I began working toward becoming a freelance writer nearly three years ago. When I started my journey, I had no idea the potential the internet would offer. In fact, I had intended to pursue writing for print media such as magazines, journals and trade publications. I'm happy to say that today I'm earning money as a writer. However, I've never written anything for print. Everything I've been paid to write has been online, and my writing career truly started with blogging.

I began this blog shortly after the birth of my third child, and the loss of my steady job, as a way of simply practicing my writing and creating a platform with which to show editors my abilities. I had no idea the path blogging as a profession and movement would take, nor did I ever imagine the opportunities it would provide. Blogging has given me:

• Practice to hone my writing skills
• The opportunity to network with potential employers and friends
• Knowledge and proficiency in using social media
• Business sense and excitement about entrepreneurship
• Confidence in my abilities and worth as a writer and a marketer.

I've spoken and written countless times about putting yourself out there and knowing your worth. But then I seemed to forget my own advice, and I got lost for awhile. Lost in the day to day of just getting by, rather than making a plan and setting goals. Somehow, recently, I've managed to snap out of it. I've been more assertive about making my own opportunities and reaching out for the kinds of writing I want to do. And it seems to be working!

At the beginning of the year, I reached out through a letter of introduction to the owner of a website I was interested in writing for, and that bold move paid off. I now have a regular gig writing on topics related to education and career. The icing on the cake is that the job pays pretty darn well! I've also started to be more assertive about getting involved in affiliate marketing and in selling advertising on my blogs. In fact, I recently pitched my ad services on GigCoin as a means of promoting what I have to offer. I'm tired of sitting around waiting for good things to happen for me!

It takes a lot of work and a lot of courage to put yourself out there and step out of your comfort zone. I can see already that it's worth the effort. I'm even getting excited about building up some of my other long set aside projects and hope to give you an update on them soon. It all really comes down to confidence. For me, getting past the fear and moving forward has led to small successes. These small accomplishments have increased my confidence and will likely lead to even greater successes. The year's off to a really good start.

What about you? What kind of changes are you making to take steps toward achieving your goals? I really want to hear about them. Let's encourage each other!

* Sponsored post, but every word is true.

I've seen so many yearly review posts on blogs in the last day or so. It's really gotten me to thinking about the past year as far as blogging goes. Because I've been feeling kind of down lately and like I haven't accomplished the kinds of goals I had hoped to, I've decided that it's probably a good idea to take a look at the past year objectively to get a fresh perspective on what I've actually done. Here goes.

Going Places

I was lucky enough to start off the year by heading off to Nashville for Blissdom in February. I got to meet and travel with one of my favorite online friends, Angela Moore, as well as hang out with some fabulous bloggers. I also got to see Harry Connick Jr. perform. Swoon!

In May, I was fortunate enough to be asked to spend the day getting to know Chevrolet. It was an amazing day because I got the chance to learn about the new cars from Chevy and experience them up close. I also met a great group of bloggers from Pittburgh and the surrounding area and established some really wonderful relationships. And we were able to visit some local sites like Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and Seven Springs. It was so nice.

That day with Chevrolet carried on to a future relationship when Chevy so generously donated a 2011 Traverse for me and three fellow mom bloggers to drive to the Type-A Mom conference in Asheville, NC. We had such a great time. I really bonded with my fellow Pittsburgh area mom bloggers and learned so much at the conference, connecting with tons of fabulous women and enjoying Asheville food and culture.

Brushes With Celebrity

2010 really was the year of celebrity encounters for me. I had the opportunity to meet or talk to a lot of very cool, well-known people. First, I'll mention that I had the chance to talk to Dr. Oz - twice. I was able to listen in on two teleconferences and ask one question of him each time. The first time was in June. Sadly, I was so busy with summertime activities and the kids being home, that I didn't take the time to write anything up. I won't make that mistake this time. I just talked to him last week about his weight loss program for the new year. Stay tuned for info on Dr. Oz's new weight loss program and some insight on his own food weaknesses very soon!

I had some fun encounters with a couple of my kids' favorite Nickelodean and Disney stars. We were able to attend a Pittsburgh grocery event and meet Reed Alexander, who plays Neville on iCarly. He was promoting his new cookbook, and he was absolutely adorable and sweet. The kids loved him, too!

The kids and I also ran into Rachael Bell, who plays Addison on Disney's Suite Life on Deck at our local grocery store. Seriously, we did. She happens to live in our town and goes to the local high school She was such a sweet girl. The kids were shy about meeting her, but she was so gracious and friendly.

Speaking of child stars. It was very cool to be able to interview Candace Cameron Bure, of Full House fame. I was inspired by her drive to be a healthy mom to her kids and her commitment to her faith. It was very nice to talk to her. In fact, she has a book coming out, and I believe I'll be interviewing her again by email very soon. Keep an eye out for that!

One of the greatest thrills I had this past year was when I talked to Carol Evans, the President of Working Mother Media. What an inspiring woman. She started out selling advertising when Working Mother magazine first launched in the '70's. She's worked her way up, all the while raising her own children. Carol had lots of advice for women in the workforce as well as moms who stay at home.

Professional Achievements

Whew! This post is getting very long, so I'll try to wrap things up quickly. While I haven't had the kinds of professional writing achievements I had hoped to reach this year, I have made some fabulous partnerships and earned a bit from my own blogs. This has inspired me to consider branching out and growing my own online projects. I think this is truly where my passion lies and that I've been avoiding pursuing my own projects out of fear, all the while searching for something more secure. Success is worth the risk. I plan to keep this in mind as I move forward into 2011.

So I guess I didn't have such a bad year, after all. I totally recommend taking some time to analyze your own year in review. You may be surprised at how far you've come. Tell me, what was your greatest achievement of 2010? What are you most proud of?

Another little tidbit I forgot to share is that I finally have my professional website up and running. I'm quite proud of it. I'm happy to have a place to showcase some writing samples in a portfolio and to tell potential clients about myself. Please stop by and take a look, if you're interested. I'd love it if you'd pass my information along to anyone you may know who is in need of a writer!

Beautiful Photo by It's Life

Yes, I said bitch. Not something you see a lot here at Everyday Baby Steps. I do swear in real life. Not like a sailor or anything, but I do. I don't swear (until now) on my blog. Wanna know why? Because I was afraid to offend any potential readers. Truly, I was. I rationalized it by saying that it doesn't make sense to drive people away who may be offended by swear words and that there really isn't any need to use them. But the truth? I was scared to lose possible readers or to offend anyone.

Fear Has Held Me Back In So Many Ways

I do try to be myself on this blog. I hope that I show my compassion, my genuine interest in supporting and encouraging other moms, and my love of all things cosmetics. But I haven't really talked much about my faults, my quirks, or my fears here. I just noticed that the times I did share more of myself are the times I received the most comments. Interesting.

My whole life, I've allowed fear to hold me back . I can remember, as a little girl, wanting to try new things but holding back because I was afraid. In fact, I see that in my own daughter, and it breaks my heart. I try so hard to encourage her and to show her it's okay to try new things. So why can't go beyond the fear and try myself? Why can't I take my own advice?

Fear and My Career

One of the most frustrating things about letting fear rule my life is the impact its had on my career. I've had some wonderful opportunities over the last couple of years since deciding to pursue freelance writing. I've taken advantage of many of them, but I've let many others just slip away. I've used excuses like being too busy, leading such a hectic lifestyle with three kids, not having the money... Truth is, I was afraid. Afraid to pursue more, to go after better, to look for the opportunities that excite me.

Instead, I've stuck with the safe and easy writing opportunities. While I've taken steps to move ahead to better paying jobs, for the most part, I'm still not where I'd like to be. This realization really hit home for me last week when I lost a pretty decent writing job. I was bummed, and I was scared. But I was kind of relieved. The material was boring and not very fulfilling, beyond the paycheck. And that check? Not bad compared to many jobs, but this was a rather large company, and it's likely they could've paid more.

Moving Beyond the Fear

So now what do I do? I'm not exactly sure, but I have some pretty good ideas. For starters, I plan to be more real here on my own blog, my personal outlet. Also, I'm feeling very energized about the ideas I have for pitching to national publications. While I'm realistic about the number of writers whose queries are accepted to the big magazines, I also know that I can no longer let fear stop me from trying. I convinced myself in the past that I didn't have time to query, wait for a response, do a ton of research, and wait even longer for  a paycheck. I know now that self-fulfillment in what I write and what I'm worth as a writer is worth the wait and the work. It's certainly worth dealing with the fear. Damn it.

Whew! The family and I got back from the Type-A Mom Conference Sunday night, and I'm just now feeling back to normal. What a fun and exciting whirlwind of events those four days were. The conference was held in Asheville, NC, and my family and I left Wednesday morning for the nine hour drive. The drive was totally uneventful. All three kids were quiet and well-behaved. Honest, they were.

Get There and Go!

Right after we arrived, Noah, Norah, and I jumped on a very fun purple tour bus to join a group of other early arrivers for a trip to the local Health Adventure museum where they were holding a Grossology exhibit. We had a blast! The kids were able to take part in hands-on activities big and small to learn about the human body and some of the less than nice things it can do. They made snot, they slid through a plastic stomach and crawled through a replica of the anus. Oh yes, they did. I even got in on the action, identifying animal scat. Yep. After the Grossology tour, we joined the group on a much more pleasurable sensory experience as we dined on everything chocolate at a place called The Chocolate Lounge. The kids and I were in heaven!

Day One

Left to right: Shannan of From Cribs to Car Keys, Sugar of Sugar in the Raw, Beth Rosen,Marcia of AllState me, Amy of Resourceful Mommy

The next day, we were supposed to join some bloggers and their famlies for a day long bus tour of the Biltmore and some other fun stuff. Except we missed the bus, due to my ADD. I thought it left at 8:30 when the actual departure time was 8:00. But it ended up being okay, as we went to the Biltmore on our own to explore. The kids were less than angelic, so it was best that we could head back to the hotel at our own discretion.

After helping to run registration for an hour or so, I jumped in on the first actual conference activity, which was a PR/Blogger speed dating session. We all sat at round tables and chatted amongst our group until it was time to switch seats and meet a new group of people. It was a great kickoff to the conference and a wonderful way to meet other bloggers as well as PR reps. Here's a picture of me at one of the speed dating sessions. I think I'm talking to Jessica Smith of Jessica Knows.

Next came a welcome reception sponsored by Walt Disney world. The food was lovely, and the wine from the Biltmore was even better. But the best was being able to slow down and visit with folks in a more leisurely manner after getting to know a few very quickly at the speed dating session. The conference is really such a blur, but I can tell you I got a chance to meet so many wonderful people. The evening ended at the hotel bar, with complimentary blue drinks from Maria Bailey of MomTV and NewBaby.

Day Two

Friday was the first day of full-blown sessions, and I was excited. The day started with a breakfast fashion show from Dress Barn.  A handful of bloggers went to the local Dress Barn store the night before and were treated to one complete outfit. Then we were treated to a fun fashion show where they modeled their pieces. Have you seen Dress Barn lately? They have some really fashionable and affordable stuff.

I attended some amazing sessions on PR/Blogger relations, leveraging your pre-kid career, selling ads on your blog, and earning money from blogging. They were all very informative. While I was in sessions, the older kids were at the KidsCon. This was a fabulous addition to the conference that made it possible for me and so many other others to attend the conference.  All conferences geared toward women should follow this model. I applaud and thank Kelby Carr for including it.

Day Three

The last day of the conference started out with a mom market, where conference sponsors and mom owned businesses could set up and showcase their products. It was very nice to check everything out and to have the chance to talk to people about the products they were so passionate about. I then headed to a breakout session on blog karma and social capital that encouraged us all to think of others rather than just how we can get ahead, and by doing so, we'll create deeper relationships. Next was a very laid back lunch sponsored by Chick-fil-A. It was yummy, and it was nice to kick back and relax.

After lunch, there was a blogger town hall meeting where everyone was invited to give their opinion on where blogging is heading. There was discussion on being paid what we're worth and on running our blogs in the manner that we choose.The discussion was passionate, but not heated, and it was a very effective means of discussing what was on our minds. Here's me with the microphone.

The keynote address focused on breaking the mommy mold. A wide variety of bloggers talked about their views on everything from stats to reviews. It was great to get such a wide perspective. Finally, the conference ended with a local beer, BBQ, wine and cheese bash. I was able to brin my husband to this event and enjoy this adult time to reflect upon the conference and discuss ideas, also to engage with my new friends.

For more in-depth review of the conference sessions, visit Cutest Kid Ever, where you'll find several detailed posts. Check out the Type-A Mom Flickr stream for tons of photographs from the event. You can also visit Pensieve and Real Life for links to others' Type-A Mom Conference posts.

Thank you to Rick from Tiny Prints and Amanda from High Impact Mom for the pictures I stole. And thank you so very much to Kelby Carr, Astacia McGee, and Angela England for all the hard work they put into organizing the best conference ever.

Wow! It's been a long time since I've blogged. I took a bit of time off because my whole family was sick with some kind of yucky flu for a couple weeks. I have to confess that I actually started it and then shared it with everyone else. Usually, it's the kids who bring it home from school. But this time, it was mom. So I took some time to lay aruond, drink ginger ale, and administer cold medicine.

Taking Time Out

The last week or so, I've been taking some time to once again reevaluate some things. The past year that I've been blogging has been wonderful. I've learned so much and made so many online friends. But I've realized that I'm not where I had hoped to be professionally by this time. I started blogging as a springboard to freelance writing. I wanted to get myself in the habit of putting words down on a regular basis and learning to handle the fear of putting myself out there. I've done that, but I haven't accomplished what I'd set out to do.

I've gotten some paid writing jobs, mostly blogging gigs. And I've enjoyed them greatly. They've taught me about choosing content, dedicating myself to posting daily, how to work with a virtual boss, how to write concisely, and how to invoice. What I haven't done is score good paying gigs on a regular basis, as I had hoped I would by this point.

My New Outlook

After taking this down time to think things through, I'm feeling better about where I'm going. I've started researching writing markets and planning out queries. I'm also taking time to get some business cards printed and make some connections in my local community. I've arranged to put the baby in part time daycare when school starts back up for the older kids. My amazing husband is supporting me in this decision, even though we really don't have the extra funds in our monthly budget for childcare. We're doing the daycare thing on a trial basis. If I'm not able to bring in some worthwhile income with my writing within a few months, I'll discontinue daycare.

I'm also working on developing a new blog project with an online friend. I'll tell you more about it when it's off the ground, but it has to do with advising college students. That's what I did in my professional life before leaving the traditional workforce to become a work-at-home mom. I've blogged about higher education for others; I think it's time to take the leap into starting my own blog using what I know to help others.

Feeling Optimistic

I"m feeling very excited about my new professional outlook. Taking some time off these past few weeks has really helped me to put things into perspective. I know that I have the ability to use my writing skills to earn a living, and I plan to move forward in a more productive fashion than I have been. Not that I regret anything I've done over the past year. I'm glad I took the time to test out the waters, do my research, and meet amazing people who've inspired and motivated me to succeed.

And I'm thankful that my family has stood by me in this exploration and that I've been fortunate enough to be able to take this time to explore. I'm looking forward to what lies ahead.

So remember when I told you I was featured at The BlogRollers? Do you remember the awesome contest I told you about that they're sponsoring for a ticket to BlogHer '09? Did you enter? Well, I did, and I want to show you my video entry. I want to go to BlogHer so bad that I even sang for my shot at a ticket and a chance to be the BlogRollers' fourth wheel! Here's my entry and my explanation of why I really want to win this contest. I hope you enjoy my video, but mostly, I hope you learn from me not to sell yourself short and to not let fear stop you from taking a chance on going for something that's important to you.

Thanks so much, BlogRollers, for sponsoring this contest and for allowing me to have a second chance at reaching for my dreams!

I just received word yesterday that both of my personal blogs, Everyday Baby Steps and Adventures in Freelancing, have been accepted to Alltop! For those of you who aren't familiar with Alltop, it's a site that lists the best online resources in nearly every topic area imagineable. I'm so honored to be a part of it.

All of my blogs are now listed at Alltop. I found out this weekend that my new blog for college students, And You Will Graduate, was accepted. I was so happy. I've known about Alltop since I started blogging, and I knew what it meant to be added to its pages. I'm so unbelievably thrilled for my "babies", my own personal blogs, to get in.

Everyday Baby Steps is listed in the Women category, and Adventures in Freelancing can be found in the Freelance section. And You Will Graduate is in Alltop's Education category. I'm so proud of this accomplishment. Thank you to everyone who visits my blogs and interacts with me. I love blogging, and all the opportunities it brings to reach beyond my small community.

If you've never visited Alltop or it's been a while since you have, why don't you go and take a look around? There are so many amazing websites and blogs to discover there.

I ran away from home last night.  For three glorious hours.  Christmas Break had gotten to me, and I was at my breaking point.  Thank goodness I have a wonderful husband who encouraged me to just go.  Forget the meatloaf I was going to make for dinner.  Forget the dishes in the sink.  Go.

And that's what I did.  Wish I could say I did something exciting and fun.  I didn't.  I went to Target and to TJMaxx.  Not thrilling, but oh so necessary.  I had Pizza Hut for dinner and leisurely strolled around the stores.  I bought socks for the kids and took the Christmas money my father-in-law gave me and bought a beautiful red leather laptop bag for myself.  I guess that's pretty exciting.

Also exciting is that fact that I won a new Toshiba laptop!  I can't believe I forgot to blog about it.  I won it in a fabulous contest from Family Eden, the social networking site for families I blog for.  It hasn't arrived yet, but I'm waiting with baited breath.

Not a bad start to the new year, I'd say.  I've got some more good news, that I will share in an upcoming post.  It has to do with a couple of blogging jobs I've recently received.  Things are really moving along for me.

Despite the good things that are happening in my life, and despite the fact that I love my little angels, I still needed to get away for a bit.  I'm usually the evangelist for mommy "me time" and for pampering ourselves.  I'm not sure why I've neglected taking my own advice, but I intend to work on that in the upcoming year.  Have you ever "run away from home"?

This week's Feature Friday Profile is Kelly Curtis from Pass the Torch.  She's also the author of the book Empowering Youth: How to Encourage Young Leaders to Do Great Things.  If you aren't familiar with her, you'll want to visit her blog and consider buying a copy of her book.  Kelly is a phenomenal woman, who inspires me to be a better mom every time I read her blog.  Here's a bit of the conversation I had with Kelly.  I also recently submitted an article about Kelly and her work encouraging youth leaders to The Savvy Gal, an online women's magazine.  I"ll let you know when it's published.

Tell me why you started blogging?

What I had actually been looking for was a place online to put clips.  When I started getting assignments (Kelly began her writing career as a freelancer.), I thought, "I need a place to put these so I can direct editors to an online spot that they can look at my clips."  But I didn't know how to go about that.  My brother-in-law said, "Maybe you should look into a blog."  And I seriously had no idea what he was talking about, had never heard of a blog, didn't ever spend time on the internet that way.  I did a little research and just started one.  I didn't even know what to do with it.  Then I started to kind of switch gears since I started to get a feel for what blogging actually was supposed to be.  I just kind of played with it for awhile and then, very spontaneously switched it to Pass the Torch (from its former name).  Then it became a personal blog.  Before that point, I didn't really get what people did with blogs.

What is your book about?

It's called Empowering Youth: How to Encourage Young Leaders to Do Great Things, and it's based on the research done by Search Institute, which is the forty Developmental Assets.  The assets are basically a list of forty characteristics.  If young people have these assets, they're more likely to grow up healthy, caring, and resilient.  You don't have to have all of these assets in order to grow up successfully, but the more of them you have the better.  So the Developmental Asset approach is just encouraging young people to build on what's right about young people rather than worrying about what's wrong with them.  And so the four chapters that I included in the book are "When a Community Values Youth", "Treating Youth as Valued Resources", "Serving the Needs of Others", and "Ensuring a Safe World for Young People."  Those are the four empowerment assets.  The philosophy behind this book is, basically, that young people have more to offer society than we often give them credit for.  So if we can open our minds to the idea that young people might have really fantastic ideas sometimes if we're willing to listen to them, letting go of the reigns sometimes can make a huge differencein our communities.

What do you enjoy most about blogging?

A key mantra in journalism is "show, don't tell."  Blogging allows me to show important things about my life - the proud moments, as well as the struggles.  In a society where women often choose not to tell either of these things for fear of appearing like that bragging mom or that whiney woman, blogging gives me the opportunity to show the events in my life, share my feelings about them, without worrying as much about the receiver of the information.  Although, I do consider my readers, I also know it's simple for them to choose to bow out of the conversation.  On the Web, it's just a click of the mouse.  After all, it is my personal journal, and a large part of my blog's existence is to say what I need to say.

See, didn't I tell you she was awesome?  So head on over to her blog to learn more about how Kelly lives the principals behind her book in her own life.  You can read the chronicles of her daughter's neighborhood book project each week on BookWorm Wednesday and see other examples of how youth are doing great things.  Enjoy.