Hi! I’m Victoria and I blog at Creative Home Keeper where my passion and goal is to encourage and equip women to embrace their roles as keeper of their homes and to live simply, intentional, and inspired. I started CHK last May as a side project but through prayer and God’s blessing, it is quickly growing and turning into an eMinistry where I share encouragement and tips on how to live a more intentional life. I also write about my passion for all things books well as DIY projects, recipes, home management tips and my deep love for my family. Speaking of family, I have been married to my husband for almost 7 years now and we have two small children, Silas who is 3 and Amelia who is 21 months old.
Balancing blogging and family life
Trying to find the balance between blogging and family life can sometimes be a bit tricky due to technology being ever present. I don’t hold the rule that I will never be on the computer in front of my kids because I do think it’s important that they see and know that Mommy is working. With that being said though I make sure that when I am on the computer while they are up, it’s only for a set time limit and I have a very specific list of tasks that I need to finish quickly.
I believe the key to successful blogging and to overcome writer’s block and burnout, is to actually live your life. If I’m just tapping away behind the computer screen while ignoring my family, then what do I really have to share about my life on the blog? I make it a priority to have intentional time with my kids every morning and afternoon. I also sit down with them during lunch instead of checking my email or other tasks. My husband and I make it an effort to spend some time together every evening, and I always try to take Sundays off.
Finding time to blog
Since my family is my first priority and my kids are so young where they do require a lot of attention, I have to be very intentional about the little time I have available to blog. I wake up every morning around 5am to read my Bible, work out and get dressed for the day. My kids usually wake up sometime between 7-8am so if they aren’t up yet then I will hop on the computer and do some writing. After I clean up the breakfast dishes and get my kids occupied with an activity I will use that time to check email, engage on social media or edit a photo, but I set the time limit for 15-20 minutes so I don’t get stuck in the time wasting vortex of Facebook!
My consistent solid chunk of work time is every afternoon while my kids nap. I usually have about two hours to write, edit and do any any other task that needs to be completed. Finally after my kids are both in bed for the night I will spend about 30 minutes replying to comments, checking social media and scheduling my post for the next day. Then I turn the computer off and either read or watch TV with my husband. It’s not a huge amount of time that I get to devote to blogging daily and I’m sure that the blog would be larger if I could invest more, but I have to use the limited time I have during this season intentionally.
Advice for other bloggers
My biggest piece of advice is actually two fold: 1). Know you can’t do everything and 2). Stop comparing yourself to others.
There are so many Facebook groups to join, so many link parties to participate in, so many books and articles to read about improving your blog, so many plugins to learn about, so many design elements to incorporate on your blog, so many topics to write about… the list is endless but the thing you have to remember the most is who you are and why you chose to blog. What’s the mission behind your blog? What’s the purpose? Make goals based off those and from there you can create task lists of realistic to-do items. No body can do everything on a giant list of blog improvement ideas but you can prioritize and create an action plan.
Also in blogging it is so easy to get lost in the comparison trap always thinking that someone else’s blog is better or bigger. I have definitely fallen into that trap myself and I even had to stop reading some blogs for a period of time. I think this also comes back to knowing what your blog’s mission statement is. Knowing why you blog and what your blogging goals are can help to stop comparing yourself to other bloggers. You don’t know what’s behind the other blogger’s screen but you do know what’s in your own heart. Spend some time praying over your blog and if you don’t already have a mission statement, craft one. Ask God to show you how He wants to grow your blog and what steps you need to take. Don’t be afraid to dream either! Your God-sized dream may seem unattainable but God can use your devotion and dreams and transform them into something amazing!
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Love your two pieces of advice! So true and very important to remember! Thanks for sharing Victoria!