10 Unexpected Gifts from Blogging for the Last Decade

I can’t believe it’s been a decade since I started blogging here at PragmaticMom. I had a few other blogs that I created during the past ten years, but this is the only one that I’m still doing maintaining. Blogging has really changed over the past decade. It was once the darling of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) with what felt like millions of  “mommy bloggers” entering the blogosphere.

And then, things changed. Blogging feels like it got replaced by other social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram. And to get SEO recognition by Google, blogs need to be constructed more like businesses than mom diaries.

But my blog has always been my online diary for my thoughts. A place to keep track of information that I might want to find someday. And it’s also a place my virtual scrapbook for my kids where I fantasize that they will visit one day as parents themselves to find their reading logs, interests, and personal achievements safely stored away. Ha! I’ll let you know when that happens!

While my blog has never reached dizzying heights in terms of traffic or monetization, it has been a path that has led me into new and exciting territory. Hence my Top 10 Unexpected Gifts From Blogging:

1. Writing posts for my blog has made the act of writing a nearly daily habit. I would never describe myself as a writer. I wasn’t an English major in college. I’m not the best writer in the world. But my head does buzz with conversation akin to a crazy person so writing helps to sort all my thoughts out. And writing more frequently helps to keep the words flowing.
2. Who knew children’s book publishing wasn’t very diverse? When I was in elementary school, I read every single book in the library and I never found an Asian character in a book — not even in the biography section. When I had children, there were suddenly tons of books with Asian characters. It felt like a miracle. But was it? No, it really wasn’t. As a blogger, I learned that only 6% of the children’s books published were diverse in nature. This motivated me to promote diverse children’s books as the focus of my blog.
3. Multicultural Children’s Book Day was created more than 7 years ago! A fellow blogger, Valarie Budayr of Jump Into a Book, contacted me, when I proclaimed on social media that I wad focusing on diverse children’s book on m blog, she suggested that we create our own holiday. Multicultural Children’s Book Day is now celebrating its 7th year this January 31st! And we are proud to have donated more than 7000 diversity children’s and YA books to parents, educators, and librarians!  I dipped my toe in the water of publishing when I created this resource of diversity booklists sourced from children’s books bloggers and authors. It was a lot more work than I realized, but it gave me the confidence to try to write books on my own.
4. How To Coach Girls came about because my dear friend and neighbor just happened to be the winningest coach in Boston College history. She was my go-to for issues when my girls had issues on the sports teams that they played on. When my husband complained about coaching teenage girls, I realized that learning to coach girls is a skill acquired through trial and error. Why not share the wealth of knowledge that my friend had to help parent volunteer coaches? With 70% of all kids quitting organized sports by age 13 and girls quitting 6x the rate of boys, this seemed like a no brainer to help keep girls in sports.
5. For those looking for the best diverse children’s books, I wrote a book. Best #OwnVoices Children’s Books: My Favorite Diversity Books for Kids Ages 1-12 is a mouthful of a title, but I wanted to create a resource for that next iteration of diversity: #OwnVoices. This is to say, these books are all written by someone of the minority group represented in their books.
6. My debut picture book, Sumo Joe, came out. I loved that this picture book was a debut experience for myself, my illustrator, and for the graphic designer at Lee and Low. It makes it extra special that we all were new at this together.
7. Foley Athletic Advising launched last year. My co-author, Alison Foley, left Boston College just over a year ago, and my daughters and I helped her launch her own sports college consulting business. It has been fun to watch this grow but also to see how my girls have applied what they learned from their own start-up, indigo clothing co., to this one. Entrepreneurship is a skill, just like learning a language!
8. Speaking Circuit. Public speaking is not something that I am comfortable doing. I have to write up a script and practice, practice, practice in order not to choke. It has been a great experience to do events with my co-author, Alison Foley, who feels at home in front of a microphone. We spoke to local sports teams about a dozen times or so, and then I started speaking on my own in the KidLit space. I spoke at Writers’ Loft, NESCBWI, and most recently Asian American Studies at UMass Boston. I’m grateful for the experience to polish my public speaking skills.
9. Two more books coming out in 2020. One is middle-grade nonfiction about Asian American notables. I also have a book coming out with Alison Foley on playing sports in college.
10. My 3 kids are in high school and college! At the end of the day, blogging is an opportunity for me to learn about education, children’s books, and parents to help me raise my own three kids. Now that my kids are starting to leave the nest, my blog turned out to be not just a repository for the trial and errors of my own parenting, but a virtual scrapbook that I hope they will enjoy when they have kids. One can only hope.

I would like to thank everyone who has followed me on social media, read my blog, left me a comment, entered my book giveaways, and bought my books.  Thank you so much for this past decade.

Here’s to another decade of winding roads, exploration, and expressing that {crazy} voice inside our heads. Oh wait. Is that crazy voice thing inside my head just me?

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p.s. Related posts:

Sumo Joe makes Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year list!

Sumo Joe Skype Author Visit

Sumo Craft Round Up

Sumo Joe Teacher’s Guide 

SUMO JOE reviewed in BookList & Other Updates

Sumo Joe Reviewed in Publishers Weekly!

Wow! SUMO JOE got a Great Review from Kirkus!

SUMO JOE Illustrator Nat Iwata

Meeting My Editor for SUMO JOE

My First Picture Book Submission: Sumo Joe! #AmWriting

Taking a Children’s Book Writing Class

My First Book Festival: Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival

Asian Culture and KidLit series: Nissin Foods Connection

Pitching Our Books to Local Libraries

 

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My books:

 Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World

• • • Junior Library Guild Gold selection
    • Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
    • Starred review from School Library Journal
    • Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
    • 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
    • Green Earth Book Award longlist
    • Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids

 Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me

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