My name is Amber and I’m going to ProBlogger.
Pro-
Wha? you say! I would have asked the same thing a few months ago. The explanation is coming, I promise you. But first, some back-story...
I started blogging in 2008. T says it was earlier than that, and he may be right, but this blog says 2008, so I’m taking that as my guide. Actually, if you don't know,
this blog started as
Adventures of a Montessori Mama and only changed to its current name about two years later when Buster B starting kindergarten at the local Steiner school and we suddenly weren't so Montessori-niche after all!
And so I blogged. Quietly. Anonymously. For a bunch of years. Over which time we moved to Sydney for a year, moved back home, started homeschooling and then travelled the world!
It has definitely been a fun few years. Some of which got more attention here than others. But it was only last year that I started telling people about my blog. Like my parents. And my in-laws, and my best friends...
“Ummm, I have a blog.” Or maybe I didn’t even say that - I cautiously invited a few friends to my page without explanation. And I linked to a few of my posts! To say it was a
unadventurous start is an exaggeration. I had loved blogging anonymously. I loved the little community that had found us; Rainbow Mamas in America and Japan and England and other far-flung places. And I loved not feeling self-conscious about what I shared or had to say. But at some point - I knew that something was shifting for me. I realised I was ready to lay myself bare...
Kind of. Lol.
Blogging is confronting. In every way. It’s a vulnerable position to put yourself in but it’s also exciting and cathartic, and I started seeing it as a creative challenge as I became more and more obsessed with returning to my photography roots.
Coming home to Australia at the start of the year, and the boys starting school marked a major turning point for me. I threw myself into my creative projects. And this blog. And I very quickly knew that I didn’t only want to blog...
I wanted to BE a blogger. Now, this is obviously all semantics; if you blog you are a blogger. But I had never identified as a “blogger.” Today I have reached the point where I finally do; and the next step is - dadadadaaaa - ProBlogger! Alongside my photography, this is what I’m doing. Professionally. The end. Hahaha - how cool is that :) There are a few big changes in the ranks - namely that
I am launching a new blog in January! But don't worry;
Adventures of a Rainbow Mama is here to stay - the new blog will be the Yin to it’s Yang. A place for all of the work that doesn’t fit here - and this time around I will be starting it as a fully fledged business.
I. Am. So. Excited.
But enough about ME! ;)
I’ll be posting more details of my new project in the next few months, but what I really wanted to talk about was how this
newly baptised ProBlogger ended up with the golden tickets in her hand - tickets to ProBlogger 2014.
ProBlogger is the brainchild of
Darren Rowse. It’s the name of his wunderkind blog, but it’s also now an annual Australian Bloggers Conference under the slightly clunky { shhhh ;)} title of
ProBlogger Training Events. A shiny-shiny event with major blogosphere stars, workshops, partners... and 500 other bloggers attending.
For me, it all started the day I went to the
Creative Business Women’s High Tea {
do you remember this post? #teacupheaven } and met the amazing
Chantelle Ellem of Fat Mum Slim. Chantelle is
the über-blogger. Crowned Most Clickable Woman of 2013, she started the popular
Photo-a-Day challenge { 13 million photos shared to date! } and released the whimsical
Little Moments app while raising raised two little girls - the smallest of which only turned one this past week! Which is all crazy impressive - so it was
very cool to discover the woman in front of me was completely approachable and sweet. We chatted; I liked her immediately, and then as we parted ways - she asked me if I was going “to ProBlogger”. I knew of Darren Rowse, but the conference had never crossed my path so the question hit me sideways. Ahhhhhh...
ProBlogger. I went home, and I just couldn’t shake the idea.
I googled it { praise Google } only to discover it was long sold out! Wahhhhh!! By this stage, I had read enough to know that I really NEEDED to be there. What to do?!! It took about a week, but amazingly, through the facebook event page I managed to buy a ticket from someone who couldn't attend :) Poor them. YAY me!
That was about two months ago, and everything has moved AT SPEED since then! I’ve booked accommodation, printed business cards, created a Media Kit, accepted invitations to two niche networking events { details to come - I have to split that into a separate post! Who knew I had so much to say here?! } and connected with a wonderful community that has welcomed me with open arms.
And it all kicks off TOMORROW.
You’ll be hearing more about it I’m sure ;)
Hahaha. Possibly til your ears bleed. But right now - I need to finish packing, get over my bone-crumbling nerves and, ummm, sort out my eyebrows.
Have you ever attended a blogging event?
Amber. XO
p.s. All these photos are from the first year of the blog! Nawwwww munchkin alert.
