Well folks, it's been 31 days.  Today is the last day of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge.  This challenge has been amazing and I have learned so much.  I hate to see it end!


When the idea of starting a blog first popped into my head it had one drawback.  Someone might read it.  I had to really push past my comfort zone in order to put myself out there.  I knew I needed an outlet but fear held me back.  The only thing that finally allowed me to convince myself to take the risk was knowing that it would be unlikely for anyone to ever read my blog anyway.  I certainly wasn't going to tell anyone about it.


I started writing and posting and I was happy with that.

For awhile.

At some point it dawned on me that writing a blog was kind of silly without anyone to read it.  Sometimes feedback would be nice.  I was curious what other people had to say.  It's nice to have another viewpoint from time to time.  Plus an occasional pat on the back wouldn't hurt the self esteem.

At this point I stepped back and took a good critical look at my blog.

I started to panic.

I had no idea what I was doing!

Now, I was seriously considering the possibility that someone out there might come across my blog and actually read it.  I had to face the fact that they probably wouldn't like it.  There wasn't much to it at all.

The naive me who had just started a blog had no idea how to really start a blog.  I just thought you just wrote stuff and clicked post.  I had no idea what was really involved in building a real blog.

So I started to look at other blogs.  Surely I could figure out what the good bloggers were doing.  I am a smart girl.  My all knowing friend Google has never failed me before.    Then I started noticing a SITS button on many of the blogs I was reading.  Well if all the good bloggers are using this SITS thing it must be good.

I clicked it.

I was unprepared for the wealth of information I found.  "The Secret to Success is Support."  This site was specifically made for support!!  Support is exactly what I need!  They were going through a revamp which scared me a bit.  I didn't want to lose any of this vast wealth of information!  Part of the revamp was starting a new forum.  A forum that offered support for bloggers?!  This was way too good to be true.  This is exactly what I was looking for but didn't know it.

The first day the forum was up I saw a post.  As fate luck chance divine intervention would have it Shelley from I'm Still Standing was asking if anyone would be interested in participating in a 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge.  Um hello!  Could that be any more appropriate?  31 Days of learning how to build a blog!!!!  This was exactly what I needed.



Only one little problem.  I had no idea what this actually entailed.  Would I be getting myself in way over my head?  Well I had come this far . . .  Just like when I had the initial thought to start a blog and again when I considered having followers I was faced with a decision.

Would I jump in?

I held my breath . . .

and jumped.

I wrote a quick post saying I was interested.

Then I collapsed into a full blown panic attack!

and so my 31 Days to Build a Better Blog journey began . . .