The Great British Blog Festival-Monday

Roll Up…Roll Up…Welcome to The Great British Blog Festival at Cafe Bebe!  Started by Erica at Littlemummy, The Great British Blog Festival is a celebration of the brilliance of blogging.  It’s an opportunity for bloggers to share their knowledge about blogging and all that comes with it.

Erica had such an overwhelming response from the world wide blogosphere that her lovely blog couldn’t contain the joy!  Erica asked if some brilliant bloggers could help by hosting some of the outstanding posts…me! me! me!  Cafe Bebe can do it!  (Yes We Can!)  There are three other hosts:  the glorious & cupcakey English Mum, enthusiastic & energetic Me, The Man and The Baby and Great British Blog Festival creator Erica’s other superb blog, Littlemumpreneur.

You can visit all of these blogs each day this week (oh, don’t forget Cafe Bebe too) to gain blogging wisdom and insight from those who have gone before you.  What an genius forum to learn and share!  It’s “Britain’s Got Talent” for the blogging world!

For today’s post we have the gorgeous and prolific Susan K. Mann.  Here’s a bit about Susan from her own bio on her lovely site:

www.susankmann.co.uk

I work as a software developer and service manager for an IT Company which I enjoy. I am a wife to the wonderful Robert and mother to two gorgeous boys. First aged three and second aged one. In my free time or when I can grab some time in between working, being the best mum I can, housework, being a wife I read but my passion is for writing. I hope to have a novel published one day.

To Blog or Not to Blog….

My blog is a relatively small blog; I only started in January of this year. However, it has grown quickly through the help of Twitter, British Mummy Bloggers, Writing Workshops and The Gallery. I am not sure I would class myself as a Mummy Blogger. I am a mummy and a blogger so yes I suppose you could say that I am, but I don’t just blog about being a mother. I blog about me, my family, my kids, my interests, my writing and the books I read. Therefore, it’s a bit of everything.

Most blogs fall into one category or another; I’m not sure which one mine fits into. I’m a book blogger, I’m a review blogger, I’m a mummy blogger, and I have a writer’s blog. So who knows? I like my blog, I blog for me. Not to see how popular I am with however many followers I have. Although it is a nice feeling when you get a new follower who posts a nice wee comment. I like to post what I like.

Blogging has given me confidence. Confidence in expressing myself in a way I never would have before. Confidence in telling the world how I feel, just sharing experiences, not for anyone in particular just for myself so they are out there. It’s like a release valve. Once it’s on the blog the world can read it, if they choose to and it’s as if a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. I have shared the problem or the experience but not to a relative or a friend a stranger, who doesn’t know me and won’t judge me but who may offer a little bit of advice of their wisdom. And that to me is what blogging is all about.

One of the best ways in which you can meet liked minded people, new blogs and friends is through Twitter. Twitter is a fantastic way of doing this. For those of you not familiar with Twitter, it is a micro blogging site, in which you use 140 characters of less to say what you want. You can respond to other people’s tweets or direct message them if you don’t want what you are saying made public.

I have found Twitter to be useful resource for meeting new people, new blogs, but most of all I have found friends and support that would astound you. I can ask about a problem I am having with one of my children and there will be several tweets back within minutes, from fellow mothers with advice on their experiences. It is amazing, something I couldn’t and don’t want to live without. I am now addicted.

Thank you Susan…

Wow…what great words from Susan!  I find such similarities in my blogging as well.  Twitter has become a real “passion” of mine and I too find that it’s become a community of support as well as a networking and promotional opportunity.  I see the power in Twitter and also the DANGER!  It can become a bit too addictive sometimes…but that’s a post in and of itself.

I love that Susan talks about blogging giving her confidence.  I have found that as well!  I needed an outlet and there’s an immediate response that comes from blogging.  Whether it’s someone who agrees or gives you an entirely different point of view, it’s so fulfilling to feel that you’re REACHING people.

To read more of Susan’s writing, please visit her blog at www.susankmann.co.uk as well as the other blogs listed above all week long.  The Great British Blog Festival rolls on at Cafe Bebe tomorrow with a great post from…wait…I can’t tell you that!  Let me give you a hint…she’s a blogger from the Midlands…she has SEVERAL blogs…she’s got a lovely little girl and she’s up for a MAD award.  Tune in tomorrow to see who it is…