When did you start your blog?
I started blogging in March 2007.
Ivy and Noah were 15 months old and we had moved to rural NSW.
I had no idea about blogging before that.
Dave, my husband, suggested I start blogging because I was housebound after having our second set of twins. I was so isolated.
I had terrible postnatal depression, mingled with grief after we had lost our son in 2004 and he thought it would be a good outlet.
I didn’t start writing for an audience or to be part of something. That’s just how it turned out.
Little did I know how much of a lifesaver it would become and how the blogging community would help me through some really tough times.
What are your 5 must have tools for blogging?
1.Wordpress. I really love this platform.
2.Microsoft Office Picture Manager – a quick and easy way to downsize photos.
3.Somewhere (like Blog Chicks) where you can connect with other like minded bloggers and find a community. I’ve used a few, mostly American based, so it’s really nice to see Aussie forums popping up now.
4. Google. I love it for linking things up in posts.
5. Twitter is my latest tool which I have fallen in love with. I know I’m a bit behind the eight ball but I love being able to chat with others and reading other people’s thought processes.
Without a doubt, it’s the community. I love the way bloggers rally around each other, support one another, see each other through good times and bad. It took me about six months of blogging to discover that there was community out there, all bloggers, all with something to say. Until then, blogging was a form of therapy and pretty lonely, to be honest. It’s amazing, when I look back on how much my posts have changed since finding a ‘place’ in the blogosphere.
Don’t be too judgemental in your writing and if you are then expect opinions to be wide and varied.
I don’t know that I would change anything. Maybe learn a bit more about html and blog design first.
What has been your blog’s biggest achievement?
Wow, that’s a hard question.
I was one of five nominations for best Aussie blog this year. That was great.
I’m on the Australian Women’s Top 100 list, which is wonderful too.
I think though, the biggest achievement was when we couldn’t get Ivy’s medication approved. Through the blog and with the help of Aussie blogger Veronica from Sleepless Nights, a petition was signed by over 2000 people and got the interest of people, the media included.
More importantly, it made its way to the national blood authority, politicians and the doctors who were looking after Ivy’s case and within a few days the denial of the IVIG had been turned around and Ivy was in hospital having her first infusion.
It was an amazing time for me. It made me feel as though we were not alone in our journey.
Blog from your heart and keep things real.
I guess, blog for yourself and don’t worry too much about audience or statistics or numbers.
I went through a whole period of time where I worried whether my posts would attract many comments or many visits to my blog. The pressure on myself was great and I started to not really enjoy writing.
Once I got over that and went back to blogging just for the love of it, writing became easy and fun again.
I’ve never had any plans to make money from my blog. I find the whole thing confusing, in all honesty.
Having said that, lately I have been thinking about starting up a photography business and using the blog as a kind of stepping stone
to the website that will be attached to the company, so I guess, in a way it will be helping me to generate an income.
I think I have really short term goals for the blog.
I’d love to have an individual design ( although I have no idea how to go about it at this stage).
I’d love to promote a worthy cause and make a good contribution to that. For me, it’s the Australian Red Cross Blood Bank.
The more people who donate blood because they have heard Ivy’s story, the more I feel as though I am doing something good.
Another very hard question. I love so many and most of my favourites are women.I flit around alot but any that are in my blogroll are my favourites, where I lurk.
Danielle from 6 year med I love her honesty and her take on things as she makes her way through medical school to become a paediatrician. Her writing is amazing. It’s the human side of being a doctor. Something that is close to my heart too, how doctors relate to patients 
Jennifer’s Playgrounds are no place for Children was the first blog where I discovered community. She had this hilarious post up about sex do’s and don’ts. I laughed so hard I cried. Still one of my favourite women bloggers of all time. I love seeing how her blog has evolved over the years.
Sleepless Nights, another write from the heart blogger and a really nice person, would do anything to help a fellow blogger out. her mum, Kim also blogs, Frogponds rock, and I love her too
I love Kate’s blog, Picklesbum. I am drawn to it, the way she writes and we have things in common. She also takes the most amazing photos, is talented and has twins.
I wish I could name alot more because that was so difficult and I hate leaving people out.
