I’m about as Type A as they come, so this is difficult for me to come to terms with: pregnancy is utterly exhausting, and it’s time for me to start slowing down a bit.
 
In a little less than 10 weeks, I’ll be having my second child. My husband, daughter and I are thrilled to welcome another baby girl into the world in December.
 
Here’s the problem – I’ve been beating myself up internally about all the things I should be doing with my writing and book promotion, on social media, around the house, and in preparation for our growing family, even though it’s physically impossible for me to tackle everything on my to-do list.
 
I’m at the point where it’s an extreme challenge just to put on my own shoes (aside from flip flops, standing up, of course).
 
Heartburn strikes at all hours, regardless of what I’ve eaten.
 
A daily nap is a must.
 
If I get two hours of writing work done on any given day, that’s a major win.
 
I’m now completely useless in the evenings, when I previously tied up loose ends and caught up on whatever I didn’t have time for during the day.
 
But, you know what? I also published a book while pregnant.
 
I suffered through months of debilitating nausea and still managed to complete and publish a freaking book – doing everything but the cover design and professional editing myself.
 
I’ve been interviewed on a podcast, in a local magazine, and for my business email and grammar expertise. 

And I also managed to care for a three-year-old and a surgeon hubby on top of it all.
 
I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished in 2018.
 
Now I’m choosing to shift my own paradigm – altering the expectations I have for myself.
 
The reality is that I have about 2-4 hours of quality energy in my personal tank every day. Rather than moaning and groaning or denying this fact, I am going to start using that time wisely.
 
I will NOT waste energy obsessing over what I should be doing. I will NOT waste energy feeling guilty.
 
Instead, I’m going to enjoy this time that I will never get back: quality 1:1 time with my daughter and husband, and the joys of nesting and preparing for a new baby.
 
Ultimately, this means I’ll be taking an extended break from this blog, as well as social media.
 
I’ll be revving down instead of up so that I can focus on my family and stay sane and healthy.
 
I’ll be recharging my batteries so that I can enter this next exciting phase of life and give it my all.
 
I’ll share this journey with you, my readers, as time and energy allow.
 
In the meantime, I wish you all the best and brightest! If you need me, I'll probably be sleeping (while I can!). 

Gosh, I wish it were all flip flops, sandy beaches and palm trees over here, but this summer my blog will be taking a brief hiatus so that I can focus on...

MY BIG BOOK RELEASE (For Memoirs of a Surgeon's Wife on July 17, 2018)!

I'm working away to get the book across the finish line on the publication date, so this blog is going to take a much-deserved little break-y before returning in August.

As always, I'll be sharing major announcements on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and with my email subscribers (sign up here). 

Happiest of summers to you, and be back soon!

Congratulations to the winners of my Book Release Date Giveaway, and many thanks to everyone who participated!

Winners will be notified via email. 
​
Exciting news on two release dates coming soon:

1. Paperback edition of "100 of Your Toughest Business Emails: Solved"
2. Digital edition of "Memoirs of a Surgeon's Wife: I'm Throwing Your Damn Pager into the Ocean"

​Stay tuned to this blog for more info!

You may also like these blogs by Megan Sharma:
Book cover design: How I developed a concept for my indie author book cover
BIG NEWS! I’m self-publishing my memoir in 2018. Here’s why…
It's Here! Get My Free E-Book: 100 of Your Toughest Business Emails: Solved on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks and more
Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: A word to mothers who aspire to have a surgeon-in-law
Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: No, I don’t want no scrubs
Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: For the love of Danskos
Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: The other shoe
Writing tips: What I want to blog about vs. what I actually blog about
One year after my major career change from full-time mom to full-time writer: reflections and lessons learned
For writers: All your writing fears, squashed!
A real, imperfect day in the life of a writer: me
Your writing conference checklist: how to make it worth every minute and every penny (takeaways from the 2017 San Francisco Writers Conference)

You may also like these blogs by Megan Sharma:
Book cover design: How I developed a concept for my indie author book cover
BIG NEWS! I’m self-publishing my memoir in 2018. Here’s why…
It's Here! Get My Free E-Book: 100 of Your Toughest Business Emails: Solved on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks and more
Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: A word to mothers who aspire to have a surgeon-in-law
Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: No, I don’t want no scrubs
Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: For the love of Danskos
Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: The other shoe
Writing tips: What I want to blog about vs. what I actually blog about
One year after my major career change from full-time mom to full-time writer: reflections and lessons learned
For writers: All your writing fears, squashed!
A real, imperfect day in the life of a writer: me
Your writing conference checklist: how to make it worth every minute and every penny (takeaways from the 2017 San Francisco Writers Conference)

New year, new byline, and new tips on how you can support your favorite authors!
 
The Write Life is a trusted source of information for writers of all genres.
 
This piece, published on The Write Life, focuses on how you can show love and support for authors – without spending a penny!
 
For new authors (present company included), it’s just as important, if not more so, to have help spreading the word than to make a few bucks on a book (although we don’t hate that! Go for it!).
 
Check out the article here, and feel free to add your feedback on creative and simple ways to share the love with the authors in your life and on your bookshelf. 

You can find all of my articles on The Write Life here.  

Cheers!   

You may also like these blogs by Megan Sharma:
On The Write Life: 17 Incredible Possibilities if Writers Ran The World
On The Write Life: Get Inspired! 20 Writers to Follow on Twitter
Article on The Write Life: Think Like a Journalist to Improve Your Writing (Trench Coat Optional!)
How to be the perfect friend: a guide for the ladies
Writing tips: What I want to blog about vs. what I actually blog about
One year after my major career change from full-time mom to full-time writer: reflections and lessons learned
For writers: All your writing fears, squashed!
A real, imperfect day in the life of a writer: me
Your writing conference checklist: how to make it worth every minute and every penny (takeaways from the 2017 San Francisco Writers Conference) 
The write stuff: An author’s favorite books and authors 
Writing tips: Cutting down on word fat and other newsletter best practices 
All about writing: writing 'til it hurts 

When I first started this blog in March 2014, frankly, I was completely clueless.
 
At the time, I was working full time as an IT Corporate Communications Manager and was looking for a creative outlet. I could literally feel the creative juices escaping my brain and being replaced by business jargon (which is another art form, of course).
 
Funny enough, it was the college intern I hired to help me write corporate intranet articles who inspired me to create my own web site and online writing portfolio.
 
I was blown away by the fact that she even had a web site, with impressive media clips, to boot – while still in journalism school.

So, I built this web site as my digital portfolio, and launched my blog as part of it.
 
All I knew was that I wanted the freedom to write about whatever I wanted. The rest came with research, experience, and a knock-your-socks-off blogging course.
 
I’ve written this blog to help other newbies who may be struggling to get traffic to their blog, or who simply don’t understand blog SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
 
The following are ten straightforward blog SEO tips to increase traffic and your ranking (essentially, where you fall in Google search results). 

The newbie’s guide to optimizing blog SEO in 10 easy steps

1.  Determine the best keywords to use. First things first: you need to know what keywords people are using to search on subjects related to yours. Get ideas on Soovle or ubersuggest—plug in potential keywords and observe what word combinations are most popular.

2.  Choose the right headline. When selecting your blog headline, incorporate your SEO keywords. You will also want to sprinkle it into your opening paragraph, in a subheading, and within the body content. Try to make it flow naturally. 

3.  Go for a straightforward title. Don’t go all ‘play on words’ or little-known pop culture reference in your blog title. Your title should be concrete and specific. For example:
 
Do this: Seattle travel guide: 10 most romantic hotels in the Emerald City
NOT this: Keep the love alive in the Emerald City
 
4.  Images are key. Pair your blog with at least one image, preferably several interspersed throughout the text to keep interest and create white space. The main header image should include the title of the blog to make your content more sharable, and more likely to be seen. 

5.  Create your own high-quality graphics for free. You can use free tools from Canva and Pablo to design your own graphics, and free stock photos from Visual Hunt and Pexels.  
 
6.  Encourage social sharing. Include visible social sharing links to encourage readers to share your blog with others. If your platform doesn’t include automated sharing, create your own free HTML sharing code to embed in your blog here or try the free Sumo plugin. 

7.  Add categories. Tag at least one category to each of your blogs to help readers find content of interest. Like with blog headlines, this should be down to earth, not ethereal.
 
8.  Leverage your platform’s SEO settings. Find the SEO settings on your blogging platform and add appropriate keywords and descriptions to each blog entry. These will often be located in the advanced settings for each individual blog post. 

9.  You may also like…Take the guesswork out of related content for your readers. Automate this if you can. Otherwise, copy and paste the most relevant links to your blogs on similar topics.
 
10.  Leave a final impression. If someone makes it to the end of your blog and they like what they read, now is the time to keep their interest. Design a graphic to include at the end of each blog with a succinct call to action, such as subscribing to your blog RSS feed or email list, or connecting on social media. An image with text overlay pointing to a link works well. 

See? Now you’re no longer a blog SEO newbie. Best of blogging to you! 

You may also like these blogs by Megan Sharma:
Writing tips: What I want to blog about vs. what I actually blog about
It's Here! Get My Free E-Book: 100 of Your Toughest Business Emails: Solved on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks and more
Business Email Etiquette: 50 Things You Should Never Say in a Work Email
For writers: All your writing fears, squashed!
A real, imperfect day in the life of a writer: me
Boss baby: 22 traits shared by 2-year-olds and bad bosses
One year after my major career change from full-time mom to full-time writer: reflections and lessons learned
The write stuff: An author’s favorite books and authors 
Writing tips: Cutting down on word fat and other newsletter best practices 
Writing tips for email: In 30 seconds, this message will self-destruct 
Public speaking tips: How to move your audience from callous to captivated