All posts filed under: Blogging

Scared of Blogging

Published by Grenglish

I’ve been writing about my life on the internet for a little over 4-years.  I have told stories about my family, shared my experiences of miscarriage, confided many of my insecurities, and trusted you with all the wonky bits of my personality. When I first started writing this blog, only 2 people read it and one of them was me! Sharing your life with the internet is scary.  People you do not know will read it and come to a conclusion about who you are.  Some of the responses you get will be overwhelmingly positive, and others not so much.  But, I never really worried about what the people living inside my laptop thought about me. In my mind, they are not real.  I know if it ever gets too much, I can just close the lid and make them go away. But when the people you know in real life read your blog, they often want to talk to you about it.  Everyone you know, knows all your business. I have been stopped in the supermarket to talk about miscarriage, and asked on the school …

Team Honk! Danceathon for Comic Relief

Published by Grenglish

When Team Honk first announced they were planning to get 500 bloggers together to dance for 6-hours non-stop at The Comic Relief Danceathon at Wembley, I hesitated for a while before officially signing up.  Not because I had doubts about doing it, but because I needed some time to get my head around the fact that I was going to. I am a big fan of Team Honk and very proud to have been part of the relay that raised over £30,000 for Sport Relief last year.  It was an incredible experience and reminded me what a wonderful and supportive community of parent bloggers’ we are. I will fundraise with Team Honk for as long as they are happy to have me. But, the idea of having 2,000 people in my personal space filled me with fear. I don’t like crowds.  I never have. I do not attend concerts or gigs, festivals or clubs.  I am not sure if it is the big open space, all the people jostling forward for a closer view of the stage, or the toilet seats that …

Talking About the M-Word

Published by Grenglish

I spent most of Saturday afternoon at BritMums Live DREADING having to get up and read a post out at the Blogger’s Keynote. I knew this would happen.  I do not get nervous walking into a room full of strangers and making conversation with the person standing next to me.  I hardly ever fret about what I am going to wear.  I can arrange to meet a friend in a pub and be quite happy waiting at the bar by myself with a glass of Prosecco.  I am also happy to eat in a restaurant alone.  Don’t bat an eyelid, in fact. But, ask me to stand up on a stage and speak to a room full of strangers and my stomach will turn somersaults.  My hands will feel clammy and I will literally tie myself up in knots worrying about it until it is all over.  I am not a natural performer and I feel very self-conscious when all eyes are on me. Then I remembered that was how I had felt right before I hit publish on the post that …

Blogger’s Keynote at BritMums Live

Published by Grenglish

Two years ago, I stood on the stage at Britmums Live and read out a post to 500 people about being hungover.  Ironically, I was secretly pregnant at the time and had not touched a drop of alcohol in about 7-weeks. I was a different person then. My blog was a little over a year old and I had written a lot of posts about sausages & wine. I had met a few other bloggers in person, but I had yet to be part of a community of bloggers I now call my friends. Great friends. I took things for granted. Like having a family, a job, my health, and my fertility. People too, probably. I was happy, but I was plodding along. This week, I will take to the same stage again and read a post to 700 people about what happened next. How in the weeks that followed, everything I knew about myself changed. How everything I thought I knew about my body changed too. How after a year of heartbreak and then another of not wanting to take anything for granted, ever …