#BehindTheLinky 1 – Guest Post by Mum Muddling Through?

Hello and welcome to the very first #BehindTheLinky guest post!

This is my new guest post series talking to our favourite linky hosts…. Really I want to get Behind The Linky finding out more about the linkys and their host’s blogs.

I’m so excited to introduce my first guest poster…. The fabulously cool mum everyone wants to link up with, Sarah, from Mum Muddling Through! I really have loved Sarah’s blog from the start, she’s a brilliant writer, so ‘real’, and we both started blogging at pretty much the same time. Although Sarah has two daughters amount other things we both have wee girls who are pretty much the same age too, 14 months-ish! Anyway, over to Sarah to tell you a bit more about #coolmumclub and also about her blog, so please check both out and follow her on her social media accounts too…

So, it’s now over to Mum Muddling Through:

Hello. I’m Sarah, aka Mum Muddling Through, host of #coolmumclub Thursday linky. The blog, the link up, and my life is not sponsored by Ray-Ban (in case you were wondering), but it probably should be. Here is my entry for the wonderful Lynne’s guest series, over at New Mummy Blog.

Links/addresses:?
Your blog name: Mum Muddling Through
Your blog address: http://www.mummuddlingthrough.com
And on Twitter,?Pinterest & Instagram?
What about Facebook??Nope – checkout why here!!?

Some linky questions…

1. Linky name: #CoolMumClub
2. Linky run time: Thursdays 06.00am – Friday 11.59
3. What sort of posts can link up? Any parenting posts. The funnier and entertaining the better!
4. Where do you share the posts which link up to your linky? Twitter, and on a pinterest board of best bits.
5. Host/cohost? Myself, joined by Talya aka Motherhood the Real Deal (@motherhoodreal)

It’s also nice to know more about the host’s blog…

1. When did you start your blog and why?
June 2016 because I was looking for a new hobby, I’d been made redundant and was mostly at home with two young kids.

2. What’s your favourite thing about blogging?
Exorcising my over active mind!

3. What were your top 3 most popular posts since you started blogging?
The thing is, running a popular linky (like joining one) skews your stats on this – Popular posts #1, #2 & #3 are the last 3 weeks linkys – and for actual posts, it’s whatever I had linked that day. So…I’m going to pick the ones I felt received the best attention off their own merit instead 🙂

#1 – Do princesses wear glasses?

#2 – 9 types of sleep deprivation?

#3 – Having a second baby – The fear vs the reality?

4. Which other bloggers do you most identify with? (Name up to 3)
Such a hard question…I love Min from single mum speaks – we are the same age and I totally ‘get’ her posts – different family set up, totally, but same attitude at heart. She reminds me of one of my best friends in the real world. Then, there is Nat, from Mum in Brum – my red wine / chilli loving twin. And finally (so hard!), probably This Mums life – a mum of two, like me, who has a fabulous way of making me smile. (I’m Obviously excluding from the selection my blogging BFF Talya).

?And of course a bit more about you:?

1. Do you have any non-blogging hobbies??
Running, erm…hate this question as I never know what to say! Maybe read this post…http://mummuddlingthrough.com/uncategorized/being-memorable-2/ explains it best…

2. Favourite take away??
Chinese (I love a good curry, but definitely in a curry house, so I don’t have to deal with the washing up)

3. Favourite home made meal?
Green Thai curry

4. Favourite TV series?
Breaking Bad / Game of Thrones (How can I choose!)

5. Favourite outing with little ones?
Someone else’s house, preferably for tea (for them) and wine (for me).

6. Top tip for new mums?
Just do your best, and don’t strive for perfection…you’ll only end up feeling a failure!

Now, let’s really get Behind the Linky:

From under my veil of anonymity, I sometimes wonder if you’d all be terribly disappointed if you were to meet me? #CoolMumClub HQ chief…no pressure eh?!

The linky idea came to me much in the same way as the ‘starting a blog’ idea…an itch that needed to be scratched. A eureka moment that needed to be executed. An idea worm in my head that needed to come to life. You may or may have not read my post ‘Can Mum be Cool?’ (http://mummuddlingthrough.com/coolmumclub/can-mum-be-cool/)…well that’s where it all began. And, so it seems, a few of you ‘get it’ and hence became the buzzing community that is #coolmumclub.

In all honesty, it was probably a bit of a premature birth – my blog itself was only a few months old and I had only just cracked joining in with Linkies, let alone running them. But, in true Sarah fashion, I was already looking for the next fix, wondering if I could create something similar of my own. I had some headache teething problems – I hated the fact that the InLinkz was an external link because I wasn’t self hosted (no prizes for what I did next), and I could not get the badge code to work which drove me insane.

The badge was a recreation of the original featured image for ‘Can Mum Be Cool?’ in a more condensed form. Those are my actual shades (somehow survived half a decade of festivals prior to parenthood and everyday summer wear then on). That’s my kitchen worktop, and my kids real stuff. It still seems funny having it appear at the end of blog posts I read online.

The vibe at the linky is definitely laid back. I can assure you that you will never read the words ‘I’ve noticed some of you have not been using the badge / leaving comments’. I’ve come to realise the parenting blogger gang are a pretty nice bunch, and highly unlikely to take the piss. Plus who am I kidding that I have time to police that kind of thing?

So, nowadays, Thursdays are my linky day. Usually comprised of frantically sending tweet reminders (twitter spam) first thing (all manually) over porridge before we all get dressed. A nursery dash, a bit of naptime-reading if I’m lucky. Then, more reading, commenting and sharing when the kids are in bed. My blog daytime hours are restricted big time by a 45 minute naptime (as advised by health visitor to aid night sleeps), a three year old, and a 15 month old who goes crazy if she see’s the laptop / ipad. So I’ll be sneakily retweeting and favouriting your tweets from my iPhone throughout my somewhat ‘normal’ day. Plus there are always ‘things going on’ which the linky has to fit in with; a coffee morning date, an ill child, a play date afternoon, a midweek night out with the girls, a birthday, a weekend away to prepare for. The day the blog comes before real life is the day it’s all gone horribly wrong, so I never decline invitations on a Linky-day basis. It usually all comes together…with a bit of jiggery pokery.

I originally decided to go it alone, and even declined some rather wonderful co-host offers. Mainly, due to the fear of getting it all wrong and letting someone else down. But, in time, I started to see that it could be beneficial to share the load – in terms of work and moral support, so the offer from Talya ‘Motherhood the real deal’ came at the perfect time. Talya brought a new energy to the linky, a wider audience, and someone to share the highs and lows with (plus 50% of the reading when the links were growing each week – we split it 50:50). We make a great team and I have never looked back from that decision. I still feel a bit in awe that I can call such a phenomenal blogger my partner in crime.

Soon after then, I started my guest post series #coolmumclub: Meet the Members which complements the Linky perfectly. Sure, I give up one of my linked spots over to you, but it’s a pretty awesome thing sitting back each week and seeing another blog get a massive boost from all of the new reader comments. (We are always looking for new guests!). One thing I need to get better at is replying to all the comments, but I am only human (trying to care for two other humans) and sometimes I get a bit behind!

I remember a fellow blogger, Domestic Momster, wishing me good luck and giving some advice that running a linky is great fun but really hard work – I now appreciate exactly what she meant! It brings an element of commitment to the blog that wasn’t there before, but the hard work pays off in your stats and audience growth. Plus of course, all the amazing blog posts come to you!

The biggest reward of hosting #coolmumclub is definitely getting feedback from the readers & linkers saying they feel part of something special; a community. I have to pinch myself sometimes that I created that, from nothing. I have got to know some wonderful bloggers; Mums and Dads. It makes me feel incredibly proud, and if I ever have those weeks that I wonder what the hell I am doing, it spurs me to carry on. It’s kinda…well, cool.

Thanks Lynne for the opportunity to feature on your guest series. See you Thursday?!

#coolmumclub…stay cool 😉

I’ll definitely see you Thursday, Sarah! Hope you’ll all be joining #coolmumclub too??

Lynne x