Simple

Recently, a colleague and I commiserated about the challenges of finding a printable recipe on many cooking blogs. We decided that some of the bloggers are suffering from PWWS, Pioneer Woman Wannabe Syndrome. Our dear internet friend, Ree Drummond, of Pioneer Woman fame, has built an empire through her blog, one post at a time. She now has her own cooking show, cookbooks and cookware. She has a Mercantile purveying all things Pioneer, from her signature cookware to her children's books about the family dog, Charlie. She recently opened The Boarding House, a "cowboy luxury" hotel, featuring guest rooms designed by Ree and her handsome husband, Ladd. And she has four kids. And she seems nice.

As a blogger, I can relate to the fact that most of us will never become powerhouse bloggers. Therefore, I am puzzled at the tactics some bloggers use in an attempt to build a blogging kingdom. My guess is Ree's recipe for success is massive amounts of hard work, a solid business sense, talented writing skills, a sprinkling of good people in her life and a dash of good luck.

On the heels of my 7th anniversary as a blogger, here is the sum total of what I have learned about blogging.

1) Success is relative. I remember the hot day in July I decided to write for more than just myself. The back to school bell was soon to ring as I clunked my way through the Blogspot process (emphasis on clunk). I wrote a piece describing a little bit of my world and hit the "publish" button. My brain screamed, "What are you doing?" and my calmer self replied, "This too shall pass." Over 200 posts later, my fingers still believe there is a tale or two to tell as they peck out another post. Success for me is perseverance and consistency. My reader stats could be read by the average pre-schooler but I am okay with that.

2) Know your purpose. My blogging goal is to celebrate the everyday. Many of us do not live lives filled with exotic traveling, fine dining or trendy happenings. We should not feel like we've fallen short because we aren't wearing the latest fashions or driving cars with retractable roofs. There is no shame in plain. So far, my dull life has provided me with blogging inspiration. No passport needed.

3) Comparison is the thief of joy. I stole that quote from Teddy Roosevelt. I'm sure he won't mind if I pass it along. My guess is that the average blog reader can sniff out a wannabe pretty quickly. Not all readers are swayed by mason jars photographed with clever drips of caramel cascading off the sides or plates of biscuits with rough hewn tables used as the backdrop. Frankly, I am more confident that perusing a community favorites cookbook with sticky pages will provide me with recipe inspiration.

4) Respect your reader. Nothing says disrespect more clearly than pop-up-down-and-all-around ads while I am trying to read a blog. I know this is how bloggers make money but for the love of Pete, stop it. When I cannot get past the first three sentences of a blog without running through a gauntlet of ads, it makes it easy to answer the inevitable blog plea asking me to "sign up for weekly e-mails". No, thank you.

I do have one thank you I would like to pass along, however.

Thank you, readers. You are a kind bunch of folks and I appreciate your acceptance of my world of beige.