Leaf and Steel

motherhood - growth - living

March in Review

Goodbye March! You were insane.

March was a crazy month.

This post contains affiliate links. This means that I may make a small commission off of products that are purchased through these links, at no cost to you. You can read more about this process here.

I got a Vizsla puppy! I feel like I have two toddlers. He is full of energy and curiosity.

5 Reasons We Chose a Vizsla as Our Family Dog

The Not-Great:

  • This puppy is killing me. We paid for a Vizsla and got a piranha. This dog BITES. He is constantly nipping. We redirect with toys, yelp loudly, do time outs- you name it, we’ve tried it. This wackadoo just wants human flesh. Also, there’s nothing like living on a 20 minute timer to make sure he doesn’t have an accident in the house. He’s lucky he’s so cute.
  • I usually feel better this time of year. This year, I don’t. And I think sleep is the answer! This is typically the time of year when I feel “lighter” and “happier”. I think the sleep deprivation from the puppy and baby is preventing this! Hoping to feel “spring-ier” soon!

The Good:

  • I started an Instagram. I know, I know, I was all about kicking Instagram earlier in the year. I still am, for my own personal account. I did start an official Leaf and Steel account that is just centered around this blog! I had been putting it off for awhile.
  • The dog is learning a few commands. Let me tell you, “leave it” is the most underrated command. “Sit” isn’t really that helpful. “Paw” is adorable. We are working so hard at training, and I think he’s starting to get the hang of it.
  • Calendar. I finally got a calendar for my fridge. Now, coordinating child care and dinner is so much simpler! My husband and I both know what nights we need to be out or keep free. I can’t believe I’ve managed to stay married for 3+ years without a shared calendar. It even has a little notes section so I can list things we need to talk about. Not bad for under $10!

April Hopes

  • Creative writing. I desperately want to set aside some time to do more creative writing. My goal is to participate in a Reedsy prompt competition this month. I have a lot of stories in my drafts that could use some attention!
  • Build up the blog. I mean, this has been my goal for the past 5-6 years, right? I have some posts planned that I’m pretty excited about. I hope I can get back to posting a few times a week!

How was your March?

Did you check anything big off your list? Learn anything new?

What are your hopes for April?

Let me know below!

O

More from Leaf and Steel:

How I Get Over Writer’s Block

I haven’t posted consistently in quite a long time.

I have the time.

I have the tools.

I have the ideas.

And I have writer’s block.

My Writer’s Block

When I’m on a roll with creating posts here, working on my WIP, or journaling, I can’t even remember what it feels like to have writer’s block.

These days, it is hard to imagine a time when I was pumping out a blog post every day, or writing 1000+ words on my WIP before I went to bed. I know I’ll get back to that place eventually!.

For right now, I need to use some of my old tricks to keep things moving in my writing life.

Writing has always been an outlet for me. Taking time each day to write makes me happy. Plain and simple. That makes me a better mom, wife, friend and member of society. Waking up early or staying up late to prioritize that half hour/hours to write is very important to me.

Why You Should Try Blogtober

It all started a few weeks ago, when everyone in my house got sick. I was (obviously) prioritizing sleep to recover, grabbing an extra twenty minutes of shut eye anywhere I could. I stopped writing every day.

Another big change was we decided to make a major change in our life (soon to be revealed), so I have spent many of my daughter’s nap times researching that. 

I miss writing! I miss the flow of it. I can’t wait to use some of these tricks to get back into the swing of things.

How to Take Care of Your Baby When You’re Sick

How to Get Over Writer’s Block

Here are the ways I try to get over writer’s block!

Get Inspired

Pinterest is my favorite place to go for inspiration! It’s a great place to find ideas for blog posts and writing topics. I have several boards that I used to save inspiration for my personal life, too.

You can find me on Pinterest here.

Set a Clear Goal

Setting a clear goal can be extremely helpful if you set your own schedule and deadlines. I use Google Calendar to set my writing goals for the month. This helps keep on a posting schedule and gets all of my ideas out of my head and into a condensed, easy-to-access space. 

Break it Down

When you’re struggling with a goal as broad as “work on my novel” or “write a blog post”, it can be beneficial to break that down even further. It’s much more conducive to set small goals like “write 500 words” or “write just one page”. Another great way to do this is writing sprints…

Do a Writing Sprint

A writing sprint is when you set a timer and just pound the keyboard for a set amount of time. 15 minute writing sprints work best for me. There is no editing, no wasting time trying to find the perfect word, no distractions – just writing!

Change the Scenery

Sometimes you just need to change the scenery! Going to the local library or coffee shop can inspire a newfound level of productivity. There’s something about being in a semi-public space that keeps me focused. I guess I don’t want someone to look over at my screen and think “that lady came to the library just to scroll on Zillow”.

Use a Different Tool

I always write on my computer. Actually, I always write in a Google Drive document, Comic Sans font, size 11 pt.

Writing on paper, using talk-to-text in my Notes app, or recording myself gets the creative juices flowing. There’s something magical that happens when I walk around my kitchen, talking into my talk-to-text app. I can speak much faster than I can type, right? 

It allows me to be more fluid with my ideas, and I’m temporarily relieved of the burden of typos and formatting.

Those are the ways I can ease writer’s block!

Do you get writer’s block? Do any of these tips work for you?

Let me know below!

O.

More from Leaf and Steel:

5 Blogging Lessons I Learned in 2021

2021 – you were so good to me! I learned so many blogging lessons this year and I’m here to report that the following 5 things are my biggest takeaways.

The more work I do here, the more my blog grows. There’s nothing more satisfying than working hard and having it pay off – literally and figuratively!

What was different about 2021?

I’ve been blogging here since 2017. The difference between 2017 and 2021 was that I wrote 96 posts in 2021. I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote and it paid off!

I finally started seeing my first payouts and worked with some amazing, wholesome brands. 

1. Writing is a habit

And so it must be practiced consistently!

Last year, I sat down every day and wrote. Whether it was a blog post, a long-term project I’m working on, or just plain personal journaling, I wrote.

I created a habit.

I saw dramatic changes in my speed of writing.

I don’t just mean my typing ability, something that has improved considerably.

The way that my brain connects thoughts and transfers them to the page has quickened. 

I took most of December off, so even now, in January, I feel a little “rusty” writing this post. Even if I don’t publish every single day, carving out some time to write has been extremely beneficial for my blog as well as my mental state.

Writing has always been an outlet for me, so putting my thoughts down on (virtual) paper always eases my mind.

2. …and scheduled posts are your friend

If you have any type of blogging schedule or deadlines to hit, scheduled posts are your friend. Having a few posts in my queue that could be posted anytime was a game changer as a busy mom.

I had a goal of hitting “post” every day of the week in October – a goal I happily met!

As much as I wanted to maintain my habit of writing every single day, pumping out a neatly finished blog post with all the fixings wasn’t feasible.

I had to plan ahead. Something I am not known for.

I took some blocks of time here and there to work on evergreen pieces that I could publish on the days when I really needed to be present for my kid or sleep when she was sleeping.

Scheduled posts helped me reach my blogging goals in 2021, which brings me to my next point…

3. Set goals

Setting goals will help you reach your goals.

It sounds idiotically stupid. Because it is.

Setting goals will help you reach your goals.

The caveat is setting attainable goals. Jotting down “write a novel” on your to-do list isn’t helpful. “Write 1,000 words” is.

Bite sized objectives that can be completed in a reasonable (I’ll let you interpret that as you will) amount of time will increase your confidence that you can attain your goals.

I keep a long and short list of goals in the notes section of my phone so they are easy to find.

4. Eliminate what slows you down (interface, distractions, thesaurus)

This one seems obvious, but I found it difficult in 2021 to practice this one.

First off, there’s the big distractions. I waited until my daughter was asleep (parents who get work done while their kids are awake, I praise you). I put my phone on silent. Closed all other tabs. 

Then, there are mid-level distractions, like stopping to change a song or check the time. I found long YouTube compilations of classical music and the like so I didn’t have to stop. Setting a timer eliminated the need to constantly check the time.

Lastly, there are pesky little time thieves that are sneaky because they feel productive. My biggest one is the thesaurus. I noticed that I was disrupting my “flow” of writing by needing to find the perfect word. I would simply write a word in ALL CAPS if I didn’t feel like it was the right fit, that way I could clearly tell that it needed to be replaced once I was editing. This made me a faster writer, instantly.

My other tip is to write in Comic Sans in Google Drive document. I saw this online. I don’t know who thought of this, but it works. It takes the pressure out of it, and I’ve discovered that the Google doc interface is much faster than the WordPress editor – just my two cents!

5. If you’re small, you need to reach out

I wish someone told me this sooner!

There are plenty of brands out there who are looking to work with smaller bloggers.

I had read time and time again that if you’re producing quality content, the brands will just come to you. And maybe that is true.

But, there are a lot of blogs out there. And then there’s Instagram. And TikTok. And YouTube. I felt there was so much competition. 

Then, I read about an abundance mindset, something I heard mentioned by Amber Fillerup Clark (check out my post on 10 Mom Influencers to Follow for Inspiration)

There are so many creators and there are SO MANY opportunities out there! More than enough to go around. With the change from a competitive attitude to an abundance mindset, I had a newfound confidence around working with companies.

I reached out to some of my favorite brands, or ones that I hoped to work with. Some said no, some didn’t answer, and some said yes. We were able to work together on content and I felt good about promoting products that I actually used and would recommend anyways.

If you’re small, reach out!

What blogging lessons did you learn in 2021? Do any on this list resonate with you?

Let me know below!

O.

More from Leaf and Steel:

Winter Quote Wednesday

Welcome to Winter Quote Wednesday!

I was sad when Fall Friday Favorites came to an end and was looking for another way to do a weekly check in with a purpose.

Enter Winter Quote Wednesday. Each week I’ll share a quote that I love and why, and I’d love to hear your opinions in the comments!

So, this week’s quote is from Bill Phillips,

“The difference between who you are and who you want to be, is what you do.”

Bill Phillips

Something in me snapped when I heard this quote. I’m sure I read it before and have heard variations of it a dozen times, but something just clicked.

The space between where I am now and where I want to be is what I do.

A lot of the time, the things that I want feel really far away. They feel impossible.

I always lose myself in the doing. It’s the piece that’s always missing.

I always wanted to be a blogger, but never wrote.

I wanted to do yoga, but never laid down my mat.

I wanted to bake bread, but never bothered to try.

I was waiting to win the lottery but never bothered to by a ticket.

It’s so simple now. In the words of Nike, “just do it”, right?

I feel like this is one of those things I’ve always known but didn’t internalize until recently.

Anyways, I love this quote. It’s one I reference often.

What do you think of it? Is there somewhere you could be in life if you just did something different?

Let me know below!

O.

More from Leaf and Steel:

Why You Should Try Blogtober

It might be November, but I wanted to share my experience with this years Blogtober tag!

What is Blogtober?

Blogtober is an online “event” where bloggers publish a post on their blog every single day in October.

Why I Tried Blogtober

I didn’t set out to participate in Blogtober21, it just sort of happened. As someone who reads a lot of blogs, I started to see the tag everywhere! Seeing such high volume of posts under #Blogtober21 and my love of a good portmanteau got me curious.

What I Did

Okay, so I didn’t post every day in October. I published 29 posts, which was just 1 short of my 30 posts goal for that month. You can blame my child’s 12 month sleep regression for that, ha!

I did sit down to write just about every week day. Like so many writers, I tend to focus on selecting images, contacting sponsors, analyzing stats, and doing just about everything I can besides publishing content. Getting in that daily habit of writing has changed the way I look at producing content.

What I Learned

Having a daily schedule of writing during my baby’s first nap and hitting publish (just about) every day made writing easier. I have my systems in place now. It’s just gotten easier. It used to take me days to research, write, format and edit an article. Now, I have streamlined that system down to a few hours at most.

It’s also showed me that “writing what you know” is some of the most accurate advice out there. Because I’m writing about things I’m genuinely either interested in, actively researching, or truly love, the writing is just a natural part of that.

I was consistent with my writing and pinning on Pinterest. I essentially doubled my traffic. I started to see more and more results from Google, Yahoo and Bing. I even was able to pick up a few partnerships and got to engage with so many of my readers.

More traffic led to more Amazon Affiliate sales and more ad revenue.

I was super pleased to see my hard work paying off.

Posting every week day, working with sponsors, and making a measly income did something incredible. It finally made me feel like a blogger. I can fall into some major bouts of imposter syndrome in most areas of my life. This month I really felt like I was reaping the emotional benefits of putting in the foot work.

Why YOU Should Try Blogtober22

Put me down in the calendar for Blogtober22!

I will definitely be doing Blogtober22. Just based on how it raised my stats alone, I’m in. But, I also was so impressed by the discipline and passion it takes to complete a challenge like this.

Next year, I plan on publishing 31 posts in October, to get the full effect.

You should try Blogtober because it can grow your audience, inspire diligence, and can help you get out of that writing rut!

Did you participate in #Blogtober? If you did, what did you learn? Would you do it again? Let me know below!

O.

References:

Tea & Cake for the Soul, “What is Blogtober? What to Expect and How to Take Part”

PinArtwork, Blogtober 2021 Grow your Blog’s traffic with a Blogtober Challenge

More from Leaf and Steel:

I Started a Sister Blog

I started a sister blog at gratefulgrowingmama.com!

I love blogging here at Leaf & Steel.

I really do.

There have been two changes in my blogging life in the past year, one being the birth of my daughter. I know that my content has shifted further into the motherhood niche.

The other big change is I’ve started to treat this blog like a business! And I’m actually starting to make money.

So, I wanted a space that would focus on motherhood and making money as a stay-at-home-mom.

This will always be my first home!

Please follow along if you would like.

Best,

O.