Branching out

Six months ago I was approached with a super secret squirrel offer. There were emails sent, notes taken and meetings attended. All of these were done under the cover of darkness and required a secret handshake and codenames. OK so maybe not, but it was under the strict instruction that I was to keep tight lipped about it all.

The urge to run around singing "I know something you don't know" was enormous. I can keep other people's secrets no problem, but something to do with myself? I feel like I'm going to burst! Luckily with the whole preggo thing there was no chance of getting a bit blabby after a few wines.

The enormous secret? That the Australian Writers' Centre was heading on over to the land of Sandgropers. The part where I come in that made it so hard to keep my over-sharing trap shut? Oh, nothing much, just ME teaching the Blogging for Beginners course. Me? ME! MEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I know, I was just as surprised as you are. Apparently relying on profanity to get your point across does not disqualify you from all things proper and writerly.

In what is no doubt a soul crushing blow to educators the world over, I am now technically a teacher and will be putting it right on top of my resume. I'm thinking of getting a teacher's desk to complete my transformation and I fully expect apples to be left on it (5S thanks).

I can also now be mentioned legitimately in the same sentence as some very fancy people I idolize such as Karen Edwards, Allison Tait, Valerie Khoo, Tim Gooding, Kim Berry, Kerri Sackville and Nicole Avery. And not just in a "Did you see that Glow was stalking Nicole again?" way but in a "They both teach classes at the Australian Writers' Centre" way.

Holy shit, I'm almost certain typing those words just caused me to have a small stroke. Mind = BLOWN!

There are some mighty big shoes to fill here, with my east coast counterparts being the divine Kim Berry and the inimitable Karen Andrews. The pressure! THE PRESSURE!!

Students of the class can rest assured that the content is not created by yours truly, merely delivered with a personal touch and an anecdote or two. And whilst I can't promise anything I will attempt to reign in my F bombs for the comfort of those pupils with delicate constitutions. It's just that I don't swear around my children so when they're out of earshot the words seize the opportunity and come tumbling out like Tourettes, not knowing when they'll get another chance.

If you've ever played with the idea of blogging then I'd definitely suggest you check out the course. Not just to ensure my future employment but because it is actually full of the things that will really help you start up a blog.

Bloggers: What did you wish you knew when you started your blog?
Non Bloggers: What is stopping you starting a blog?

Talking about my boobs again

So guess who got another writing job?! Thanks blawg!

I am super excited to announce that I’ll be sharing a few of my breastfeeding stories at the how2breastfeed website in the coming months! I have a lot of feeding stories – when you feed for this long that’s what happens. I see this as a massive win/win situation - I can pass on the knowledge I’ve gained to those who might need a bit of a hand and I get another forum to talk about my boobs in! HOORAY!

I thought I’d prepared for breastfeeding as much as possible by researching everything while I was pregnant. I figured that in the sleepless few weeks of new parenthood I wouldn’t know my ass from my elbow so best get as much info as I could before that happened. 

The start of my breastfeeding journey (because you always have to use the word journey) was shaky. All the books I’ve read, all the midwives and all the lactation consultants I’ve ever had experience with told me “if he’s latched on properly, it won’t hurt”.

I have one word for you. Bullshit. That's not always the case.

My nipples obviously did not get that memo. You know why? Because I was busy being filled with conflicting information about how long I should leave Tricky to feed as a newborn. It seemed every book, and every specialist had a different set of "rules".

My midwife told me to leave Tricky to nurse an hour, which did turn out to be true for us ONCE MY MILK CAME IN. It was definitely not the way to go when all I had was colostrum. Her advice (based on the fact that she assumed Tricky was five days old rather than 12 hours old) led to some rather nasty damage and a truck load of pain despite the fact he had latched on well.

With a start like that I sometimes wonder how on earth we managed to come this far. Then I remember I’m stubborn and have been known to take on proving people’s assumptions of me wrong as a bit of a hobby.

Was he really ever this small?

But even with my arsenal of knowledge, I still felt like I needed someone to tell me I was doing OK, to answer my questions and assure me it would get easier. I would have loved to have the how2breastfeed DVD. I would have watched it at 2am when I was awake with a starving baby who was screaming the house down as I figured out how exactly I was meant to hold him.

Hold his neck not his head? What? Won't that hurt him?! GAH someone just tell me what to do!

To see real mums, watch them feed, hear their stories and know that it does get better, right in your own lounge room... worth it’s weight in gold.

Did you have a shaky start to breastfeeding?  Where did you get your support from?

This post is not a standard sponsored post, but is part of my ongoing work for how2breastfeed which is a paid position.

Buzzing With Excitement

The other day I was complaining as usual about how writing a bio is impossibly hard. Trying to spruik yourself without sounding like a wanker is a skill that I do not posses.

But I finally wrote one and combined it with the photo that got the most votes:

Ahh, but what is it for???

Well, yours truly is now officially a writer for The Daily Buzz, a website that finds all the must-have cool and funky toys, clothes and accessories for babies and kids (and a few things for the mamas too).

I'm buzzing with excitement at the chance to bee part of the team. See what I did there? That's the writing talent that got me a job, baby!

I'm kinda flipping out a bit because I now get to throw around words like copy, deadline and briefs (not the underwear variety, though I have been known to throw those around too). How grown up does that sound?

So go check out The Daily Buzz coo over how cute I am as a cowgirl on their about page.

Find The Daily Buzz on Facebook and Twitter

Bio, Bio, It's Off To Work We Go

I'm having major dramas at Casa de Glow today. Actually, if I'm honest, I've been having them for a while now. I sit down to write and nothing happens. It's worse than Blogger's Block... it's Bio Block.

Have you ever written your own bio? It's bloody hard work. I write them weekly for the He Did What!? Wednesday guest posters but I can't make my own. I'm meant to be writing TWO at the moment for separate projects (that I can't officially tell you about yet... do I seem mysterious and aloof?) that are so different from each other and anything else I've done before that I can't just copy paste. 

All I used to have was "I blog because it's cheaper than therapy and just as effective" but I realized other than painting me (accurately) as a scary crazy lady it didn't say anything of a biographical nature. So I added "I'm pushing the envelope, pushing 30, pushing limits and pushing my luck".

OK so that doesn't really say much more about me at all, does it?

In The Media Kit I went a bit tongue in cheek and took advantage of having a bit more space and went as far as saying in my life Pre-Tricky I spent most of my time removing unwanted hair from womens' nether regions. Ya-huh. The kit that talks about vaginas got a mention at Blogopolis. Don't worry, I was just as surprised as you.

You need to have confidence in yourself to write a good bio. The amazing Mama Grace tells me I should "embrace my awesomeness" so I was hoping I could just write "I'm totally awesome" and be done with it but Allison Tait has reminded me that it should really be written in the third person so that just won't do.

But you see I also don't want anyone reading it to think I'm conceited so I've decided, after weeks and weeks of deliberations on the following:

Glowless is awesome and not at all stuck up. No, seriously.

Short and sharp, baby. 

Do you have a bio? Did you find it hard to write? Do you sound like a stuck up attention whore when you try to write one or is that just me?

___ . . . ___ . . . ___

EDIT: My blog crush Parental Parody has just emailed me an amazing bio. I loves you PP!!!

Glowless is a mother to one, mentor to many. She has impossibly awesome hair. Always. She also has amazing eyebrows. When not excelling at the parenting thing (seriously…she even uses cloth nappies), she blogs. Her blog is enjoyed by trillions, as gauged in a recent poll (she is officially more popular than Bieber, but she’s modest and doesn’t like to brag).

She has a sincere affection for Toblerone cocktails, and it should be noted that her main Rock Star demand for attending functions and events, be the availability of said Toblerone cocktails.  She also travels with an entourage, but I’m totally not fussy about what I drink, as long as it’s not beer or tequila.