blogging | BulgingButtons

June 23, 2014
by BulgingButtons 11 Comments

Racing Toward Milestones

Next week I will have been blogging for exactly one year. Holy cow! When I started writing BulgingButtons it was really for me, but I HOPED that someone, anyone really, would read it and chime in with a comment or two. Well, the good news is that you DO read it, and chime in often. I love reading your feedback and seeing where our experiences overlap, and where they differ.

It’s amazing to me that people from all over the globe (and I mean that quite literally) have stopped by and added their two cents to the conversation here at BulgingButtons. Sometimes we disagree, but more often we have similar experiences, and most of us are glad to know that we aren’t alone.

Soon there will be 1,000 people following this blog. That completely blows my mind. Yes, I know that not all 1,000 read every pearl of wisdom that finds its way into the blog, but that’s ok. There are still an awfully lot of you who do read and respond, and that just makes me happy beyond belief.

Have I reached my goals with the blog? Well, yes and no. Do I have a forum for sharing my ideas and a reason to write on a regular basis? Absolutely. Have I achieved my personal goals (aka the 47 for 47 challenge)? Hell no. Did I expect to? Not really, but if you don’t have any goals at all it’s harder to achieve anything. At least it is for me.

So far I’ve achieved almost a year of blogging and almost 1,000 followers. That blows me away, and I’m pretty tickled about both of those milestones.

Now the real life milestone. My house is supposed to close next Monday, so then I’ll officially be homeless. I do have a place to stay, thank goodness, and I’ve found a house I like. Tomorrow we’ll submit an offer and see what happens. Wish me luck. This is an incredibly stressful process, as many of you can attest to, and just not that much fun. It will all work out in the end though, it always does. Still, any positive energy you can send my way would be much appreciated.

And to those of you that have been around for a while, thank you so much for your encouragement. For those who have just found me, WELCOME! I hope you find this a safe, reasonably sane, and occasionally fun place to spend your time on the web.

Now which do you think we’ll hit first, one year or 1,000 followers? The race is on!

March 25, 2014
by BulgingButtons Leave a comment

Hello Botswana!

A remarkable thing has happened today. Someone from Botswana has visited BulgingButtons. Hooray!

Now I know what you’re thinking. It’s probably not a “real” person. It’s probably a scam. It’s probably someone trying to get me to optimize my SEO or upgrade my RSS or some other alphabet soup nonsense. I don’t care.

Their address is from Botswana. Botswana. Say it a few times. It just sort of rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?

A few years ago my friend was expecting her third daughter. I was quite sure that Botswana would be a perfect name for her little girl. She chose McKenna. Still cute, but not quite as cool as Botswana. Say it again to see what I mean.

Botswana just puts a smile on my face. I’m so glad that Botswana stopped by today. Hopefully we’ll see them again soon.

January 20, 2014
by BulgingButtons 15 Comments

Blog Bombing B and N

On days when the number of visits to BulgingButtons seems to stagnate, in spite of the sparkling gem of a post I have just shared with the world, I start to get a little peevish.

“Is anybody out there?” I wonder. “Am I irrelevant?”

I wonder if I’ve missed something. Some way of reaching out to people who might learn from or at least enjoy reading something I’ve written. In my heart I know they’re out there. People who want to make positive changes in their lives, but feel stuck for some reason. People who are not severely damaged, but may have a few dings and dents. People whose overall outlook on life is positive, but who still need a boost now and then. People like me.

I want those people to join the 500 or so others who have already discovered my little corner of the internet. I want them to read my words and shake their heads, and post their own thoughts and experiences. I want to draw them into the conversation. We’ve got a pretty cool little community over here, and I would love to see it grow.

With that outreach in mind, my brain started thinking about ways to share the blog, short of walking up to strangers on the street and handing them this web address. That would be weird, right? Yes, it would, in case you weren’t sure. My brain went back to the days of my life as a candle lady. Back in the day I wanted to expand my client base and grow my business so I read a few books and learned a few things. One thing that stuck was to go where the clients are.

So, where do people like me go? Well, everywhere, but one of my favorite places is the bookstore. You know, the giant one with the comfy chairs and the Starbucks inside? I love that place, and lots of other people do too. What if I printed up a few cards with a catchy phrase and my web addy and placed them strategically inside selected books? You know, kind of like what people do with their secrets in the PostSecret books? By the way, I look for those secrets. Haven’t found one yet.

I could put them in cookbooks, in Yoga for Dummies, in “Yes, You’re a Good Enough Mom” books, in “Get Creative” books, and in so many others. I think it would be fun to spend some time at the bookstore, slipping in “bookmarks” with the BulgingButtons addy on it. But honestly, I don’t know that I would get a single hit from the effort. Perhaps if I had something to gain from the exercise, aside from a couple of curiosity clicks, I might run with the idea. It does tickle me to think of putting my mark all over the bookstore, though. Maybe some lonely day when there are crickets chirping on my stats page I will actually follow through on this guerilla marketing plan. In the meantime, I would love to hear any crazy schemes you have for getting your content out there.