Real Life: Happy 8th Birthday to my Blog – AModernMilitaryMother.com

Happy 8th Birthday to my blog! The date of birth is actually 16th May 2010 but I was too busy to celebrate on the actual date and so today will have to do. It’s not like the blog will complain about missing it’s birthday anyway.

Here is my very first blog post, drafted 8 years ago:

Real Life: A Modern Military Mother

I didn’t know I wanted to write a blog. I have always wanted to be a writer; but because there is such snobbery around writing I always felt that ‘I wasn’t good enough’ to be a writer. Then I ghostwrote a book for Penguin and it debuted in the top ten bestseller list and I realised that I was a writer and in fact what I needed to do was write.

It all went a bit Pete Tong with Penguin, mainly because I have never been particularly well behaved, and I was catapulted back onto the shelf of aspiring writers. The blogosphere was emerging and I began writing at https://claremacnaughton.wordpress.com I have deleted all the early posts which were quite political and ranty. I wanted to write about politics but it all got a bit bait-y and stressful. It was suggested to me that I write within the ‘mummy blog’ community and position myself as a military mum as I was (am – just) married to the military and that was my USP. And so AModernMilitaryMother.com was born.

It went down like a pint of cold sick with the powers that be within the military. What madness was this – a wife who didn’t give a shit with an opinion and a platform on which to publish her own thoughts! It was sheer anarchy so they rattled their sabres and stamped their feet but there was literally nothing they could do to shut me up. Eventually as time passed and the blogging world grew, the powers that be changed their mind and decided blogging was a good thing and now they encourage positive sharing as a part of community engagement.

Writing the blog opened doors for me. I worked with brands and enjoyed some perks but the real opportunity that it has given me is that I have able to transition my writing into journalism. I write regularly for Salisbury Life, I have been writing features for Wiltshire Life for 7 years, I edited View Magazine, I was an English editor of the Vendée Globe and I offer professional copywriting services to various clients. I can now say that I am a professional writer.

The blog stretches me. It forces me to stay on top of that fast evolving pace of social media and it ensures that I stay abreast of WordPress developments. It enables me to advise my clients on the pace of change and also ensures that I continue to ride the wave of change. But most importantly it gives me a place to write freely without constraint and this is a true liberation.

Oh yes, and I off course self published my novella which is a collection of blog posts – ‘I Hate Housework’ (see links below) which I have sold 574 kindle editions and 530 paperback editions. 1104 copies in total. It’s hardly JK Rowling but it’s hard work flogging books. I did spend a few years pounding the pavements of the WI scene and developed a funny little stand up routine which I then worked up into a stand up show. It was definitely funny but it’s hard work building a profile when I am shackled to the shire raising two kids. I need to be in that there London town really, or a city at the very least. Not nestled in my dreamy country life. Maybe one day, when the kids have finally flown the nest. Mind you when they go I am thinking of starting a travel blog so that I can blag my way around the world…..so watch this space.

Until then Happy 8th Birthday to my blog – it’s great to be 8!

Here’s a few of my favourite blog posts from the last 8 years:

Operation Bangers & Mash

Bumholes

Pokey or Pish?

Clare Macnaughton; a modern military mother; a feminist, British military spouse, and lifestyle journalist, writing about real life adventures.