I woke up at 5:30ish am this morning, after passing out at 9pm. Crawled from my car to say hi to the boys and then bed after a day trip to Selma. Not a long day, but just tired today. Woke up and Sparky heard me, so he jumped in to bed with me. Ellie was sleeping on my left foot, Don was grazing my side softly as he slept like he often does, and Sparky cuddled up in to my armpit/arm/shoulder nook. I checked the phone to see the phone for Leo to be asleep, he was cuddled up sleeping deeply. And at that moment, in the quiet morning I was deeply, deeply grateful. I never want to take for granted how fortunate I am to wake up in my bed, in my home, surrounded by UNCONDITIONAL love. We are not perfect, but we love each other so much. For at least 30 minutes, with the sliver of morning coming through the window, I sat in gratitude. Sparky snores, Ellie nuzzles, Donny cuddles. GRATEFUL. I love them.

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.