Leaf and Steel

motherhood - growth - living

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:

Reflecting and Moving On: Goodbye 2021

Last year I wrote a post called “If Not Now, When?”. It’s about how the years have passed on and I haven’t changed. It’s about how I wanted to do more with this blog and the only thing standing in my way was me.

Well, I wrote 96 posts this year. I had brand deals. I made some affiliate and ad income. I feel really proud about where I’ve taken this blog. The only difference between this year and the last was that I sat down and wrote.

I feel good about 2021 as a whole. I’m proud of myself. I feel like I did more than just get through it. If you just got through it, that’s more than enough.

I’m 27 and I have a new lease on life. Something inside me changed this year.

I’ve been thinking about big bangs.

I watched a family member go through a breakup and move across the country. A big bang.

I watched my friend lose her brother, and leave her job to pursue her art. A big bang.

I was always waiting for these little things to change the fiber of who I was. I thought if I drank more water or had more money or exercised more I would become who I wanted to be.

I was always waiting on more.

I just needed my own big bang.

I was monkey-barring my way through life. I had settled into this mindset that certain things I wanted were out of reach.

And then I had my daughter. My big bang.

She made me feel good enough. She made me feel worthy of all things good. I never want her to feel limited. That’s how I’ve felt as an adult, limited.

I’m going into 2022 with infinite opportunity. I hope you do the same.

Humbly,

O.

If Not Now, When?

Ah, a new year. Here we are, in the space between exhaustion of the holidays and the vast bleakness that is January in the Northeast. I don’t need to spell out why 2020 was an absolute disaster for everyone. History textbooks are going to need a whole chapter for this one.

It wasn’t all bad. I participated in the collective panic and boredom. I doom scrolled. I baked  bread, made Dalonga coffee, watched Tiger King, cleaned all the closets, Netflix-d to my heart’s content. I took time to educate myself on BLM. I stayed up all night watching Steve Kornacki punching numbers and cried a week later when the election was called.

I watched the numbers curve and dip and soar. I washed my hands and wore my mask.

It was a long year. 

2019 was boring. 2020 was supposed to be better. I look back at my list of ‘resolutions’ for 2020 and laugh. Please share in my amusement:

  • Visit a new state (cancelled)
  • Go to church more (cancelled)
  • Visit my Grandfather more (um, so cancelled)
  • Throw a party (very cancelled)
  • Have more experiences (to be fair I did get to a museum, national dog show and sporting event before lockdown)

Hilarious, right? If only I knew. I remember I intentionally did not put down “get pregnant” as not to jinx my chances. Of course, I ended up (happily!) pregnant at the beginning of March, which you can read about here. I’m wary of setting any expectation for the year ahead.

My husband and I usually go to the same party every year. There’s amazing buffalo dip and friends. This year there was no party, no dip. We made pizza in our new Breville pizza maker (10/10 recommend). I drank some nasty sparkling grape juice. We watched Shark Tank until 11:59 when we switched to Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve. The ball dropped and New York, New York played. I got my New Year’s kiss. 

It was midnight and nothing changed. I didn’t change.

I usually love New Year’s. It gives us permission to say that we have room for improvement, that we haven’t been perfect. It shows us that we crave change. Discipline.

I am in desperate need of discipline. I’ve had this blog since 2016. Every year I tell myself I’m going to put in the effort to make it into something, whatever that is.

The Bill Phillips quote “the difference between who you are and who you want to be, is what you do” rings true. It’s the only inspirational quote I’ll ever prescribe.

The only difference between this blog being a bi-monthly dumping ground and an actual vessel for my thoughts and recommendations is me. What a terribly freeing thought that is. 

I always tell myself I’m going to insert action more. I’m going to walk more. Read more. Cook more. Laugh more. Write more. Today I ask myself, if not now, when?

We all have moments of if not now, when? This blog and 2021 are mine.

Do you have something you love to do, but put on the backburner? Let me know below.

Humbly,

O.

Bringing Perspective into 2018

Happy New Year! I’m hoping 2018 will be one for the books. I learned so many lessons in 2017, especially with friendships and self-love. I want to take this blog further this year. I want to discover more. I want to save more money because it’s about damn time I start facing the future. Further, more, future – all these ambitious expectations…

The past few months I’ve been wrapped up in the future. I’ve been projecting and planning and wishing for a fortune teller with a crystal ball to tell me that everything I’m hoping for will come true. I’ve been thinking about business, babies, retirement. But, I had a dream about going back into treatment last night and I coincidentally read a blog post about that treatment center (you can read the post here). I forgot that this is a gift, a life I almost didn’t have.

I went to rehab for anorexia in October-December 2013. I was in outpatient, therapy, what have you for a little while after that. I’ve been clean since September 2014 and I’ve been working my butt off to have a life worth living. A few years ago I wasn’t thinking about babies, let alone able to have one. I wasn’t concerned with taxes or BPAs or clipping coupons.

I used to worry about passing out while driving. I used to worry about how I would cope with the feelings that went along with eating more than 500 calories a day. I used to worry about my heart giving out and dying in my sleep. I had no future. It was like that saying, “dead but not buried”. In retrospect that all scares the heck out of me.

Something shifted, I hit a spiritual bottom and some power greater than myself helped me reach help. I had just enough hope left that was able to change the things I was doing and in turn the way I was thinking. Sometimes I feel like I’m behind my peers, or just behind in general. That diseased voice squeaks “not good enough”
whenever it gets the chance. But when I compare where I am now to where I was for my late teens, I’ve grown immensely. I’m pretty damn happy, which is more than anyone can ask for.

My point with this post is not to belittle the problems or worries I have now, but to remind myself about the power of perspective. I think perspective is the most valuable tool for those of us in recovery. So, that’s going to be my word for 2018.  I’m going to treasure the time I have with others, my last months before the wedding, the quiet moments when God seeps in. I’m going to soak it in. After all, it doesn’t have to be this good.

Wishing you every happiness in 2018.

 

O.