The question comes from time to time:
How can I have a successful blog while raising little ones?
And here’s my honest answer. It may not be a popular one, but it is my real, honest, from-my-heart answer.
BLOGGING WHEN YOU HAVE LITTLE ONES
When I had all/only littles, I wrote only when I had time for it. If you put your marriage and parenting before blogging, your blog will sometimes suffer.
For me, being a wife and mom were my highest priorities and so I would often take 1-6 month blogging breaks. Throughout my first years of blogging when I had only little children, I often took weeks and months away from writing.
Though I love to write… though words flow from me quickly and easily… when I had:
- 3 kids four and under,
- 4 kids six and under,
- and 5 kids eight and under,
there were many times when the writing got pushed to the side so I could do the essential, daily things:
- loving my husband,
- loving my children,
- learning how to keep my home running well,
- staying in the Word,
- and being a part of church when I could.
My goal was not and is not to build a blog kingdom, but to use it as a tool for ministry, growth, and encouragement, AFTER doing the things God has clearly put on my plate.
Put another way, in our home:
Blogging is optional. Parenting & being a wife is not.
If I build a “successful” blog but raise bratty, selfish, electronically-entertained children, or have a crummy marriage where both of our faces are constantly in our devices, I will have failed.
So, with little kids, give yourself grace.
You may not realistically be able to keep up with a rigorous blogging pace.
To be clear, my answer is:
You MAY NOT be able to have a “successful” blog while intentionally mothering young children.
You may; you may not. But I am not going to lie to you and tell you that you for sure can. For my part, I found that I could not worry about keeping up with the amazing “Betty Bloggers” of the world who had the same age kids, managed to do it all, AND post better photographs than I ever could.
I’m me. I can only be me. I have to look at what God has given me and steward it well.
The God who gave my husband and my children won’t be pleased if I let my marriage, home, and children fall by the wayside but run an amazingly “successful” blog. Even if it has amazing ministry potential, and has been perfectly monetized in a way that financially blesses my family without burdening my readers.
God has given us certain things on our plates, and it is foolish for us to add things to our plates to a degree that the main things (that God has given us) get shoved off for things He has not given us. If you are a wife and a mother, those are the MAIN THINGS on your plate. Do not let blogging shove off those main things.
So for me, here’s where I’ve landed:
If I “do it all,” but lose my family, it will not be worth it to me.
That said, as my kids have grown, I have found (and I have purposefully made) time to write more regularly. A major reason for this is that my husband has affirmed these things in me and invested his time and energy to encourage me in this ministry. Over the years, he has told me I *need* to be writing, and that he believes it is both good for me, and good for others, when I do.
My blogging is a reflection of the nurturing leadership and influence of my husband who has affirmed these spiritual gifts in my life and made an environment where they can flourish.
HOW I BLOG WITH CHILDREN IN THE HOME
Here are some things that have helped me:
1- SCHEDULE POSTS IN ADVANCE
The scheduling feature has become an amazing help to me. Nowadays, I write articles anywhere from 1-6 weeks in advance and preschedule them so that my life can have its normal ebbs and flows without affecting the pace and quality of my content. But when I was younger, and they were younger, I couldn’t gather enough writing time to get ahead enough to consistently USE the scheduling feature, so it did me little to no good.
But if you are able to use it, scheduling topics in advance is a wonderfully handy tool that can keep the unpredictable things in life as a mom of littles from derailing your blog.
2- PUBLISH AT A SUSTAINABLE PACE
Don’t try to write 3 times in one week, and then miss a week, and then publish an article, and then skip three weeks, and then write two posts two weeks in a row.
No. Look back at what you’re able to do consistently. Average that out, and reduce it slightly to give yourself margin. Then THAT will be your sustainable publishing pace. If you look back at the last year and you’ve published 15 articles, then just set a goal of once/month. If you look back at the last year and have written 135 articles but they’ve been hit-or-miss, spottily timed, then set a goal of 2 articles a week, and begin pre-scheduling your posts so you are able to sustain your posting schedule and give yourself a little margin as well.
For me, that worked out to (at first) 2 articles each week, and now, because I maintained that throughout 2014 (which was my goal), I’ve recently increased to publishing 3x/week: every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Set your goal as less than you think you can do, and give yourself margin.
3- WRITE WHAT FLOWS EASILY
Write from your “sweet spot.” Don’t take on issues that need deep research and lengthy consideration. I’m a fast writer, and often get articles written in the first draft with little editing needed, but I still have to limit myself to the things that I know well. I can’t consistently blog about topics that are, say, out of my theological reach and do them justice. That level of research and attention to learning all new things is not something I can manage while managing seven children and homeschooling.
So, I write what flows easily and choose to avoid or ignore topics that I can’t invest the time in during this season.
4- MULTI-TASK
We’ve talked before about multi-tasking as a mom. As a blogger, one of the ways I am able to grow is by listening to podcasts (like Michael Hyatt and Problogger) and conference talks about blogging and social media usage, while doing other things:
- mowing the lawn
- cooking dinner
- holding/nursing the baby
- folding laundry
By using my time carefully, I’m able to thoughtfully consider ways to improve my platform without going to meetings and conferences away from my young family.
5- USE EVERYTHING YOU WRITE
Do you write book or product reviews for Amazon? Training manuals? Lengthy, helpful comments on other people’s articles? Do you take detailed sermon notes? Or perhaps you participate in an online discussion forum on your topic and have tons of helpful posts there. Turn the things you’ve written elsewhere into quality content for your blog.
I often do this with blog comments. In fact, my most popular article ever (“Why Have More Kids?”) was written as a response to a comment I received on my blog. I’ve also been blessed to do freelance Bible study writing, and my contracts typically have a clause th