Celebrating One Year of Blogging at The Awesome Muse

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I can hardly believe that The Awesome Muse celebrates its first birthday this week.  I’m choosing to call it a birthday and not an anniversary as it truly feels like it’s my baby. It’s taken on a life of its own that I never expected, yet gives me so many reasons for joy and gratitude.

Happy First Birthday to The Awesome Muse

If you’re also a blogger, you know that there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes. There’s often a lot of blood, sweat and tears too. And laughter. And fist pumps. And sometimes screaming “YASSSSS” as loud as you can when something you never imagined has come to pass.

If you’re not a blogger, I’m sure that you understand that when you create something from nothing and see it grow is such a joy. It’s been a lot of work, and I’m really proud of it.

Happy 1st birthday to The Awesome Muse lifestyle blog!

Why I started The Awesome Muse

I started The Awesome Muse because I saw a need for a space for women to go online to find content that would be positive, uplifting, fun, or helpful. I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of tired of all those articles that constantly tell me what I’m doing wrong all the time. How about helping me be or feel better instead? So I started crafting a plan.

It’s hard to believe that just a year ago, I was calling up some select friends to ask if they were interested in writing with me periodically.  It went something like this:

“So I’m thinking about starting a blog focused on positivity for women. I want to create a space for women (and sometimes dudes) to be able to raise their voices to share what matters to them and their peers. And to make a place online to have fun and feel good about ourselves. Something that celebrates us, what we think, and what we like. Are you in?”

And thankfully, everyone said yes!

The Awesome Muse is growing. It’s really growing! It reminds me you just never know when something will take off. If you asked me last summer if we’d still be trucking a year later, I would have said, “I hope so.” If you had asked me last summer if over the course of the year that my little blog would publish interviews with Denzel Washington and Oprah Winfrey, I would have asked, “Are you on crack?” (Those interviews might have been the instances of screaming YASSSS, right?)

I am so grateful to so many

I’d like to send some love to those who help make The Awesome Muse, well, awesome. It would be an entirely different entity if it was just me, and I’m so fortunate to have a wonderful team of talented writers and others working behind the scenes.

The technical stuff

I’ve learned a lot about writing code and other skills you need as a blogger. I’m primarily self-taught. (Thank you, YouTube!) But when the going gets tough, I’m glad I’ve got tech support at home. My husband, Jacob Quisenberry, is a software engineer and developer. I know it sometimes stinks to come home from a long day at work to find out that I need help digging into some problem on the blog, but he’s always helpful and ready with either a solution or the research skills to find the fix.

Learning SEO doesn’t have to be difficult, and I’ve got my buddy, and fellow writer here at The Awesome Muse, Kristen Wilson to thank for that. She’s a top-notch SEO, keyword, and all around marketing your site goddess.  She writes here from time to time, but you can also find her on her site, A Visual Business. If you need help with SEO, her blog is practically a library of easy to digest information on how to get up to speed on how to learn SEO. I’m so lucky to have met her. I’ve learned so much from her.

An Amazing Team of Writers

It’s such a pleasure to not only be a writer, but to also have the privilege of editing with a group of amazing writers. If you’ve followed along with The Awesome Muse, you have probably noticed a handful of us contribute articles regularly along with frequent guest posts.  This has been a lot of fun. If you haven’t met some of our talented writers, I’d like to introduce you and send them some love. They inspire me, and I have so much fun working with them.

Writing about entertainment, fashion, music and travel

Carmelita Bouie rocks the house when it comes to fashion and entertainment. She has so much real world experience to bring to her posts, so if you see a movie review or a fashion post from her, you know you are going to get the truth. She is a powerhouse in the entertainment industry, AND she founded her own fashion agency. It’s such a privilege to work with Carmelita. We’ve known each other through the Junior League for several years, and it seems like that meeting was kismet.

Lo Brewer makes me feel young. Why? Because she keeps me up to date on everything that’s cool so I don’t have to lose my street cred. Lo writes a series of music reviews.  She’s so prolific that we’ve given her a column called, “Lo Knows Music.” She focuses on both well-known and up-and-coming female artists. I think she’s got one of the coolest roles here on the blog because she gets to immerse herself in such incredible artistry all the time. She keeps us on the pulse of what’s new. Thank you for keeping us fresh and for introducing me to so many great artists!

Cami Kidder travels the world regularly. She is a documentarian; she travels the world researching her subjects, makes her movies, and then travels to film festivals all over the world marketing these films. Cami writes about travel as well as films and film festivals for us. You can always count on Cami to introduce you to something you may not know a lot about.  Right now, she’s focusing on women playing baseball.  You’ll soon be able to see her documentary, Throw Like a Girl.

Writing about health, fitness and wellness

Layne Bruner is a fitness guru with more energy than you can shake a stick at.  She gets real with us and shares fitness goals, how to deal with fitness struggles and how to manage the two. If you need to know something about exercise, Layne’s your girl. She also leads fab, totally insta-worthy, fitness retreats in awesome places like Tulum, Mexico and Costa Rica. I want to go on one of them someday! Maybe you can too!

Kim Jones is a fantastic health coach, and she shares her wisdom here at The Awesome Muse regularly. The great thing about the way Kim shares her health knowledge is that she keeps it real. There’s nothing preachy or patronizing. It’s real-life advice from a trained professional who has been in the trenches. She knows how to dig into a health issue and help you to live your life more naturally to nourish your best health.

Terrific guest writers and interview subjects

I feel really fortunate that we’ve had such amazing contributions from some terrific guest writers. We’ve had some posts from the following writers, and I’d be thrilled to have any of them contribute guest posts or interviews for us again.

• Dr. Sally Allen – Why Read Harry Potter
• Dr. Tony Avakian – Avoiding Pain While Wearing Heels
• Clark Bartram – Belly Fat Melting Super Bowl Chili
• Kim Bassett – Living Gluten-Free and Happy through the Holidays
• Michelle Burstion-Young – Hamilton: An Obsessed Fan’s Day at the Theatre
• Dr. Christopher Calapai – PMS: Your Diet Matters – Tips for Relief
• Dr. John Douillard – 5 Facts you Haven’t Heard from the Gluten-Free Industry
• Dan Gasby – B. Smith, Loving and Living with Alzheimers (with intro by Michelle Burstion-Young)
• Skyy Hadley – How to Get a Beautiful Manicure for your Wedding Day
• Dr. Sanam Hafeez – Singing the Holiday Blues?
• Charles G. Hanna – Addiction and Perception Disorder
• Michele Harper – What is your Wardrobe Doing for your Energy?
• Dr. Tom Macek – Reduce Chronic Pain During the Holidays
• Dr. Azmaira H. Maker – Helping Children Cope with a Traumatic Death
• Dave Marinaccio – Celebrating Star Trek’s 50th Anniversary
• Mia Mastrioanni – How to Make a Pumpkin Spice Negroni
• Nancy Marshall – Loss to Suicide
• Kerry Miller and Miranda Mendoza – Social Media Engagement: A Conversation
• Aby Moore – 4 Tips to Monetize Your Blog
• Dr. William Schiemann – 5 Steps to Greater Fulfillment
• Jaunique Sealey – The Lessons I Learned from Prince
• Jay York – Getting the Most out of Social Media Marketing

And Thanks especially to you!

To our readers at The Awesome Muse, your support means the world to me and the team. We appreciate you so much and are committed to bringing you more great content in the next year. Please join me in a virtual toast to our second year! Now that’s worth yelling, YASSSSS!

If you haven’t already told your friends about The Awesome Muse, please do! We’re on a roll, and hope you and your friends will come along for the ride for our second year!