My first Blog Carnival

You know, I’m still pretty new to this whole blogging thing. It’s something I started last November “to see what happens”. Little did I know, I’d end up hooked, and blogging on a daily basis.

I spent the first few months learning about WordPress – themes and plugins and widgets and everything else that goes with it. It also took me a while to find my stride with scheduling some writing time each day and figuring out what to write about.

As the months go by, I’m learning more about the greater blogging world. Despite trying and rejecting it several times in the past, I finally found out how fantastic Twitter can be when I set up my @Mamadotie account there, and connected with bloggers, and mothers, and fathers, and educators, and comedians and other interesting people all over the world.

Then few weeks ago, I saw a few tweets mentioning Blog Carnivals. I’d never heard of such a thing – but who doesn’t love a carnival?! So, intrigued, I checked it out. Turns out blog carnivals are like blogging newsletters or focussed magazines. The organiser of the carnival determines what the subject will be, and then invites bloggers to submit their posts for inclusion. Then, on a specified date, the organiser publishes the carnival, listing and describing all of the submitted posts relevant to the topic.

Most of the main Blog Carnivals are listed on BlogCarnival.com. From here, you can submit your blog posts to a wide range of Blog Carnivals. Alternatively, you can seek out Blog Carnivals on individual sites, and follow the submission guidelines outlined on the site.

From a blogger’s point-of-view, it’s a great way to promote your site, and to find interested readers for your content. And from a reader’s point-of-view, blog carnivals are great because they are like the blogging version of a niche magazine. They help you to find a variety of blog posts from different writers, all on the same topic.

My very first blog carnival is the May edition of “Write Mama”, a regular carnival hosted on The Koala Bear Writer. Check it out: http://thekoalabearwriter.blogspot.com/2011/05/may-write-mama.html

The post I submitted for inclusion was 5 things I wish I knew from the start – a list of lessons learned since we began life with Little Man. Hope you like it!