Write On, Mom - Thinking Editorially (Batch 1)

This blog is the fourth one that I have made so far.  I used to have blogs on Xanga, Friendster, Multiply, LiveJournal and Asian Avenue.  Don't know some of the sites?  I don't think some of them exist anymore hahaha!  Suffice it to say, I've always loved having a space of my own where I can share my thoughts and feelings.  

The thing is, with all of my blogs, I didn't really have a purpose to it.  I just wrote whatever was on my mind, whatever I felt like writing at the time.

When I set up First Time Mom, I didn't really have a plan.  I just wanted to document my family's life and how we are coping with the new chapter in our lives.  As I delved into the world of blogging, I read so many blogs that inspired me to become a better blogger.  However, since I was working full-time, I had a hard time writing on here regularly; hence the almost eight months of silence.

Recently, I realized that this blog could be a tool for me when I began working at home but I didn't know how exactly I could do it.  Luckily, one of my favorite bloggers, Martine of Dainty Mom and Wahmderful Life was hosting the second part of her Write On, Mom Workshop.  When I heard about that, I signed up right then and there.

On the day of the workshop which was held at La Creperie Maison in San Juan, I was so nervous.  I didn't know anybody except through their blogs but by the end of the day, I was so happy to have met so many wonderful and inspiring women.  Each had their own story to tell from which I could learn a lot.  

The owner of La Creperie Maison made a specialized
menu just for the event.  Everything was yummy!

Prior to the workshop, the participants got an announcement that we need to bring magazines and scissors which kind of threw me off because I didn't know that we would be doing crafts!  It turns out, Martine wanted us to do a mood board that would show our interests and focus on our blog.  Um, as you can see from the photo below, I have too many ideas on my board, sigh, story of my life.  

My mood board captured everything that I'm interested in.:
health, family, relaxation, home organization and food!

The workshop focused on the "About Me" page.  Um, as you can see on my blog, I sorely needed help on this.  I learned from this workshop that this page is basically a window to who you are as a blogger and also what you are able to contribute to your readers.  I got the feeling that it is similar to a resume.  The thing is, you'd have to know who you are to be able to successfully create a good "About Me" page.  Hence, the reason why I'm still delaying my writing it since I'm still trying to figure this out.  No worries, I am sure that I will figure this out soon.  :D

One of the most interesting things that Martine had us do was to find what our soul words are.  According to Martine, soul words are the words at the core of your being. They excite you, stir up feelings in you and express your beliefs and truths.  They describe how you want to feel or how your readers what to feel.  I have already chosen my three soul words but we were told that we don't have to stick to them, these can be changed over time.

Martine and some of the other participants

This workshop was so in demand that Martine actually had to hold a second workshop on this.  You could read about that here.  Also, if you want to read more about the experiences that the participants in my group had, you can read them here, here and here.