1. What is the name of your blog? How did you choose this name?
Perfect Insanity- it is a play on my life as the mom of four and a business owner. It is usually hectic, chaotic and not just a little insane trying to manage home and work, but it’s perfect (to me) and I wouldn’t change a thing!
2. Describe your blog in 30 words or less.
A glimpse into the life of a mom of four who runs a business and household with humor, sarcasm, and a healthy dose of reality (to keep life in balance).
3. What platform do you use for your blog?
self-hosted WordPress
4. Tell us about your blog design.
It is a soft, calm colored theme featuring my two youngest children in the header that is easy to read and navigate. It is my own design and one I’m quite proud of!
5. What inspired you to start blogging and when did you start?
I first began with the explosion of LiveJournal. After a while, and after it lost its appeal, I moved to WordPress at the suggestion of a friend. I mostly blogged about my thoughts on current events, local and national, with a little of my life splashed in here and there. In 2007, I moved to my current domain and re-vamped my content. I’ve been happily living my blogging days there ever since. (Minus a hiatus last year during a three-state move)
6. What are 3 of your favourite posts?
Since I try to put so much of myself into everything I write, it’s hard to pick from my posts. BUT, I do have ‘favorites of the moment’ which are particular posts I’m quite fond of:
this is one about my daughter’s birthday- http://www.justme.perfectinsanity.net/?p=379
this is one about the bickering and fighting that was recently going on in the parenting blogs- http://www.justme.perfectinsanity.net/?p=311
and this is a two part post about my toddler and boobs (yes, boobs…heh)- http://www.justme.perfectinsanity.net/?p=109 and http://www.justme.perfectinsanity.net/?p=122
7. How or do you plan your blog posts?
I don’t really plan my posts; they just happen as inspiration hits. I do spend time thinking about what I want to say before writing though; and often have a visual outline of the content I want to include before ever opening the editor. Since, as a rule, I don’t have internet access at home, I often write something to be published later. Sometimes these posts are inspired by something my children have said or done, an recent event, or something I’ve read or watched. When I am inspired, I either open the laptop and start writing or grab a pen and pad and outline the information I most want to include. (So I don’t forget anything, as so often happens with so much info jumbled around this tiny brain of mine!)
8. What are your hobbies outside of blogging?
I like to call myself an amateur photographer and love capturing people, places, and things on film. I enjoy other art forms such as oil painting and digital art. I am also an avid reader, mostly fiction, and thoroughly enjoy losing myself in a good book.
9. What are your personal goals?
To succeed. I’m sure many people have the same goal. For me, success comes in many different forms. My goal is to be the best person, woman, mother, wife, daughter, sister, and friend that I can be; to raise my children to be happy, well-rounded adults; to enjoy life and all it has to offer. If I am able to do all of those things, then I will have succeeded and met my goal.
10. What are your goals for your blog?
I want my blog to be a place where I can share my experiences in parenting, womanhood, and marriage. I want to share with readers that life isn’t always easy, and neither is parenting or marriage. It has its ups and downs and isn’t always pretty. We make mistakes, but it’s ok. Life isn’t perfect and neither are people. Sometimes approaching things with a bit of sarcasm and humor is in order, and makes things shift into perspective a little easier. It’s real life fueled by caffeine, laughter, and tears!
11. What are your must have tools for blogging?
All I need is a computer (with a word processor for offline writing) and an internet connection.
12. What are your must have plugins for your blog?
Sociable, CommentLuv (love this one) and Twitter Tools are my favorites.
13. How do you bring awareness (traffic) to your blog?
I have my blog listed at several sites, parenting and non-parenting. I read several blogs and comment when I have something relevant to say (with a link to my site). I tweet my new blog posts. I also like to exchange link buttons with other bloggers and have done so a few times. I try to include relevant, and easily searchable, tags with all my posts as well.
14. What has surprised you about blogging and the blog community?
I think the thing that has surprised me most is the closeness in the parent blogging community. I have seen so many bloggers rally around another in need and it has been heartwarming and inspiring. I have also seen how many, including myself, rush to defend one who is being ‘attacked’. It amazes me that we can all be so different- different likes, dislikes, opinions, beliefs- yet we have so much in common. The warmth and love in this community is one thing that keeps me coming back day after day.
15. If you could start again, what would you do differently?
I wouldn’t do anything differently. Every decision I have made regarding my blog and blogging has led me to where I am today and I’m happy with that. My blog may not be wildly popular or get thousands of hits each day, but I have earned my readers and am very very proud of that.
16. What has been your blog’s biggest achievement?
The biggest acheivement is that I’ve earned readers who return day after day. People, other moms, who care what I have to say and enjoy my writing. I’m still amazed by that! Even though only a handful of those readers comment, just ONE comment makes me smile. That someone has read my writing and was moved enough to comment is an acheivement in and of itself!
17. What advice would do you have for new mom bloggers?
First and foremost, don’t get discouraged. It’s easy to want to throw your hands in the air and say ‘I quit’ if you’re not getting comments or hits. Keep writing. Keep sharing. Give it time. Readers will come. (Speaking from personal experience here. I’m not a ‘famous’ blogger… my blog gets a max of 400-500 hits a month and a handful of comments, but I keep going!)
Second, keep it real. Be authentic. Don’t try to be a clone of another blogger. Find your niche and stick with it.
Third, don’t use your blog as your personal complaint box. If all your posts include complaints about your life or the world around you, nobody will want to read it. Share the good and the bad. It’s ok to complain if you’re having a bad hair day, but don’t make a habit of it. Talk about the good hair days too.
18. Do you (or do you plan to) make any income from your blog? How?
I don’t make any money from my blog right now. I’d like to, of course. If I could earn enough to pay for hosting and ISP, I’d be happy. But if I never earn a dime from it, I’m just as happy. The only way I know of generating blog revenue is in advertisements. I am more than willing to add advertisements to my blog, as long as they are relevant and appropriate. My blog isn’t a job; it isn’t my sole means of income, and will never be.
19. Who are your 5 favourite mom bloggers and why?
It is so hard to only pick five from all my favorites, so I’ll just pick from the ones I read most often:
Tanis @ Attack of the Redneck Mommy- because she is real. She is honest. She is out there. And she is funny. I love that she can make fun of herself and laugh along with the rest of us. Her way of writing keeps me coming back time and time again.
Heather @ The Spohrs are Multiplying- because I am absolutely in awe of her. To have lost something so precious as she has, and share that pain so openly and honestly with the entire world- she inspires me to be a better person and mother; to hold my kids a little closer and not stress over the little things.
Maggie @ Okay, Fine, Dammit and Violence Unsilenced- because, well, she’s amazing. What else can I say about someone who gives so much to so many as she has with Violence Unsilenced.
Nic @ MyBottlesUp- because she’s sassy, sarcastic, funny, and reminds me a lot of myself.
Lu @ Jaded Perspective- because she is opening up and sharing a horribly tragic family event.
20. Anything else you want us to know?
I have a second blog http://www.beingjustme.com that I don’t actively advertise, link, or list- not because I don’t want readers, but because I don’t want to chance my children finding it. It is where I write about my abusive childhood and first marriage. It’s a place for me to have a voice; to put my feelings into words and deal with the reality of it all. It is a type of therapy for me, to clear my mind and heart and stop the silence and secrets that have gone on for far too long. I don’t update this one as often as my personal one because of the subject matter. It is sometimes too hard to write about.
Say HELLO to Nickie, everyone! 
Photo by: normairiz
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