Happy 3rd Anniversary to Family Footnote

Happy Anniversary to Family Footnote. It has been three whole years since Tessa told me to start a blog with her. I am forever grateful that I listened and committed to this online affair of writing, divulging, researching, and interviewing.

Thank You Readers

Family Footnote has come so far in thirty-six months. It is hard to break through all of the noise on the Internet, but we continue to hit milestones and increase readership. Subscribers, Facebook “likes”, and Twitter followers are all up for us. Full disclosure: I do not really understand what this means, but Tessa’s husband (aka: our tech guy) says it is wonderful.

I owe a lot to Family Footnote. Without it I am not sure if the whole “freelance writing” thing would have taken off for me. The posting of a blog keeps me consistently writing in my downtime, and there was quite a bit of downtime three years ago. Committing to writing as a career was a bit scary for me. It was difficult to get rid of my safety net of a part-time insurance job to do something more creative and yet more me? You know?

My Writing World Meets My Mom World

I have always loved writing, but it is a hard gig. There is a lot of rejection, so much editing, and an incredible amount of focused time. It is time that may end up going nowhere because people get bored after reading the first two lines. Footnote and Tessa keep me creating on the days where I feel uninspired or lack work motivation. Our blog serves as a resume and without it, I would have never gotten contributing jobs at: Black Hills FACES, Living Here, or the North Sioux City/Dakota Dunes Times.

Writing for outlets like: Pregnant Chicken, Her View from Home, and Sammiches & Psych Meds would also not have been possible without Family Footnote. This blog helps me work out my material and find a balance between being a mom and having a life outside of sippy cups, carpool, and dishwasher duty. If you ever think things are getting quiet on Footnote, please do not fear. It probably means that great things are happening for Tessa and me writing-wise. Deadlines can loom large, but we always come back to our blog because it is our writing home.

Tessa and I also learn new stuff all of the time from Family Footnote. For instance, our readers are huge pet lovers. It also seems like our audience likes us best when we keep it real. My “Embrace the Chaos” post was written during a time when I felt like all I was doing was running late and telling my kids to buckle up in the mini-van. That post hit home with a lot of other moms and dads, which is incredible and makes the world of parenting feel much less lonely.

No Time for a Book Club, but That’s Okay

Having an outlet to share my love for reading is another awesome thing about this blog. I need a book club in my life. However, my life also needs about two extra hours in the day, which means I will make do with force feeding my fave novels to you in the veiled disguise of book reviews. BTW…I just finished Liane Moriarty’s recent book Nine Perfect Strangers. It was a solid 3 1/2 stars. Great ending, but it had some slow parts. I am being nit picky because Moriarty is an amazing writer and I hold her way up their in regards to great authors. Her book What Alice Forgot is still an absolute favorite of mine.

The opportunities I get from writing for a blog, that I created with one of my best friends, is a surreal feeling. Sure, it leads to oversharing on my part and a level of vulnerability that I will probably never be 100% okay with…but as I have written before in one of my favorite all-time posts “Wanting Something More”,

“It feels good to be in my thirties and getting butterflies again.”

Thanks for reading, sharing, commenting, and hearing my writing voice! Cheers to more years of Family Footnote!

Leave a comment and let us know your favorite post from this past year!