Blog Anniversary: Nine Years Ago

Blog AnniversaryWow!! Wow!! Wow!! It’s hard to believe yet another year has come and gone, but here I am, celebrating So About What I Said’s blog anniversary!!

Nine years ago TODAY, I sat at our old Dell desktop computer and wrote the first post of this very blog. I was just 27. I didn’t really know what exactly I was doing, and I most definitely didn’t know what this blog would become over the years.

But now, after 5,847 posts and one full year of being self-hosted, I’m seeing what this blog has become and, well, it floors me EVERY SINGLE DAY.

I’ve been thinking all week of how I can properly mark this anniversary. All I kept thinking, though, is that this anniversary is sort of anticlimactic. I mean, compared to next year’s 10-year anniversary (a whole DECADE?!?), nine years just kind of…falls flat, you know?

And then I realized something: You can’t have an anniversary without going through the one before it. I can’t have a 10-year without a 9-year. So this year means something. It reflects all the stepping stones I’ve walked to get here — metaphorical stepping stones, of course! In a way, I suppose, it truly validates this journey I’ve been on all these years. You know me, I’m all about keeping it real.

Speaking of real, I wanted to take an appropriate pic for this post. Above all, it had to represent me, of course. Some people try to present a meticulously flawless, perfect version of themselves online — Instagrammers, I’m looking at you with your Starbucks selfies. Me? I have no trouble presenting the real me in the above photo, which perfectly captures my life as a freelance writer. In my case, that includes my classic yellow sweater, hair that’s a bit wild and, yes, I think that’s a piece of food on my shirt! #NoShame

This space and YOU, the amazing readers who keep coming back to read about my awkwardness and outspokenness, are the true treasures of my life. I love and appreciate you more than you’ll ever know. This year alone, I’ve had some very hurtful curves thrown my way. People have tried to tell me that I shouldn’t write about my life and have minimized my job as a writer. I wish I could say I didn’t let them get in my head, but they did. For far too long. But the people who really matter and mean the most to me lifted me up! They pulled me out of that dark place and helped me realize that THIS is what I’m meant to do — to tell my story honestly and openly. Thank you for letting me do this for NINE YEARS!!! Here’s to many more years of laughing and sharing!

I LOVE YOU ALL… xoxo

How Are You? Checking In and Sweet Words From Readers…

how are youWelcome back, friends!! How are you?? I hope you all had a splendid Memorial Day weekend and kicked off the unofficial beginning of summer in style. As we ease back into our routines (is that EVER an easy thing??), it occurred to me: You all are always so wonderful and listen to me prattle on endlessly about everything — even the most mundane things — and I am SO grateful for that! So I thought today would be the perfect time to ask YOU…

What’s going on in your corner of the world? What exciting things have you been up to lately?? I’d LOVE to hear all about your life, friends!!! Also, I’ve been getting lots of sweet emails ever since my Good Housekeeping essay came out! I’ve so enjoyed hearing from everyone and thought I’d share some of those sweet words from readers…

–“I have MS and am 20 years older than you, but I just read your article in Good Housekeeping! Great writer, funny as hell, and oh yeah disabled. I am so used to pity looks, disgusted looks, and so on…that I stopped looking at all. So excited to see a woman willing to bare her soul…”

–“I just read your story in June’s Good Housekeeping. You are quite an inspiration. Your story made me think of my own dad and how we supported each other through the bad times and how much we enjoyed the good times.”

–“I read your article in Good Housekeeping on “Father’s Day”. I must say your depiction of your father in your life brought me to tears. You are very lucky to have had such wonderful memories with a great man. Congratulations on your successes in life and overcoming the challenges you have faced with your disability.”

–“I came across your essay in Good Housekeeping this month and wanted to tell you how much I loved it. Your father sounds like an incredible man. I then of course headed over to your blog and spent an hour or so reading through it this morning, and I just had to write and tell you how much it inspired me. I really struggle with being open and vulnerable as a writer, and you do it incredibly well on all kinds of topics–love, relationships, depression, body image, fashion. I’d love to be half as open as you are on a tenth of the topics!”

–“I just wanted to let you know that I LOVED your writing piece in Good Housekeeping. The love you and your Dad shared reminded me of my relationship with my Dad. We are lucky women, aren’t we? It was very touching. You are a great writer! I just discovered your blog after reading your article and will start following. Keep up the great work!”

And, look at this!!! Another piece of excitement I JUST discovered when I logged on to So About What I Said this morning…

how are youWhaaat? Can you believe it? Almost nine years later and 5,700 posts — I guess this whole blogging thing is going to stick, huh?

Anyway, hope you all are having a marvelous Tuesday! I’ve got some fun posts planned for the rest of the week, so STAY TUNED… xoxo

[Top photo via We Heart It]

Update Your Bookmarks! So About What I Said Is Back!

Hi…hey…howdy…hello!!

It’s been pretty quiet around these parts for the last few weeks, friends!! Aside from writing two election posts last week, you haven’t heard much from Yours Truly.

Until now!

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen my enthusiastically exciting tweets over the weekend. I got myself all in a tizzy because I knew today was going to be a VERY special day. It’s a day I’ve been talking about for awhile. It’s a day I sometimes thought would never come. It’s a day that is sure to go down in history — well, in my mind, anyway…

So About What I Said has a new home with its very own domain!! It’s official new home is melissablakeblog.com…

Yes, that’s right — let the celebration begin, let the church bells rings from every village in the land, let balloons and confetti line all the streets of the world!!

Can you tell I’m pretty stoked, friends?? In honor of this most glorious of days, I thought it only appropriate to celebrate with a big blowout posts. Although the blog looks the same, there are a few things that have changed, so let’s dive right in…

The Backstory

When I started So About What I Said in 2008 (this month, actually!), blogging was really in its infancy; no one knew exactly what this new medium was. Was it just an online diary? The Internet equivalent of simply spouting off? At first, people weren’t sure what the purpose was, never mind the idea that you could actually become a legitimate blogger, but I knew one thing: I needed to have an online presence — especially for my writing — so I naturally wrote my first post on Blogger.

The years flew by and something pretty amazing happened: I soon fell in love with everything about blogging and the whole blogging community. I discovered just how powerful this medium is, but more important than that, I found my career. It was sort of like finding my place in the world, like coming home, and I knew I wanted to do this for a very, very long time.

In the beginning, the Blogger platform served my needs perfectly. But the more I looked toward the future, the more I began to see the value of owning my own little corner of the Web. Not only is it more professional, but moving to a self-hosted WordPress blog would allow me more flexibility and opportunities; I could take my blogging and my writing to the next level.

That’s where Lisette from High Note Designs comes in. I may be creative, but, umm, tech-savvy has never been one of my strong suits — plus, the thought of trying to migrate EVERYTHING myself and losing 5,000+ posts nearly gave me a heart attack. Lisette is an amazing designer and specializes in moving blogs from Blogger to WordPress, so I knew I needed her in my corner. She was such a joy to work with and helped me bring my new blog vision to life. She never minded answering my millions of questions and took the time to explain everything. I felt like I was enrolled in WordPress 101 and it was a really fun learning experience! And, no blog posts were lost in the transfer process!

An Update on a Classic

Like I said, the overall design of the blog doesn’t look that much different. It was really important to me to keep the essence and feel the same, but you know me — I do like to tweak things every now and then. So you’ll notice a couple subtle changes. The most obvious? The blog went from three to two columns, which means that the sidebar needed to be rearranged a little. I also want to update my ‘Daily Reads’ section, so look for that coming soon — got any suggestions?

As for other changes to be aware of…

I changed the look of the drop-down menus…don’t you love the background color and font size?

aa2My social media icons are also new and spiffy looking. I wanted to incorporate more of the blog’s color palette (read: pink!) and also feature the social media’s logo on each one.

aa6When you click on posts, you’ll see two cool things at the bottom: A collection of Related Posts and social share buttons so you can go to town and share on your favorite social media platform. We’re still in the process of transferring all the photos from Blogger, so if you see a related post without its accompanying photo, don’t worry — all will be fixed once the photo transfer is complete!

Let’s Get Social

Speaking of social media, have you perused my social accounts lately? I gave them a little makeover too — and I did this all by myself!

aa3Facebook: After almost five years, I finally updated my profile photo and added a cover photo!

aa4I also fleshed out the ‘About’ section — some fun facts included!

aa5Twitter: I did the same thing — updated my profile pic and added a cover photo. Why did this take me so long? I also rewrote my bio, adding a few of my byline hot spots!

**Side note: In the name of full disclosure, I didn’t get a chance to make all the changes I wanted to on Pinterest and Instagram, but they are coming! It’s on my massive to-do list, so it will get done! AND, as always, feel free to subscribe to the blog via RSS or subscribe by email to stay in the know!

Are you still with me? Bonus points if you are! Anyway, I couldn’t be more grateful to Lisette for a smooth transition! I think the finished product truly reflects the heart of So About What I Said — honoring its past while also making room for its future. Of course, there are still some things to fix — like making sure all 42,000 photos transfer and fixing broken links — but I’m so excited to get back into the blogging groove! Thanks, friends, for sticking by me this month and being so patient while I got everything in order. I feel like a kid on Christmas morning!

Is there anything you’d like to see? Any posts you’re dying for me to write? Let me know and don’t forget to update your bookmarks to melissablakeblog.com! As always, I love you and our awesome community!! xoxo

So About What I Said: Reader Feedback Survey 2016

Welcome to the third Reader Feedback Survey!!! I’m so excited to hear your thoughts and suggestions again this year. What sorts of posts do you love? Which ones do you loathe? Which ones are just plain TMI? Whatever it is, I WANT TO HEAR IT ALL!!!

I’ve created a quick and painless 10-question survey and would love your input. You can take the survey here or embedded at the end of this post. I’ve also left a comment box at the end of most questions so you can add additional thoughts if you’d like.

And just like last time, there’s a prize involved!! After you take the survey, leave a comment below and you’ll be entered to win a free month of ad space! It’s the perfect chance to share your blog, Etsy shop or brand.

I like to consider us on this blog journey together, sharing the ins and outs of our lives, and I hope you know how much you mean to me, friends! After all, you’ve seen me at my worst and at my most awkward, so we’ve got quite the history together, don’t we? Excuse me while I go get a tissue…

Anyway, enough of my rambling! I’d love it if you’d take the survey, and go ahead and leave a comment below. Take the survey between now and February 1st, and don’t forget to let me know you did so below. Thanks again for everything, friends, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts! xoxo

So About What I Said’s Anniversary: The Past and the Future!

I’m pretty sure that November 14th, 2008 was just another ordinary day. In fact, I don’t even remember what I did that day except for one thing: I hit ‘publish’ on So About What I Said’s inaugural post.

I didn’t think very much about the impact of that single act at the time. I’d been wanting to start a blog for awhile by that point, but the medium was still relatively new at the time. I didn’t really know where it — or I — was going. And maybe I couldn’t have predicted the amazing roller coaster at the time, but, oh, what an incredible ride its been over the last seven years.

I’ve learned about myself. I’ve learned about life. And, of course, I’ve learned about love. I did it all over 5,000+ posts — I don’t think that number will ever not blow my mind! So when I think about the past and try to connect it with the future and where I’m going, I’ve come back to two key blog points lately…

1.BLOG KEYWORDS: Honest, Real, Smart and Funny
Over the years, I’ve always approached my blog with those four words in the forefront of my mind; they encapsulate the heart of my blog and what it’s really about. I wanted these words to sort of be the foundation of everything I do — the guiding force of the ship, if you will. And I think I’ve successfully found it in these four words. Honesty has been my guiding principle from the beginning, but it’s also so important for me to engage in smart dialogue with you all and create a loving, welcoming community where we can each tell our stories and not be afraid to be ourselves. And what’s the world without some fun? You can never underestimate the benefits of fun and lots of laughter. Ever.

2. BUCKETS OR CATEGORIES: Relationships, Disabilities, Lifestyle and Pop Culture
I’ve been thinking a lot about the ‘buckets’ or categories that make up the umbrella of my blog posts. I like to think of it as a tree, where each branch is made of leaves or ‘subtopics.’ For example…

*Relationships cover things like Letters To My Future Husband, Love Lounge, MEMO TO MEN, Lyrical Gangster, Dating, Weddings, The Science of Love and Family.

*Disabilities cover things like Disability Issues (obviously!), Disabilities In The Media, Body Image and Depression.

*Lifestyle covers things like Fashion, Beauty, Design, Art, Food, Shopping, Etsy Love, Dream Home and Dream Vacation.

*Pop Culture covers things like Open Letters, In The Pursuit of Happiness, Music, Movies, Television and Books.

Keeping these specific ‘buckets’ in mind will further reinforce my blog’s focus going forward and help me continue to zero in on my niche as a writer and blogger. It’s made all the difference in making sure I’m on track.

One major criticism I’ve heard over the years is that bloggers need to choose a side: Serious, hard-hitting content or posts of the fluffy, rainbows-and-unicorns variety. But I’ve never believed that. In blogging, as well as in life, I’ve always lived by the mantra that you can be both, which is why I try to strike the perfect balance between serious and fun. I want to strive to be real and honest and deep, but at the same time, I never want to be afraid to enjoy a fun fashion round-up or obsess over the latest TV guilty pleasure. You need the dark mixed with the light; you need time to be serious and time to just turn your mind off. I promise I’ll always try my very best to maintain that delicate balance.


I’d love to hear your blogging tips as well, friends!! THANK YOU so much for seven amazing years, and I can’t wait to see where our adventures take us in the future!!! I couldn’t ask for sweeter, kinder, more encouraging readers — thanks for making my days and my job so much fun! I love you! You know I’ll NEVER stop saying that, right? xoxo