Kristen Chase: what does it take to write a leading parenting blog?

One of the best things about working at Blogads.com is all the interesting bloggers we get to know and correspond with. (And send money to.) We’re going to do regular interviews with bloggers and share some of their insights about blogging with you.

To kick off, we traded thoughts with Kristen Chase, who blogs at Motherhooduncensored and CoolMom Picks. She’s celebrating her 5th anniversary as a blogger.

You can follow Kristen on Twitter @thatkristen and on Facebook here. (On Twitter, her 5,500 followers range from @bettycrocker to @todayshow.)

Kristen Chase

Q: When did you start blogging?

A: I began writing Motherhood Uncensored back in November 2005 – so happy 5-year blogaversary to me!

Q: What got you started?

A: I became completely obsessed with the blog of a fellow military wife and friend who had moved away and decided I’d start one of my very own that addressed the challenging aspects of motherhood.

Q: How did you decide on the name of your blog?

A: Well, the first 18 months of parenting kicked my butt and I found myself slightly bitter that no one had warned me it would be so hard. So I decided to write candidly (but also humorously) about the challenges I faced so that perhaps I could help other mothers out.

Q: What makes your blog unique compared to other blogs with similar content?

A: Look – every blog is unique because every person is different, but I think we gravitate to what we can relate to, or, conversely, what we somehow aspire to or that inspires us. When I began writing, I was a yankee living in the Deep South who wasn’t afraid to write about anything, and that fascinated people. Now, four kids later but back in the Deep South, I think it’s more about other moms feeling as though they can commiserate with me and my experiences. And maybe a little “boy I’m glad I’m not in her shoes” too – ha!

Q:  Your fourth child was born just a month ago — how are you able to keep blogging?

Q: How much time daily do you spend blogging?

A: Because blogging has now become a business for me, I spend much of my day doing something related to a blog – though unfortunately, it’s not actual writing, unless you count “answering emails” and “tweeting” as writing.

Q: How much do you correspond one-on-one with readers?

A: I do my best to reply to comments on my site, as well as return emails from readers, though I don’t really get too many of those. Much of the correspondence I have with readers happens on Twitter these days.

Q: Has your approach to blogging changed over time, or are you pretty much on course from where you started?

A: I admit that I’m much less uncensored than I was when I first started. No one knew about my blog and I was pretty anonymous. But now that I’ve added more kids, moved into a neighborhood with people who know how to use Google, and written a book, I’m much more careful about what I’m writing about. Maybe I need to change my blog name to “Motherhood Kinda Uncensored.”

Q: What does your mother-in-law think of your blog? 🙂

A: Well, my mother-in-law doesn’t read my blog! I’m not that brave. Or insane. Heh.

Q: What joys did you not expect when you started blogging? What pains?

A: If you had told me I’d be doing this full-time when I started five years ago, I would have laughed. But that’s the exciting part about self-publishing and life in general. You just don’t know where it’s going to take you. I’ve been fortunate to have had amazing experiences and to have met fantastic people.

Q: What is something your readers don’t know about you?

A: Well, I’m horrible with sayings and spelling. Let’s just say I use Google and a Dictionary a lot when I write my posts and find myself saying “Oh, so that’s how you [say/spell] it” more often than I probably should be admitting.

Q: What is your personal favorite blog post?

A: Oh man, it’s so hard to pick one, however I still love my post “Secret Agent Mom” from ages ago. A recent favorite is the post I wrote about having a 3-year-old. *language warnings*

Q: As your kids get older, what thoughts do you have about what their friends might think reading the blog 10 years from now?

Considering I wrote a book about sex and that’s what comes up when you Google me, the content on my blog is pretty tame. And quite frankly, I wish my mom had kept journals like this so that I could have read them. I view these stories as a gift to my kids, so when I’m not here, they’ll have something to look back on. And hopefully laugh about together. Even if it’s at my expense.

WANT TO ADVERTISE ON Motherhooduncensored? Here’s the order page. (Long-time buyers of blogads will notice that we’ve streamlined the order page.) And this week you can get a 50% discount (celebrating Kristen’s 5th birthday as a blogger and our new offer code discounts) by using the phrase “uncensored.”