Moms Who Blog : Featuring Prerna Sinha

Hello and welcome to Mom Blogger October on the Times of Amma. As regular readers know, the Times Of Amma community is all about inspiring Moms and building them up as they work on being themselves and Mothers. And so, this month is dedicated to featuring Moms who are working on being themselves and mothers, while expressing themselves through their blogs.

Today we feature Prerna Sinha. Prerna is a fashion designer by profession, an economics graduate and has worked in the garment industry for almost a decade. But nothing is more apt than calling her a full-time mom as she describes herself. She has two beautiful boys that are more trouble than one can imagine and when she is not running after them, you will find her blogging. A passion, which only comes second after her kids. Her blogposts are a piece of her.

What was it that prompted you to become a blogger?

When I started writing a blog it was like writing a diary. I had no ideas that it could ever be a profession. I was just penning down my thoughts and sometimes sharing it with my friends. I wrote like this forever, irregularly, at my own pace, gave it up many times and so life went on. Also being the first one amongst friends and family to have a kid, people used to turn me for advice. I realised this had potential when my blogs with mommy advice were shared by emails amongst friends like a bible. Slowly but steadily, it has taken it's own identity and today I am a full-time work-at-home mommy blogger.

Which has been your most memorable post to date and why?

As a blogger you pen down many posts over the course of time but one that I wrote about 'Not being a yummy mummy' struck a cord with many women and went viral. I see so many posts that talk about how they lost their pregnancy weight in a few months and then women commenting to know tips and tricks on how they did it.

This puts women under the added pressure of losing their post pregnancy weight. My post talked about how many women like me are able to do that and how it was ok and absolutely acceptable.

Have you ever been trolled? How did you handle it?

Once, when I wrote an article about breastfeeding and posted on an international breastfeeding group on World breast feeding day. Breastfeeding is a sensitive issue and many women have different views and methodology that they follow, especially internationally.

The article was written with the advice of a breastfeeding expert from India but some of her views did not go down well with the international audiences. I posted an article on the group and was almost immediately trolled. Since I was not expert, I could not debate too much with them then. However, I wrote back to the expert and clarified all doubts and even answered many queries on that post.

Have you ever started to write a post and then abandoned it? Why?

Many posts. I have a draft folder for over 100 such posts. Sometimes you lose the train of thoughts. Sometimes the topic is not relevant anymore.

Do you stick to a regular posting schedule or do you post whenever inspiration strikes? Do you have a writing routine?

I try and do 2-3 posts a week. Sometimes I work around a calender, sometimes I just post when I feel like it. As long as i maintain the consistency, I am fine.

Many say that blogging is dead thanks to other micro-blogging avenues like Twitter, Snapchat and others. As the owner of a traditional blog, how would you respond to that? Actually, I think blogging is just picking up in India. Social media and micro blogging appeals to a different younger audience but I know for a fact that a lot of moms read more blogs now. I see social media as a means to promote blogging and I use it for just that.

Do you see your blog as a stepping stone to something else? Do you see yourself wearing the tag of 'blogger' five years down the line?

While there is no clear plan yet, I do feel I will be doing more than this. The blog is growing and now I want to take the blog beyond it's virtual arena and make it more real. I have tied up with a few experts(parenting coach, fitness expert and a nutritionist) and they are available to answer the queries of any reader all the time. We have started doing workshops for kids and parents. Have successfully conducted one on 'Tuning into kids' and one on 'Body Science and Sex Education'. There is a lot more to come. Will keep giving back to the society as much as I can. Blogging takes so much energy and creativity out of you, I am not sure I will be doing this for the next 5 years. Maybe a different version of it but I will be around the blogosphere.

What tips do you have for other Indian Mom bloggers?

All moms have a different story to tell. Stick to yours and be unique. You can follow Prerna's blog here.