Category: bloggers

Of princesses and zombies…

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One of my favourite blogs is Confessions of a  Zombie Mom, written by Melanie Blignaut. Not only is she funny and her daughters adorable! She is also very spiritual and gives great practical advice you can actually use, like how to plan a party on a budget and not to flinch when your daughter want’s to trade you in for a cartoon character…here is what Melanie had to say šŸ™‚ 

Tell us a little about your family…
I met my husband, Jacques, 14 years ago when we both studied drama at Wits. He’s an actor and I’m more of a behind-the-scenes girl. We’ve been married for five years and have two daughters. Angie (aka Poppet) is four and Emmy (aka Pixie) is two. Both are chatterboxes and have an endless supply of energy, so our house is never quiet! They are also both obsessed with Frozen, Tinker Bell and the Disney princesses. We have a male cat, Napoleon, so Jacques doesn’t have to feel so outnumbered.

-What do you do when not blogging?
I teach drama at several preschools in my area and I’m currently helping two preschools with their end-of-year concerts. Jacques and I run the drama ministry at our church, so I’m always in a state of pre-production for one project or another. Angie is at school half-day, so my afternoons are spent with my girls. Our days usually involve dressing up or doing crafts.

-What made you decide to blog?
I started blogging partly as a way to stay sane, and partly to share what is going on in my life with friends who live overseas.

-What was your concept behind your two blogs?
Confessions of a Zombie Mom is meant to be a humourous look at parenting. I figured that it’s either laugh about it, or cry. Wind in a Letterbox is a more personal blog. I share more deeply about my experience as a wife and mother, and how I try to teach my girls about Jesus. My hope is that I can encourage other moms who are in a similar stage of life.

-Did you find yourself nervous at prospect of letting people into your life in this way?
I try not to think too much about it, although I do get a bit taken aback when someone comments in real life about something I’ve posted on the blog or on my Facebook page.

-Do you ever worry that your kids will be like “mom why are you exposing my life?” 
I don’t share anything that I think may be embarrassing for the girls. I hope that when they are older they will enjoy looking back over my blog posts and reading about themselves as children. If they ever tell me to take a post down, then I will.

-Does your family read your blog?
Yes.

-What do you hope to achieve through the blog?
To make people smile, to show moms they’re not alone in their experiences and struggles, to encourage people.

-What do you think about the blogging culture in South Africa?
I’ve connected with some lovely people, but I also get the impression that some circles are quite clique-y and hard to get into.

-What do you think makes for a “good blog”
I like reading about personal experiences or posts that encourage/challenge my thinking. I tend to avoid sites that are review-heavy.

-How do you personally measure success in the blogging world
I think if people are reading and responding, whether it’s by liking the post or commenting, then I’m doing something right.

Find out about Hayley’s Joys

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This week I am featuring Hayley from Hayley’s Joys . This personal style blog is a great look into Hayley’s seemingly effortlessly stylish life. I LOVE her fashion posts especially the mommy and daughter outfit posts!!! It’s a must to check out, her daughter Alyssa is just toooooo cute!

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Tell us a little about your family…
My immediate family consists of 5ā€¦ my husband Kurt and I, our daughter Alyssa and our 2 four-legged companions Tony and Trevor. Kurt and I will be married for 6 years in October, the time has literally just flown by and 19 months ago, Alyssa was welcomed into the world. Our lives have certainly changed once Alyssa arrived but we are enjoying every minute of it.
What do you do when not blogging?
I have a full-time job which occupies most of my week but my evenings and weekends are for family QT.
What made you decide to blog?
Iā€™ve always loved documenting things in various forms and have followed a number of blogs over the past few years. Iā€™ve wanted to start a blog for a long while, but in 2014 I just felt that the time was rightā€¦. It was a ā€œnow or neverā€ type of feeling.
What was your concept behind the blog?
I want to create a scrapbook of memories for our little family. I also want to document all the prettiness in my life especially that of my daughter J and hopefully share our joys with the readers.
Did you find yourself nervous at prospect of letting people into your life in this way?
Yes, I think this is the reason why I procrastinated in getting the blog going.
Do you ever worry that your child will be like “mom why are you exposing my life?”
I will never ā€œexposeā€ my child in any negative way but as she gets older I am sure she will have her opinion which I will definitely take into account.
Does your family read your blog?
Yes
What do you hope to achieve through the blog?
I would like to document but also inspire and share my experiences with the readers which can hopefully add some meaning in their lives. Little things we do can sometimes make a big difference in another personā€™s life.
What do you think about the blogging culture in South Africa?
Being new to the blogosphere, I find that there is a lot of diversity when it comes to SA Bloggers, however some are not given the recognition as well as others.
What do you think makes for a “good blog”
Relatable, original and consistent content.
How do you personally measure success in the blogging world?

I think the more engagement and interaction with readers will be an indication of the Blogā€™s success but from a personal point of view – creating content that you as a Blogger can be proud of is most probably the best indicator.  



Harassing the Harassed mom for some answers :)

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I love Laura’s blog, Harassed Mom there is something very relatable about it. I find myself agreeing, or just “getting it” so often, despite not having four kids or an ex husband, hehehe.
Laura has a great sense of humour and her blog is just one of those “must-follows”
Here is what she has to say about being “A mom who blogs”





-Tell us a little about your family…
We are a mixed bunch of individuals. David and I have been married for just over a year but we met over 5 years ago in a dodgy little pub in Fourways. We have four kids, two are mine and two are ours. Cameron is 12 years old and keeps us busy with his sports, Kiara is 10 and lives in her own little bubble, sometimes entering our world to do mundane things like go to school, Jack is 3 and currently rules the house, despite our best attempts at telling him he is only 3 and cannot tell us what to do and Emma is 6 months old, she is, despite being the fourth child, rather demanding and likes to spend her days being carried around. David works in aviation insurance and I work from home, when Emma allows.
  
-What do you do when not blogging?
I am creating content, which is pretty easy when you have four kids. I also do work from home as a freelance writer in the mornings and the afternoons are pretty much spent driving kids around.
-What made you decide to blog?
My friend Jeanette suggested I start a blog just after I left my ex-husband. It actually started out as a photo challenge blog but quickly turned into a journal of my experience getting divorced and being a single mom.
-What was your concept behind the two blogs?
Harassedmom is just that ā€“ a blog about being an harassedmom. I honestly never really thought much about why I wanted to blog or what I was going to blog about long term. It has sort of evolved on its own as my life has changed.
My aim BlogShareConnect is to create a blog about blogging and connecting. I would ultimately like to create a resource for bloggers to guide them through the minefield that is blogging, dealing with brands, press releases etc as well as a platform to organise regular get-togethers.
-Did you find yourself nervous at prospect of letting people into your life in this way?
No I can honestly say I never did. I am by nature an over sharer so it wasnā€™t something I have ever really worried about or even considered.
-Do you ever worry that your kids will be like “mom why are you exposing my life?”
 My kids know I blog and they know that I share stuff about them ā€“ neither of the older ones have (as yet) asked me to not say stuff or remove stuff BUT I am more cautious when I share stuff about the older two now and try to share MY experience of the situation as opposed to theirs. If there comes a time where they do ask me to remove stuff I will.
-Does your family read your blog? Yes.
-What do you hope to achieve through the blog?
This is a hard one to answer because I have only recently started thinking about this. I think if I have to think of something it would be to let people know they arenā€™t alone by sharing the challenges and joys of parenting honestly. So often when we are going through a rough patch with our kids, we think we are messing up, we feel alone and a little hopeless but the reality is that everyone is going through or has gone through the same thing.
-What do you think about the blogging culture in South Africa?
It is too divided. I am not sure how it happened or even why but there are such distinct lines which make it a challenge, I do hope this changes though.
-What do you think makes for a “good blog”?
Honesty and regular original content
-How do you personally measure success in the blogging world?
I donā€™t. The easy answer would be the number of comments, hits or impressions or what not but I donā€™t think thatā€™s where it lies. I think it lies in creating a space that you feel proud of.

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Skimming Stones and answering questions

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Although I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting Ursula of Skimming Stones in person I like her already, she gives off such a laid back motherly vibe that it’s pretty hard not to just like her…
She blogs about her family and life and my favourite…DIY!!! so you really need to check out her blog…

Well I asked her some questions and she gave me some answers:

– Tell us a little about your family…

I have taken the scenic mothering route.  I fell pregnant at 20 with my eldest daughter, her father left me as soon as he found out that I was pregnant.  I met my first husband when just 2 months pregnant with Dominique.  He was very supportive and even attended antenatal classes with me, but he was also very young (21).  We dated and got engaged.  Not being one to learn from my mistakes I fell pregnant outside the sanctuary of marriage yet again.  Our wedding date moved forward and Heath was born in 1991.  Suddenly my young husband who had a yearning to travel,  found a wife and 2 children were more than he could cope with, he left when Heath was 6 weeks old.  For a long long time I was a single mother.  I met my husband Clifford (online) in 2004 and we were married the following year.  Cliff did not have children and really wanted a family,  Fjord was born in 2007 and Acacia in 2010.  Life is very different now, instead of having to go straight back to work leaving a 6 week old baby at home, I am now a stay at home mum.   Each of my children are unique and wonderful but I am a better mother now with the benefit of a little more wisdom, more experience and less stress.  

-What do you do when not blogging?

When I am not blogging I spend time with my children.  Today for example, I must shop for supper.  I need to cook supper early to be re-heated when I get home from doing a Proudly e tag free bridge banner protest this afternoon / early evening.  I really want to try out a yummy looking Stork recipe for coffee cookies so hope I have time to do that.  My husband comes home for lunch every day, I need to make sure that there is something for him to eat.  I then fetch my 7 year old son from school and do homework with him.  In between all that I would really love to find the time to finish making a nightie for my niece’s birthday, so far I have just embroidered her name on the front piece, must get cracking as her birthday is next Monday and I need to post it to get to Durban by then.  If we are organised enough after the children go to bed we will watch some tv and enjoy a glass of wine.

-What made you decide to blog?

I love writing but often went long stretches without writing anything more than a grocery list.  A friend suggested blogging and once I figured out what that was I was sold.  I do some creative writing and love doing those posts most.  I like to share positive and negative experiences with products and services.  Blogging also serves as a journal, I can remind myself how to make a duvet cover or where we stayed on a particular holiday.  It’s also useful when I loose the hard copy of a recipe.  

-What was your concept behind your blog?

With my first blog Sula 1968 I was so clueless that I didn’t even realize that would be the name of my blog when setting it up.  I then migrated to my own domain Skimming Stones for a few reasons which people who are more web smart than me advised.  My brother Paul from Print Wild set it up and hosts it for me.  I’m far too fragmented to have a concept, I write what I want when I feel like it for multiple reasons. 

-Did you find yourself nervous at prospect of letting people into your life in this way?

Nah, I’ve never been too bothered about sharing.  Many years ago I was in an abusive relationship which ended in a court case over the breach of a family violence interdict.  I realised then that it is so important to share as there are many going through what we are going through and feeling so alone.  That said I will never write the details if I have a row with someone, that is bad taste and they don’t get to air their side.  I did learn one hard lesson about the dangers of the internet.  I once posted about my son choosing to have his face painted as a butterfly instead of a more boyish thing, with that post I had a high resolution picture just of his face.  One morning after that I noticed that my blog stats for the previous evening were more than double the usual number of hits.  I clicked on the link where most traffic had come from and was horrified to see a post on a paedophile network with a link to my blog post and the comment “check out the lovely high res image of this cutie”.  I was totally freaked out, I deleted that post and any which showed my children too clearly, I then converted all the pictures to low resolutuion.   We really need to be aware that there are some very bad people out there. 

-Do you ever worry that your kids will be like “mom why are you exposing my life?”

I don’t really worry about that I think they will like to have a record of what we have done together.

-Does your family read your blog?

Some of my family read my blog, they seem to enjoy it. 

-What do you think about the blogging culture in South Africa?

To be honest I’m still learning about the blogging culture in SA, I read some amazing blogs, the ones which read too much like adverts are a bit of a bore.

-What do you think makes for a “good blog”

A number of things make for a good blog, firstly good writing.  I particularly enjoy the posts which I can identify with or learn from (crafts and recipes), I love humour. 

-How do you personally measure success in the blogging world

I guess the measure of sucess would be number of followers and number of comments.  In this case I have a long way to go.  I only have 12 e-mail subscription followers (sniff) and 38 people follow the facebook page for the blog.  Hmmm I guess that makes me a bit of a failure, oh well onwards and forwards.

Answer some questions, Pretty Please Charlie

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This is not the first time I have interviewed Charlene, in fact she did a Shoe Day   post with me last year. . . So needless to say I have been reading her blog for a while now and I was pretty chuffed to find that she is part of SA Mom Blogs…She writes over at PrettyPleaseCharlie focusing on all things beauty…The great thing about her is that she is honest about the products she reviews…no PR sucking up for this girl…she calls a spade a spade, or in her case a bad lipstick a bad lipstick…hehehe
Here is what she has to say:

PicMonkey Collage
Totally stole this pic from her about page

-What made you decide to blog in the first place?
I love trying new products, especially make-up and skincare. I could see my family and friends were not as in to it as I was and I ran out of people to tell. So I thought, why not blog?
-What was your concept behind your blog?
I get very excited about all things beauty and I especially love to share products and tips that have made me feel more confident. If one of my posts can lead to someone else feeling better about themselves, Iā€™ve done what Iā€™ve set out to do. It may sound very superficial, but itā€™s not necessarily about beauty, itā€™s about feeling comfortable in your own skin.
– Do you have a system in regards to how often you blog?
I just try to blog as often as I can, whether itā€™s three times a week or three times a day. I have a full time job and a very busy toddler, so it all depends on time available. Family always comes first though.
-Did you find yourself nervous at prospect of letting people into your life in this way?
Yes, I do. I feel very vulnerable when posting about my personal life. I donā€™t do it too often, but I have found that those posts are usually the most popular and sometimes lead to something more positive. 
-Do you ever worry that your kids will be like “mom why are you exposing my life?” (I worry sometimes)?
Yes. Thatā€™s why I prefer to keep family posts to a minimum. I do like to show her off now and then šŸ˜‰
-Does your family read your blog?
Only when I force them too. Ha-ha. See answer to question 1.
-What do you hope to achieve through the blog?
My blog is my way of being part of an industry that I love. I get a huge thrill when a PR company sees fit to share the news of a new launch or product with me. It makes me feel like my opinion matters. I love in turn sharing this with my readers.
-What do you think about the blogging culture in South Africa?
I am very blessed to be part of an awesome community. I have met so many wonderful people. People that will remain my friends, even if the blog does not. I know that there is a lot of nastiness and politics, but I have luckily not experienced it myself, or I may just be too blonde to notice.  
-What do you think makes for a “good blog”
Honesty. Whether you blog about your personal life or only post reviews, be honest and be true to yourself. Donā€™t blog in the hopes that others will love your blog, you need to love your blog. Your passion for what you write about will shine through.
-How do you personally measure success in the blogging world
Letā€™s be honest. For a beauty blog, stats, followers and PR mailing lists are very important. I also believe that if you can look at your work and feel proud, you are successful, never mind the stats.

Blogger, Namreen lets us pry a little

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It’s my favourite time of the week again….time to introduce you to my favourite “SA moms who blog” .
Today I’m sharing an interview with Namreen Sonday from over at  Life and Times of the Fireflies 
This woman can WRITE! I’m usually drawn to funny light hearted blogs (and crafting ones) but for me her blog has the effect of a nice warm cup of chai, soothing and deep without being pretentious – She just has a way with words…. 
Here is what she has to say about being a blogging mom
Cover photo
What made you decide to blog in the first place
I was more coaxed into blogging by my sisters. I have always loved writing! It is therapeutic and cathartic and has been a great source of comfort for my soul. For a long time i was a ā€˜Closet writerā€™…just pouring my heart into a journal, but my sisters felt I had enough talent to start a blog and convinced me that blogging was a great way to share my passion with the world. Iā€™m glad they did.

What was the concept behind your blog
A combination of all my favourite things I guess…My Family, which focuses on my relationships and bond with my own siblings and parents as well as my kids. Sharing some of my favourite recipes and my passion for baking. And probably my favourite would be sharing my life lessons, looking for the message in everything…and obviously I try and articulate it all with my passion for the artistry of words. Overall i wanted it to be little messages for my kids to look back on someday. Leave behind a little piece of me.

Do you have a system in regards to how often you blog
Kind of. But things donā€™t always run according to schedule. Since I write about varied things, I try and do one thing under each topic a month. Example 1 recipe, one inspirational post, if itā€™s someoneā€™s birthday then that would also fall into the schedule. That way Iā€™m never really at a loss for things to write. But sometimes, other things crop up that I need to write out of my system. But having a sort of schedule helps keep me consistent.

Did you find yourself nervous at the prospect of letting people into your life this way
Definitely YES! It was a big part of the decision making when I got started. Exposing my life and opening myself to judgement was extremely frightening for me. But I had to mentally overcome that before I even started. For now, my blog focuses more on my thoughts than my life and itā€™s comforting to know that there are so many people that identify with what I have to say. In the end I took the leap because it was a platform for me to do what I love.

Do you ever worry that your kids will be like ā€œMom, why are you exposing my life?ā€
Initially, yes. I wanted to pursue this without exposing them too much. But I think Iā€™ve figured out a balance. The blog isnā€™t solely about them, in fact, itā€™s more of a message TO them. And they quite enjoy when they do feature and I know they really look forward to their birthday posts J . I think, maybe because they are older, they have a good understanding of the process.

Does your family read your blog
Yes! And they even share their favourite posts J. They are my biggest cheerleaders and supporters!

What do you hope to achieve through your blog
Hmmm. Tough questionā€¦.I always believe, as people, that even though our stories are different, we all go through so much of the same emotions. My blog shares a very personal journey, and all I hope for is that my words can leave a little impact on the reader. 

What do you think of the blogging culture in South Africa
Iā€™m really so new to this I donā€™t really know what to think. I know itā€™s not as big here as it is in the UK and USA so growth for a blog is kind of slow in comparison, but Iā€™m grateful for the many great friendships I have made along the way! I find a lot of bloggers very accepting, helpful, welcoming and encouraging to newbie bloggersā€¦.I havenā€™t personally encountered much nastiness.

What do you think makes for a good blog
I am always intrigued by writing style. I know many people are drawn in by the layout and designā€¦but for me itā€™s the words that keep me captivated. As much as all the technical stuff is important, writing is a form of art too. Visiting a blog is a temporary escape from realityā€¦. And great writing is what helps to take you on a journey. Good, quality pictures are also important. It helps tell the story. I also think for different genres there would be different criteria. But whatever the genreā€¦words can make or break I think. It is also important to be authentic and true to yourself. It is easy to pick up authenticity.

How do you personally measure success in the blogging world

I really thought long and hard on this oneā€¦ I think it all depends on what you want to achieve from your blog. For some it would be getting into the social aspect of blogging; attending events etc. For others it is in statistics; pageviews and likesā€¦.for me personally it comes from interaction with readers. People that comment and let me know how a post resonated with them. All the little inbox messages from readers that appreciate and enjoy my blog or tried a recipe that was a successā€¦and the best measure of success from me is the acknowledgement and recognition from my peers. Itā€™s good to know readers enjoy what you do, but even better when a fellow blogger commends you on your craft!