{Confessions of a Blogger} Charlotte from The Stilettomum

Charlotte from The Stilettomum…

Today on Confessions of a Blogger we meet Charlotte from the Stilettomum. I remember connecting with Charlotte from the Stilettomum, on social media, shortly after I started blogging in 2010, which is actually the same year she started!

Hi I’m Charlotte and I’m the brain behind The Stilettomum. I blog about everything and anything. My moto is taking on life, love and parenting one stiletto clad step at a time. I finally married the love of my life on 27 December 2014. We have 2 children, Amandalynn age 8 and Lorelai age 5. We stay in Brackenfell in the Western Cape. From 8 -1 daily I am a Personal Assistant to Advocates at the High Court and in the afternoons I am a typical soccer mom.

When did you start your blogging journey and why? I started my blogging journey in March 2010 after I returned to work after maternity leave. I had two reasons for starting the blog, my first was that for my eldest daughter I scrapbooked almost every day of her life, but now with two children I knew I would not have the time and I felt I needed to capture the life of both my children equally. My second reason was because I wanted to say so much about my journey the parenting forums was not really the place. I started out my first blog as Scaredmom for 2 years before I was transformed to The Stilettomum.
Do you blog full time or do you have a 9 – 5 as well? As I mentioned in my intro I work half day. After 10 years of working very long hours I finally landed a half day job which enabled me to do more of my first love, being a partly stay at home mom. I pick the kids up from school, give them lunch, drive them to their activities and this also gives me the time to be more involved with their schools. I am THAT mom, the one who has made sure that she has a seat on almost every school committee and knows more or less everything that goes on at school.

Tell us about your space on the interwebs and what you blog about? I blog over at The Stilettomum (www.thestilettomum.wordpress.com) my catch phrase pretty much sums up what I blog about “Taking on life, love and parenting one stiletto clad step at a time”. Parenting is my main focus and I have blogged about pretty much everything that goes with that. At a stage there was a lot of Maintenance and custody post on my blog as that was what my life revolved around and I hoped by speaking up and sharing that more people with keep fighting for the rights of their children. Currently the blog is more about me and how I handle parenting and its challenges than anything else.
Being a blogger is not easy – what motivates you and keeps you going? My motivation are the people who follow me, I don’t mean as in the amount of people who follow me, but when I meet someone that I didn’t know followed my blog and they tell me how they have read my blog and they think I am brave and strong for all that I have been through and how my honesty give them courage.
What have your biggest blogging challenges been? To keep being honest. I have looked around at the other “successful” parenting blogs and I see a lot of sunshine and daisies. I want to be a success, but I want more than anything to be honest as my blog is after all for my children. It’s hard not to get sucked up in the madness of it all.
What do you love most about being a blogger? The events are my favourite. For me it’s like being invited to a celebrity VIP event as some of the bloggers I have been following for years and meeting them is like meeting Sarah Jessica Parker in person and she knows who you are.
Do you have any blog related or social media pet peeves? Sub tweeting. Yes I have been guilty of this, but when groups of people subtweet about one person, it kills me. I want to rip them all a new one, but I step back and switch off.
What has your journey as a blogger taught you? Has it changed you in anyway? Blogging has helped me find my voice. I think the name of my first blog Scaredmom sort of explains where I was in my life when I started, 5 years later I have learnt to be confident in the decisions I make and that I am in control of my won happiness. It has also changed my life in a way I could have never imagined. I use to live in a bubble and with blogging I have met so many new people, some of them are now very good IRL friends and it has opened so many doors for me as I have been able to work with so many awesome brands.
If you have to give a newbie blogger any advice, what words of wisdom you impart? Be honest. Be kind, be open and be honest. Decide what kind of blog you want to have and work towards it. Find 2 or 3 blogs that you like and would like to be like when you grow up, mimic the way they do things, follow their example.
In three words tell me what blogging means to you: Freedom, life, memories

Thanks to Charlotte from The Stilettomum for sharing a bit more about her life and blogging journey with us! You looked absolutely gorgeous on your big day! If you would like to find out more about Charlotte and connect with her – pop over here:

Blog Link: The Stiletto Mum https://thestilettomum.wordpress.com/

Facebook: The Stiletto Mum https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Stilettomum/181973921888836

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thestilettomum

Instagram: https://instagram.com/thestilettomum/

If you would like to be featured on Confessions of a Blogger or would like to see a blogger featured here, then please email Fiona or leave a comment below.