Designed to be Different - What I Learnt at BritMums Live Today #BML17

That I'm different

and it's OK to be different.

That my fashion sense isn't like anyone else's and that may be because I'm lacking in style

and I'm OK with that.

That I should have had a Diet Coke rather than wine last night

because I'm a Lightweight.

That flat lays will never be me, I just don't have that eye

but I have other talents.

That I don't have to conform

and I love the freedom that allows me.

That no-one else can do me as well as I can
so I need to embrace who I am and celebrate it.

That factors like DA, page views, sponsored post rates and TOTs scores don't define me

because I'm way more than a number.

That letting your blog and social presence change and evolve as you do is good

because being authentically you will always be more important than being liked.

That very few people know who I am nowadays

and I'm happy being under the radar.

Digital Activism - Why bother?

I can't find who to credit this picture to but thank you and let me know if it is you!

Last Saturday I was privileged to be part of a session at Britmums Live on the subject of digital activism and how it's shaping the world we live in. The 40 minutes went past way too fast and I don't feel I got to share all the information I wanted to, so here I am sharing the rest (and a few things I did get the chance to say for those of you who didn't make it to the session).First off let me reassure you that digital activism does work, it is not just slactivism or armchair activism as some people call it. I can give you so many examples of where bloggers have made a difference; we have a voice,
influence and credibility.

Digital activism works
Here is just a couple of examples - back in 2011 Chris Mosler was heading off to the US for a UN General assembly after her trip to Mozambique with Save the Children (STC). About 30 bloggers have been at a STC conference that day and at the end Hello it's Gemma and I wanted to do something to increase the amount of people who had signed the #healthworkers petition and show the UN assembly the strength of opinion on the need to fund more health workers in developing countries. So we set the challenge for bloggers to write 100 words on what their midwife meant to them and we targeted ourselves to get 100 posts live. Within 36 hours there were 164 posts shared and linked up and over a million impressions on twitter. It was an awesome time and possibly the most viral post I've ever had with in excess of 35,000 hits on that page within about a week.

Dear So and So - Britmums Live 2015

Dear Clare,

Thanks for being my roomie yet again but sorry the Travelodge was so hot that you didn't get any sleep and I got very little. We really must try to be more classy next year and stay somewhere else! Anyway I had a fab time with you, particularly on the Friday when we both had a little too much booze and enjoyed dinner with some epic ladies, even if that Jessup really was quite rude to me and Stef revealed things to the whole restaurant that she might have regretted the next morning.

It was good to know that throughout the conference I could easily find you in your comfy courtyard chair crocheting a granny square.

Love you bloggy bestie, Mich xx

PS - I love this picture of us, it is probably my favourite picture of me in years 

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Keep Calm and Blog On - BritMums Live is Almost Here

I'm getting pretty long in the tooth now, I've definitely moved into the Grandmother realm of parent blogging and established myself as an old hat. Bloggers that I still think of as new have now been established for four years or more and when I look back I realise my first post went live in 2008 and that is seven years ago. In terms of blogging that is an awful long time now.

Early 2010 was when I really broke into the parent blogging community and started to be brave and share content, joining in with linkies like The Gallery and Dear So and So, commenting elsewhere and even joining twitter. I made some great friends, ones which are now real life buddies, I made lots of fabulous acquaintances that I can chit chat with and I also met a few nasties along the way, but not many, honestly the people I would rather never meet again can be counted on one hand. The parent blogging sphere is a great one; supportive and fun in the main.

Being a Digitial Activist - I'm Speaking at BritMums Live 2015

Me as part of the panel I sat on in 2012

It is always a pleasure to go to BritMums Live each year. This is definitely my favourite blogging event of the year and one I have not missed for about the last four years. I've spoken before, I've been a butterfly (to welcome newbies) and I even moderated a room last year but my favourite thing is to just be there; meet friends, eat good food and soak in the atmosphere.

This year I am on a panel on the Saturday morning and I'm speaking alongside Hayley Goleniowska, Karen Cannard and Jean McLean. Our session is titled - “Digital Activism – Charities, campaigning and shaping the world we live in” and we will be discussing what it is like to campaign (both on and offline) for what we believe in.

#BritMumsLive - a whole new perspective

I've been to quite a few blogger conferences now and never are they the same. Even when they are in the same venue, there is still always something new to learn but I got a whole new perspective this time by moderating a room. For the uninitiated, this means I stayed in one room for the whole conference and introduced the speakers and kept the Q&A on time. I can honestly say I really enjoyed it and it meant that I got to listen in to sessions I might never have gone to if I had just been looking at the program.

So here's a thought for you, next time you go to a conference and the agenda looks too big and overwhelming and you find yourself wondering what on earth you might do I'd say find a room where there is a few sessions you like the look of and go and sit in there. 

There are many plus points for this - 

• you can retain the best seat in the room for the whole day
• all the bloggers you fancy chatting with will come to you (as you can tweet out where you are)
• you'll remain calm and sweat free as you don't have to run from the second floor to lower ground in under 5 minutes!
• you'll learn things you never even realised you needed to know and you never know they might just have some bloggy benefits to come out of them
• you can make friends with the moderator

I had a great time at the conference, BritMums Live has always been my favourite but I do wonder if it had got just a bit too big this year, 700 people all together is pretty overwhelming, even for an old timer like me.

What I learnt

Even though I was working rather than attending as a delegate I still learnt some new things and now have a list of jobs that I must get on with over the next couple of months.

1. Don't just accept the offers that come through to me. When offered an idea for a sponsored post pitch back to them with something that interests me and my readers more but still fits their need. Jen at Mum in the Madhouse
2. When working with brands, change your perspective, it is not about you, it is about the brand. We have all got so hung up on 'what is in it for me?' and actually lots of good things come out of relationships where I am looking to satisfy them and go the extra mile (whilst of course still making it worth my while). Kirsty at the Family Adventure Project
3. Gleam is a newer and easier version of Rafflecopter, I'm keen to give it a try. Di at SuperLucky
4. When I write a post that is of interest to other well connected people, contact them and ask them to RT my post or share it in their circles. SEO Jo Blogs
5. G+ has already overtaken twitter, I need to use it more wisely. Create better circles and take some time to move people into the right ones, have two way follows with people, Google likes that. 510 pixles is the magic number for getting large G+ images in the feed. James Dearsley
6. I must sort out my Google authorship, I have tried to do it a number times and it does not work for me but apparently there is a great help page in G+
7. I need to learn more about YouTube. There is a YouTube playbook with all sorts of advice for me to read and I learnt how to annotate my videos so I can link to my blog from within them! Greg Brand
8. There is never enough time, you see a ton of people that you want to chat to and they are gone in minutes!
9. That a quiet Friday night is a sensible option when you need to be up early on the Saturday.  I'm showing my age but three glasses of wine and an Indian were plenty for me and Clare.
   

10. That the Montcalm at the Brewery is a very lovely hotel and I want to stay there again! Really good breakfast too!

All in all I really enjoyed my weekend and I hope you had a fab time too.  Tell me, what was your favourite session, so I can go and seek out some notes and maybe the find the presentation if I'm lucky!  Mich x

Not long now.... #BritMumsLive

About ten days ago I let my bloggy mates know that I was all up to date with my blogging commitments and I'd be having the rest of June off. I fancied just being my own boss for a couple of weeks and not being a slave to my blog and PC.  I've done quite well, I've not spent much time online at all, my social media channels have been pretty quiet and I've been enjoying my kids and the house has not looked so good in a long while but I just can't keep quiet.

BritMums Live is almost here and it is my favourite blogging conference of the year. I remember back to early 2010 when it was CyberMummy and I was not confident enough to buy a ticket but then I sat there in June and watched the twitter stream and vowed I would go the next year and I've been each year since. In 2011 I angst over what to wear and worried myself silly and then had the best time and in 2012 and 2013 I was a speaker and was also a BiBs finalist and then this year I asked if I could work the conference. So I'll be moderating room 3 and you can come and see me if you fancy learning more about running fabulous and legal giveaways, the power of SEO or making the most of Google +, they are all happening in my little room.

I really can't wait and my choice of sessions has been made very easy for me this time, I'll just see everything that is in room 3! So that is one less thing to think about, which is good as I've just realised I have nothing suitable to wear. As I'm a room moderator I feel I need to look smart and sadly my wardrobe swings from casual daywear to formal workwear, I don't seem to have anything in the middle nowadays (well, not that fits anyway!). So tomorrow I need to find at least one nice outfit so I can feel presentable. Oh well, at least I know this conference is a friendly one and whatever I wear no-one but me will care, that takes the pressure off somewhat.

Also tomorrow I'm going to visit my sponsor. Yes sponsor, how unexpected is that?  I haven't had one since 2011 as I'm super fussy about who I will represent, I have to be totally in tune with their brand and product. But when Boots Opticians got in contact with me and asked if I wanted to be an ambassador for them this year at BritMums Live I was very happy to say yes straight away as Miss E has her eyes tested at our local Boots Opticians a few months back and we got her glasses from there and the service was just top-notch. I know this as JJ a month or so later went to an independent optician that is closer to our home and I had a free sight test at Specsavers in May and neither of them lived up to our experience at Boots Opticians. So tomorrow I'll have my eyes tested again and then I'll write up a full review.

You can visit Boots Opticians whilst you are at BritMums Live on stand 22 and they will have a super competition running, which you can find out more about at the conference.

I look forward to seeing you there...  are you as excited as I am?

and in case you are not sure - this is me....

Disclosure: Boots Opticians are paying for my travel, hotel room, an eye check and new glasses in exchange for me acting as an Ambassador for them at BritMums Live and honestly reviewing their optical service.

A week of Gratitude - #R2BC, week 26, year 3

<center> <a href="http://www.mummyfromtheheart.com/search/label/reasons%20to%20be%20cheerful"><img width="150" alt="Reasons to be Cheerful at Mummy from the Heart" src="http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac230/RebaMc/reasonstobecheerfulv2-1.jpg" height="150" /></a></center> Life is good, I really cannot moan, I'd quite like to, you understand but that's for another post, one that is not for the purpose of looking on the bright side of life and remembering how blessed I am.  Here is my week of gratitude -

Thursday - my last time alone with dh before we are separated for a month, we had a lovely pizza together and just planned our future in the countryside.

Friday - so grateful to have been picked to be a butterfly at BritMums Live, I met so many new bloggers and I hope I helped a few feel just that bit more confident about being at such a big event.

Saturday - a wonderful full-on day at BritMums Live, speaking on the Blogging for Good panel with some superstars and then arriving home to shouts of Mummy as I got off the train.

Sunday - a trip down to our new home to drop dh off, a look at our new nearly fully-refurbished house, a nice walk in the grounds and a meal and celebration with the other staff in the evening.

Monday - once home the girls and I got in our PJs very early and watched a girlie movie together, just simple family time together.

Tuesday - meeting all my old work colleagues for my official leaving lunch and then enjoying a coffee with one of them, simple and perfect.

Wednesday - the kids sports day at school.  Not something I looked forward to but they were so pleased to have me there and it gave me a chance to read my book between races!

Not sports day, as school do not like us to share those, but the kids having fun in the back garden

Blogger of the week
I'm super happy to make my #R2BC blogger of the week Fay from Glass Half Full. I first found Fay on twitter by chance and saw her blog name and though 'ohh this lady would fit well with #R2BC' and she does. Fay dips in and out as suits her and she is a real inspiration to me, she has now beat cancer twice and stayed so positive throughout. Last weeks post from her was a great one as she got her 1 year all clear! whoop, whoop!

Join in.....
If you are new here, welcome.  Do go and have a read about why I started Reasons to be Cheerful and what I feel the key to happiness is. This is a very inclusive linky, it does not come with lots of rules.  I just ask for common courtesy, write your post and link it up, say hi to me and then comment and say hi to a couple of other linked up bloggers. They should hopefully come and visit you too and we are all happy - comment love shared all round.

Tweet with #R2BC if you fancy and I'll find your tweets and RT them and come comment.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead.  Mich x

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I sang, danced, spoke, cried and laughed at BritMums Live

Ready to start the day on Saturday

Saturday I returned from BritMums Live and boy what a whirlwind weekend it has been. I had such a fun time and loved being a BritMums butterfly, it was a real privilege to get to talk to a million and one different bloggers.  OK, that is an a bit of an exaggeration but I honestly think I managed to say hi to at least 300 people.

What did I think of the conference? Brilliant, amazing, great fun, super, emotional, touching, a privilege - there are so many words I could use to describe my time out this weekend. I hardly went to a session at all and I think that is what comes of having been to a few conferences and having blogged for quite a number of years now. This weekend was all about the people - the meals with friends, the coffee shared, the hugs (yes even the hugs and I'm so not a hugger), the frivolous conversations with people I have chatted online to for ages but never yet met in real life and meeting a whole bunch of newer bloggers for the first time. BritMums Live is brilliant, I do love it and I will be coming again next year and yes I'll be a butterfly again if they'll have me.

Finding my style...
One thing I really enjoyed this conference that I've not experienced before was a style consultation with TK Maxx. This is not the normal type of thing I would sign up for, my assumption would be that there is not that much they can do for me as I'm pretty large and that really I'm doing OK myself anyway.  I was sent to take a seat and this uber glamorous red-head greeted me with a big smile. She asked me what I was there for, what did I want to know?  Ohh, no idea I told her, I had just heard that the sessions were fab and I got brave for five minutes. I started to feel a tad nervous and gabbling about how I never did things like this as I'm fat and fat people don't have stylists.

My stunning TK Maxx stylist

I need not have worried, she was really lovely and made me feel so at ease. There wasn't any outfits for me to try on (being a large lady) and to be honest I was glad of that as it was too hot but we did go in the dressing room together and she asked if she could adjust my bra to show me the difference good underwear can make.  Well let it be known that when you hoick my bra up I look far slimmer. I always thought I did OK in terms of bra fit but it turns out I should probably go down a back size and go up two cup sizes. What a difference this made to me, my torso lengthened visibly and for the first time in years my boobs looked bigger than my belly - yay!

Never before have I seen any value in personal styling but I would definitely give it a go for real now.  I'm thinking the MAD blog awards in September will be a great time to see what someone can do for me, although of course you perhaps need to be a bit cautious with a free personal shopper/ stylist who works for a store as they have an obligation to get sales and I wonder if they might tell me I looked fabulous when really it was just OK.

It was good to hear that I am doing some things right in the style and fashion stakes. Apparently wearing patterns on my torso is a good move as this breaks up my ahem 'problem area' and then instead of the light cardi I had on Saturday I should go for dark colours to slim me down but pinning my butterfly badge just under my chest to create a soft waterfall look at the front of the cardi was a smart move.

The stylist (I really should have asked her name!) asked me what bodyshape I felt I was and I said presumably an apple as all my weight retains around the middle, I have at least 4 or 5 spare tyres instead of the classic one.  She got me to stand up and do a spin and informed me I was in fact an hourglass but I was just retaining some excess tummy weight. Ohh make my day, how fabulous to hear that if I lose some weight I would go all Jesscia Rabbit.

She told me layered tops, ones with detailing at the tummy area and those with fabrics that lift away from my tummy are the right way forward. I can even wear little belts to help accentuate my waist.  I told her I lost my waist many years ago and no she tells me I'm wrong, if my boobs are wear they should be I in fact have a good waist it is just higher than I might have thought. Apparently I'm balanced in terms of my shoulders to my hips but I could do with a narrower leg on my jeans. She confirmed that I'm right to go with high-waisted jeans so I don't get cut in the middle.

I was interested to hear that if I am wearing light colours on my top half I should go bold with my lipstick to give a focal point but if I am wearing bold and dark colours on top then no lipstick is necessary, it is all about my eyes. Of course the suggestion came up that I should wears heels sometimes, particularly wedges and do I really like wedges but the comfort factor is so much more with flats I find.

All this advice managed to fit into about ten minutes and I was a happy lady. I have a £100 Debenhams voucher at the moment and I'll be scheduling myself a bra fitting in the near future.  I have always thought that £25 was a lot of money for a bra but after this advice I imagine I might be spending a whole lot more than that!

With the beautiful Butterflies (image credit - A Residence)

Speaking with confidence
I sat on a panel on Saturday afternoon to talk about what it is like to work with charities, we only attracted a small intimate audience and this was great as it meant we could really chat to people and answer their questions. Check out my top tips post if you would like to work with charities and you can see what happened on my blogger journeys to Ethiopia and Belarus last year for a flavour of how things can work with blogger/ charity partnerships.

The highlight of the event...
Had to be the blogger keynote speakers and the tribute to Kerry (Our own Multiple Mummy). It was an immense privilege to end the conference singing my heart out to 'Kerry you are a firework' and remembering her beauty and contribution to parent blogging. It was also special to honour the other MM Matilda Mae and I was so proud to watch Jennie conduct herself with such elegance cross the whole weekend. Kylie from Not even a bag of sugar also excelled herself reading her post 'Jimmy Saville is Dead'. Then as a tonic to the sadness it was great to laugh along with some fabulous bloggers with more light hearted posts.

Watch out for me at BritMums Live 2014 I hope to be arriving a much more clothes confident Mich than I did this year.......  see you then.

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BritMums Live - My Tips for successful Blogger/ Charity Partnerships

Today at BritMums Live I was sitting on a panel with some other great women, we were speaking about what it is like to work with charities and NGO's (Non-governmental organisations) as bloggers.  As part of that session I shared my top tips and I thought it was only right to share them here too and that way if you could not make the conference you can still have a read.

Michelle's tips for successful blogger/ charity partnerships

Choosing which charities to work with
• Don’t be afraid to make the first move. Blog about your chosen charity and then contact them and see if they have ideas of how you can help further. Don’t just wait to be contacted, they may not even realise the power of social media.

• Remember that charity is a very personal thing, don’t be bullied by a PR or the crowd/ other bloggers to get involved with a campaign that does not float your boat.

• Have a 'no response' already written and stand your ground when you get approached by charities that do not fit your criteria. I'm happy to let them know that I have my favoured charities that I blog for and I wish them luck with their campaign.  One person cannot be everywhere doing everything.

Establishing a relationship
• Treat every charity as an individual; find out their needs and requirements. What will they provide and what do they want in return? We hate approaches that treat us bloggers as all one and the same and charities are no different.  Ask questions, don't assume you know what they want or what fits in with their ethics and strategy.

• When working with your chosen charity establish their aim for this campaign (or trip if appropriate). Again don't make any assumptions. Not all campaigns are about making the biggest twitter noise ever, some are purely to increase awareness, to sign up new volunteers, to gain petition signatures and so on.

• Be clear in your own mind what you will and won’t do for your chosen charity/ cause. Whatever you agree to, you want to be able to fulfil and do well whilst feeling comfortable with your choices.

• We have to face the fact that some charities or their PR agents who contact us will make rubbish pitches, offer bog-standard information and give you short deadlines. Just because they are not social media experts does not mean you should not work with them. If you support their cause and like their campaign then help them by lending them your creativity and showing them the power of social media and how they can use it.

• If you want to forge an ongoing relationship with a particular charity then try and meet face to face with a representative to learn more about them and establish the best way forward. Personal relationships are at the heart of it.

Writing a post for your chosen charity
• Inject yourself into every post. Copy and pasted information impacts far less people than when you make yourself vulnerable and share how you really feel about a campaign. Link to everyday life and make it real for your readers.

• Offer your readers accessible options of how to get involved – break it down and make it easy - if you have 1 minute, 5 minutes, 1 hour etc you can.....

• Be honest - don’t be afraid to tell the truth and say you don’t know everything there is to know about all the politics surrounding the charity. Take questions if necessary and direct them appropriately/ find the information out.

• Be ready to take some stick on behalf of your charity if you really believe in them. I receive lots of negative comments for my choice to work with Samaritans Purse, an evangelical Christian charity but I believe in what they do and thus am happy to defend my position, whilst acknowledging things might be different for you.

Finally....
• Remember not every blogger/ charity relationship will result in a life-changing trip abroad and if you are offered one then think it through really carefully - yes, they are amazing but also hard work and heart-wrenching as real-life goes on.

I'll write another post in the next few weeks with my top tips about travelling abroad with a charity and all the things you need to think through and do to plan for your trip.

Thanks for reading, Mich x

How cute are these little guys?  Some children I met in the slums of Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia

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Blogging for Good session at BritMums Live

This coming Saturday I'll be really pleased to join a group of fabulous women to sit on a panel at the BritMums Live conference.

Our session is titled 'Blogging for Good: how to blog better working with charities'.  From my understanding, our session will be informative but very open and friendly, do please come with any burning questions you have.  If you are dying to start working with a specific charity then ask us how we got started, if you want to be able to rally others then we can give you some insight on that, if you would like help making the decision about which charity to work with then we can let you know how we went through that thought process too. No question is too big or too small - we will aim to tackle them all, as long as they are charity/ cause related.

There is a good mix of panelists, we all come from different experience and walks of life -

First off, you have me and if you are a reader here, you will know I'm a pretty average Mum and I feel compelled to do my bit and fight for a better world because of my Christian faith and fundamental belief that we all should be equal.

Then you have Ruth from Dorky Mum and she is a lady I have a whole lot of respect for. She knows her mind and knows what she stands for and many a time she has helped me question my own values and thought processes to come to well-informed decisions about working with charities and who to support. Ruth started out as a student activist and then her early employment was as a full-time environmental campaigner and she volunteers for a whole host of charities and good causes.

Next is Jennifer James of Mom Bloggers Club and Mom Bloggers for Social Good and I'm very excited to get to meet Jennifer.  I'm sure I'll go all shy and forget how to speak. She is one of those awesome women that are making a difference every day and pulling together thousands of other Moms and Mums to stand together and use their unified voice to fight for social good. She is a big hit in the US blogging scene, it will be good to hear what they are doing differently over the pond.

Last up is Rosie Childs, Digital Media Manager at Save the Children and I have to say of all the charities I have worked with STC know exactly how to engage and work with bloggers.  They are the first charity who set me on fire and I was proud to help promote the #Healthworkers campaign with a very successful meme that @helloitsgemma and I hosted.

I won't give away any spoilers, if you want to know what we will talk about then you need to come along to the conference on Saturday at 3pm to BritMums 1 and if you can't be there I'll share the session afterwards on this blog.

I'll leave you with a hang-out I recently did with BritMums where they asked me some questions about what it is like to travel as a blogger for a charity and cause.

I hope to see you at BritMums Live at the weekend, I'm also one of the butterflies  so you will find me slitting all over the place and there should be a big smile plastered on my face!

Mich x

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Moving your blog to the next level....

Last Friday I was at BritMums Live and by this time of night I was well and truly merry!  Well that is the polite way of putting it, I was the worse for wear but luckily I am a fun and giggly drunk and I tend to still know exactly what I am up to but I lose my inhibitions.  If only I could master being that relaxed in everyday life……. maybe...... one day!

Earlier in the evening I had not been so relaxed if I am honest, I think my tweet of about 4.30pm to @Nickie72, @HerMelness, @NorthernMum1 and @RedTedArt was ‘that I was crapping myself’.  Logically I should have been fine about speaking as part of the blogger studio (Crossing the chasm – moving your blog to the next level). My paid job is as a trainer and I regularly stand up and present and facilitate training courses for between 8 – 50 people.  I write those courses and have lots of fun but speaking at BritMums Live felt like a different kettle of fish.

Nickie was our facilitator for this session or ‘Master’ as we fondly came to know her. She advised me I had to do a 5 minute introduction on myself and talk about how my blog is at the next level. All 5 speakers would do this and then we would field questions from the floor. I have to say it was a tad hard to follow Melinda as she had prepared a checklist of 10 super sensible points to consider and basically she stole the show, but that is OK as she is pretty darn amazing.

So after being nagged it's time for me to share with you what I had planned to say and I have no idea now what I actually did say.  I have had some very good comments though and even a few people tell me they were inspired or touched by what I said and that is perfect.

So who am I?

I started out by making the point that I am just an average woman and I have never had a desire to be a writer or be famous.  The reasons I blog are for personal therapy, to demonstrate that Christians can be normal too and we don’t all wear socks and sandals and because I love it. My blog was born in 2008 out of a desire to record my life with my kids, but that was far too ambitious with 7 month old twins and a 4 year old so it sat on the bloggy shelf for a year and festered.  Then in 2009 I returned to it with a renewed hunger and posted most every day.

Slow starter that I am, I kept my blog private for all of 2009 and then in early 2010 started to find the parenting blogging community and joined in….. very slowly! I just dipped my toe and then ran away from the big bad sea of bloggers for most of 2010 but it was like a drug I could not keep away from and I kept coming back for more. By the end of 2010 I was pretty well known and was ranking in the top 50 in the Tots100 and I started to find my feet and feel good about what I was doing.

January 2011 was when I started to feel like I had stopped being a newbie.  I took a regular feature from my blog ‘Grace in small things’ and made it assessable to people of all faiths or none by turning it into Reasons to be Cheerful, I still run that linky 77 weeks later. A few weeks later I held the first new bloggers fortnight and established a name for myself as someone who would reach out to new bloggers and take the time to help them and read their blogs.

You can call me marmite!

I may have been a slow starter but today I am happy with my loyal readers.  I call myself a marmite blogger, as people either seem to love or hate me and that is OK, as it is better to be that way than just bland. The most important thing I say to any blogger is to be you.  Your own unique voice is so important and it is what makes your blog readable. In blogging never imitate. Remember you don’t have to do what everyone else does to be a success.  It is good to be bold and to do something different. Find your path and your voice.

For me I realise that -

I can’t be funny like Jane is,

Nor provoke debate and have strong opinions like Nickie does

Nor create an empire like the mighty Maggy

And I don’t have an ounce of the natural talented that Melinda has but that is OK and I don’t have to.  I am me and that’s unique and many people like that. Blogging should be fun and that is individual.

Prior to this event one blogger commented to me that she would say hello if she could get through my throng of admirers and this really did make me laugh out loud, as I am just me.  A normal and average mum.

What makes someone an established blogger?

I finished by saying that for me being an established blogger is about your state of mind. Act successful and believe you have something good to offer and people will buy into it.  It sure worked for me!

All the time you believe you are new or inexperienced you will believe it and everyone else around you will believe it. Change your mindset and take a risk, step out from your norm and become known.

I read a post the other day which said that our session was vague to say the least as none of us knew what we meant by the next level and firstly let me say that I love the fact a newer blogger said what she honestly thought of the conference and made some good suggestions for next time. But let me also say we all knew what we meant by the next level but just because what we believe is different to you does not make us wrong.  Like most things in blogging there is no one right answer.  All five of us before the conference spoke about what the next level was for us and each one of us had a different idea, be it outstanding content, strong readerships, stats, state of mind, being published or whatever.

The session was billed as ‘a chance to sit down with your favourite bloggers and to pick their brains’ and yes I think BritMums were perhaps a bit ambitious when they thought that the 150 odd bloggers that attended our session might have the time to pick our brains. 45 minutes goes very quickly indeed, perhaps five bloggers is too many for a panel? Something for BritMums to ponder for next time.

To conclude -

Wouldn’t life be simple if there were published advancement points, just like there is at my work, when I reach X amount of service time or X level of competence I move up the pay scale? Blogging, like much of life is not like that, some shakers rock up and take the world by storm in 3 months and others like me take 3 years but that makes blogging rich and varied and we should treasure the diversity in our community.

It is great to move to the next level of blogging, the one where you feel good about what you are doing and you are comfortable in your own skin.  That is real success in my book.

Image Credit:  Shamelessly stolen from Her Melness Speaks

#BritMumsLive - Was it worth it?

500 odd phenomenal bloggers all in one room!

So I'm home and yes I am completely knackered and if I was sensible I would be going to bed and having a good sleep but I can't seem to let go of the high I am on...... the fever is continuing.

I have to say that #BritMumsLive is probably the best conference I have been to, I had a ball.  Some of that is to do with the people I shared it with and some is to do with me finding my feet and being comfortable in my blogging self!

#R2BC BritMums Live here I Come... (Week 25)

As this post goes live it is just 24 hours before I and about another 499 bloggers travel up to London for the massive blogging conference that is BritMums Live and I can not wait!

Yes I admit I am just a bit excited!

Last year going to CyberMummy I was a bag of nerves worrying about what I would wear and wondering if anyone would talk to me.

This year I feel completely confident.  I am meeting up with some valued friends and I intend to enjoy myself.

I am particularly looking forward to –

1.      Being part of the speaker panel for the Bloggers’ Studio: Crossing the Chasm, how to bring your blog up to the next level session at 5.10pm on the Friday. I join Nickie, Mel, Jane and Maggy and we will attempt to baffle and confuse explain how your blog can too operate at the next level. (Being part of this panel assumes that my blog is at that next level and that makes me go all shy and giggly so don’t expect much from me at this session!)

2.      Our google + hang-out after this session.  I am so old-school that I have never been involved in a google + hang-out before, so I really will just be looking pretty for this one but it is a good experience!

3.      The presentation for the Brilliance in Blogging awards. I am not being coy when I say that I have absolutely no expectation of winning my category (I mean outstanding, really).  I am in with some truly phenomenal bloggers and not just the usual suspects either, which is lovely.  I will enjoy watching many of my blogging friends walking away with their awards.

4.     I get to spend a whole night with Clare and Alex and we will have an amazing time.  I do hope we get to bed a little earlier than we did at last years MADS, we have to be up early and do a  full days conference on Saturday after all.  I am officially old now and cannot take it!

5.     Getting to meet loads of bloggers that I have chatted to for a very long time but never had the pleasure yet of meeting, like Bod for Tea, The Boy and Me, Helen, Ruth, Emma and a million others I have not mentioned.

6.     Then on Saturday at the end of the conference I am one of the keynote bloggers and that is fine in as far as I am comfortable with my post but I suddenly realised last night that I need to practise as I have to read it out to near 500 people – ekk and double ekk.

So to say BritMums Live will be amazing is an understatement. I am super excited and the bit I am most excited about is seeing Alex and Clare and all my other lovely friends and I will sincerely miss Heather and many other blogging friends who cannot be there.

As you'll know I have been basing #R2BC on a letter each week just recently and this week should be D but I could not resist writing about BritMums and that just did not fit with D, but here is one D - Dedicated Daddy (or I suppose that really is double D, lucky you!).  Here he is at 9.20pm tonight building the trampoline for the kids after a full day at work.  They are going to be so made up in the morning.

Over to you.....  what is making you cheerful?  And are you coming to BritMums Live? Let me know so I can look out for you.  If you recognise me, then please do say hi.  I am actually a little shy in real life and can be a bit quiet (well for all of 5 minutes anyway) but I'd genuinely like to meet you.  Yes YOU!

You know what to do, link up a post, add in the blog hop code, tweet it and visit others to share the blog love.  I will visit and comment for all those who do the same for me (but it may well be the beginning of next week).

The Ultimate BritMums Live Meme

Not long now peeps...  We are already in March and that means there is just 3.5 months until BritMums Live and that means I really need to get my butt in gear if I am ever going to lose some weight and feel super tip-top at this event, that I need to speak at - ekk!

I am being a bit of a cheat and using this post as both the BritMums Meet & Greet which is hosted over at Stepford Wifey and also the Ultimate BritMums Live Meme which is the brainchild of one nosey blogger called Claire, who blogs at A Boy with Aspergers.

Name:  Michelle

Twitter: @michelleTwinMum

Blogs: Mummy from the Heart...  & Honest Mummy Reviews & Recommendations

What do I look like?:  Long blond hair, blue eyes, 5ft 4" and lots of curves!