My mom commented on the last post and asked how I got started with the blog. So I thought I’d share kind of how this blog came to be and why/what I write about.

I actually started with a different website that no longer exists. I can’t even remember the name, but something like Richey Family Adventures. It was kind of a journal thing about our family. I wrote a few little articles about what we were doing, mostly for family to read. But it wasn’t consistent, and I didn’t know much about blogging or websites.

When I started to sell my art I decided I wanted a place online to do that, so I started learning how to create this website. It was a huge learning curve as you may have read previously. But I did learn, and I got my site up and running selling art. But not a lot of people found my website, at least not legitimate buyers. So I did some research and a lot of the research said that writing a blog to go along with whatever website you had would draw in more visitors.

That’s kind of how it all began. I didn’t write about my art so much though, which was kind of what I had intended. I found that I just enjoyed sharing whatever was on my mind at the time. I found the writing to be fun, and a few people subscribed.

As I was still researching ways to grow a business, one of the things that came up along the way was the idea of combining a series of blog posts with a similar theme into a book. Many of my earliest posts were about goal setting. I had to add to them to make chapters, but I then self-published a book about goal setting. I didn’t spend a lot of money on the publishing and was able to make the money I had invested back, so I did a second book. Interestingly enough, I haven’t sold any of those books for over a year, but got a notification that 3 of each book had sold in the month of April.

I have written a third book. This one I decided to go through a publishing company. The first one I submitted to rejected my manuscript, but the second one accepted it, and it is in process, but approaching the completed stage!

I think blogging has helped me be more comfortable, not only with the writing process, but being comfortable with other people seeing what I’m writing. Ultimately, I think that is what gave me the confidence to actually attempt writing a book as that thought had never crossed my mind before. Nor do I think I would have just jumped in and written a book prior to the blog.

The nice part about having a schedule to the blog is that it forces me to come up with content 2 times a week, to thing more deeply about things, and to actually write down what it is I think and believe. I still don’t have a lot of subscribers, but you do live in a large variety of locations, and I am grateful for each one of you who takes the time to read my blog. Thank you!