The 1 Year Anniversary of Martinis and Minivans!

A year ago this month I started Martinis and Minivans. It began from the idea that as a freelance writer I wrote about what other people asked me to write. What would happen if I wrote about what I wanted to write about? Would anyone actually want to read it?? I didn’t know. I created a page and instantly realized that life would not be the same again. Many lessons learned, many tears shed, many awesome compliments received, and many moments spent thinking, “This would be a great blog post…” So with that in mind, I thought I would share some of ups and downs of the blogging year…

Up: The first day of the blog I found an adorable image to use as the logo for the site…

Down: After creating my site and inserting the adorable image, I was instantly contacted about copyright infringement from the owner, who luckily didn’t try to sue me. I quickly apologized, told her I would remove it immediately and knew nothing about the law of this stuff. I then proceeded to research and purchase rights to a new logo – the lovely lady you see here. First lesson learned mighty fast.

Up: Figured out how to use Google Analytics and monitor page views.

Down: Figured out how to use Google Analytics and monitor page views. There comes a point in blogging where you can’t care. You have to write for yourself, even if no one is reading.

Up: Won Blogger Idol! Yahoo!!

Down: Spent many weeks begging loved ones, readers and old boyfriends for votes. My knees have permanent damage from all that begging. My children also watched an excessive amount of television at the time that would make the American Academy of Pediatrics cringe. Yet still, Swiper can’t figure out how to get Dora’s crap away from her. Amazing.

Up: My writing was picked up by The Huffington Post!

Down: The next day my site was hacked and I had to pay over $500 to clean up all the malware and threats. No one tells you that you need to think about blog protection and not just computer protection. I’m pretty sure the folks at the anti-virus company wanted to refer me to a therapist for all the times I cried to them about my site and said, “Why me???”

Up: Readers telling you that you made them laugh.

Down: There is no down to that.  It’s an awesome feeling. I love that my family, friends and readers hopefully get some slight enjoyment from the blog from time to time. I write for me, but I post it publicly in hopes that maybe someone might laugh, cry, relate, or even sometimes challenge me.  All of it makes me a better parent, writer and person.

Thanks to all who have joined me this past year and shared your comments and support. I have no idea what the future holds for Martinis and Minivans, you’ll just have to see where the keyboard takes me… For now, I’m typing and writing posts that I’m sure my children will cringe at later in life… and that makes me happy. They, however, might need therapy, but at least they’ll be laughing while laying down on that couch.