"Well, what's the purpose of it?"
"Do you just talk about your life?"
"Is it a blog about your pregnancy?"
"Who is your audience?"
It's hard to answer it all to so many different people, so I decided to write a "brief" history of my blog, followed by an explanation of its role in my life now, to maybe clear up some of these common Q's.
When I started the blog in 2010, it went by a different name, and I wrote entries about college and sorority life mainly. I've deleted many of those entries now because I would also talk about the nutcase of a roommate I had at the time and an unnamed friend who was suffering from an eating disorder (not negatively, just in general). I sounded so vain and immature sometimes. I would never release my full name or where I lived; it was like an online diary, I guess. I didn't really filter anything I wrote.
I grew bored with the blogging world and didn't really mess with it for nearly three years, but in the summer of 2013 (precisely a year ago), I came back with intentions of making this domain a health and fitness blog where I could journal new healthy recipes and smoothie mixes I was trying. I had also planned to begin blogging my workouts, which were pretty intense for a while, and list my muscle gain and fat loss along the way, but I never got around to it. Once again, I suppose I just lost interest.
When I discovered I was pregnant, I came back to it and renamed the blog "Keeping Pace." One of the main questions I've been asked, even from my husband, is why Keeping Pace? What does the name mean? Well, if you're keeping pace, it means you're keeping up. It's a play on words; my last name is now Pace, so you're keeping up with me. Get it? Clever, I know. I decided that although I wanted to refrain from making it a blog about my pregnancy or baby, I really did want to keep the site up-to-date with interesting articles and lifestyle columns. What it is:
Lately, I have written a lot about my pregnancy; this is a lifestyle blog after all, and pregnancy is currently a pretty big part of my life! Plus, there's just so many interesting areas to explore with pregnancy. I really like being a member of the Baby Center community; I never post anything on the discussion boards, but I love reading the discussions and thoughts of other mothers; it gives me an inside look to how different all of our nine month journeys really are. Much of what they say inspires me for what I write about here, concerning pregnancy and children of course.As my life changes, so will the content of my blog. I'm really looking forward to blogging more about health and fitness once Vaught arrives and I begin working on post-baby body. I'm a seasoned runner and weight trainer, so expect some good pieces on that in the future. I follow thirty-four week pregnant, WBFF competitor Abigail Edwards on Instagram and get a lot of my pregnancy workout ideas from her, and I would love to blog about those sometime soon. Basically though, a random thought or topic will just come to mind one day. I'll open the Blogger app on my phone and begin writing from where I am, be it in line at the grocery store or waiting in my OB's office.
Keeping Pace is a place for me to let everything out and be 100% honest--not that I'm not in real life, but I think that we understand ourselves and our situations so much better when we're able to put them down on paper, in our own words. Yes, I know this isn't exactly paper, but you get what I'm saying. Keeping Pace is not a reveal all, tell-all, but it is the one thing that can be all about me or whatever is going on in my life at the current time. It's not like Twitter or Instagram, or dare I say Faccebook, where you don't have a choice but to see what I post or Tweet. If you're reading this, then you made an effort to come here, meaning you're interested in my life and/or what I have to say, which I LOVE. Seriously, I love how many readers I've gained since going public! Even still, you're reading truly by choice; I can put whatever I please on here, and if you grow tired of me, all you do is simply stop visiting. Because of that, I can write whatever I please. There's much that I'd rather not say on Twitter or Instagram because I don't want to offend anyone or hurt any feelings. But this blog is an open range where I feel like I can write about anything I want without having to tailor much of what I say. That's what I truly love about blogging.
What it isn't:
As stated above, it's not my online personal diary. If you're looking for deep, dark secrets you won't find them here. This blog is not where I hang my dirty laundry, trust me :)My precious baby boy... I love how many celebrity gossip magazines are adopting the "No Kid Policy," meaning that they are refusing to print paparazzo photos of celebrities' children; they will only print pictures of famous children if the photos were made public by the parents (i.e.: Channing Tatum posts a picture of his little girl to Instagram with millions of followers; therefore, People Magazine is safe to use it as well). I would almost like to adopt a "No Kids Policy" with Vaught. Yes, I will post plenty of pictures of him, I'm sure, but this blog is not the place to do it. Also, I do not want, and am very adamant in this, a "Facebook baby," where it seems like my child's entire life is documented on Facebook, or any social media for that matter. Before deactivating Facebook, I vividly remember a friend of mine posting question's about her newborn son's recently circumcised penis, open for all Facebook friends to see. And people were answering her questions like it was nothing. Maybe it was okay to many of them, but I just completely disagreed with it. To each his own, but personally, I would never, ever put stuff like that out there for everyone to see. First, out of respect for my son. Secondly... it's just not what I want to see on social media. And I don't want to do that to other readers. So, this is not a place where you'll read all about my son's life as he grows and develops into the handsome little stud I know he'll be. I'm extremely personal about pictures of young children and babies being everywhere, and this definitely is not the place for that.
A ranting page. This should be quite obvious because I don't have any posts where I'm just throwing a fit. I've seen lots of blogs like that though... the writers just seem so angry! Who wants to read that?? Some of it's entertaining, sure, but this is not the thing I'll turn to when something or someone pisses me off. Positive vibes only!
To sum it up, Keeping Pace is one of the things I am happiest about in my life. I know that probably sounds weird, but I love writing; therefore, I really love my blog. It's a place where I can be myself without worry and a place I can connect with other bloggers. We all have interesting things to share and talk about, and I love reading about others' lives and experiences. If you're reading, then I want to encourage you to continue doing so. It makes me so happy to log on every day and see the page view tab keep going up and up. It's inspiring and makes me want to go even further with my blog. Once Baby Pace arrives, expect my entries to tailor slowly back to the "lifestyle" area, with many articles about fitness, health, and of course, post-baby body updates. I'm seriously considering enrolling in a bootcamp after baby and tracking my progress, scary as that might seem right now.
You're not going to see breastfeeding selfies nor any opinion articles on breastfeeding here :) You're not going to be forced to listen to me whine and complain about the hardships of being a new, young mother. Keeping Pace is a positive, happy place. And I am hopeful that you'll continue keeping up with me.
No comments:
Post a Comment