It’s kind of tough to decide which of the many things swirling around my brain I should share here. Now that I gave myself a forum, it’s just overwhelming! Start at the beginning? Sure…

I am a middle aged woman, tough to admit, harder to deny. I will be 50 in a few months. I live in the town where I was born, a pretty nice little place. I live with my crazy dog, Zelda. She runs the show, lets me feed her and spoil her. As it should be. I am sure anyone who cares to follow along here will grow to know and love the Z-dog, I promise she is a better reason to read than I could otherwise provide.

I work in a Mexican restaurant, for 9+ years. The staff is like family to me, as are many of my regular customers. I have always worked in the service industry, since I was 14. It is a part of me and most days I couldn’t dream of doing anything else. A love/hate thing like many people have for their jobs, but at least I leave with cash every day.

I am a single woman, I can’t tell if I have bad luck in love or good luck in general. I see and hear a lot from people in relationships, it’s a tough thing no matter how much you love someone. I am not down on love, I remain forever optimistic the chance for it will come along. I am hanging in there, over here. I know a lot of happy people, so I know it can happen.

So as I get closer to the 50 I hope to share some of how I got here. The losses I have experienced, the people I have met, and some of the fun stories my life and my job have given me.  I have also recently started to change my outlook on my physical health, which has been very much a reason to start this too. Weight loss, building strength both physically and mentally have been a revelation for me. I never thought I could change. I want to give others a reason to believe they can too.

I don’t know what to expect as this unfolds, it’s a growth pattern I hope to continue and bring you with me. Plus I will add pictures of my dog. 😉

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

For a few years now, people have been urging me to start a blog. I kind of resisted for a long time, figured whatever I wanted to say I can get on to Facebook. And I do, and everyone keeps saying “Start a blog!!” Alright people, you wore me down. You get what you ask for. I don’t have real agenda other than sharing what I live from one day to the next. No manifestos here, no secret or hidden plan, just get it out of my head and into the powerful and mighty interwebs.

I hope you will follow along, I hope I say something that means something to anyone at all. Otherwise, I at least will keep myself entertained.

I look forward to this little journey. I work in the service industry, so I have plenty of material just from that. I come from a fairly big family, they provide material all the time too. And just about everything else I come across is fair game too, it’s just my life, and I want to give some of it to you.