yay!)
- Sense of self-worth. This is really tied to both blogging and editing. I know that my self-worth isn’t based on what I do in life, but it sure doesn’t hurt to have something that I love and something that I excel at. I love editing, but even more than that, I feel like I’m really good at it – I love the feeling of helping an author shape their story, of helping them make improvements to the plot and tweak the characters. I even love the feeling of getting rid of all those little grammatical errors that would drive me crazy if I didn’t expunge them! There is nothing more satisfying than feeling like you’re good at what you do!
There are really a myriad of other ways that blogging has shaped my life as well, but you probably don’t want to read my twenty page essay on the subject. I am very thankful for this blog and for each and every one of you. You have impacted my life in ways you probably haven’t even realized and given me a sense of community and purpose I’ve lacked for a long time.
I thank God for the blessings he’s given me, and this blog is right near the top of that list!
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