My heart for this blog is that it be a place of sobremesa, a place where we gather around the table and share our hearts and our stories. And if just one person does all the talking while we sit around the table, it doesn’t make for much of a conversation.
I started the Womanly Wednesday series to give other women a chance to share their stories in this online space, to open up the conversation to include other voices besides mine. I emailed friends from my childhood, from my college years, and from my life here in Kansas City and asked them to share a part of their story.
The very first Womanly Wednesday post was by my friend Haley and she described her struggles to reconcile being a “grownup” with following her dreams and chasing adventure as a humanitarian photographer.
The only requirement I gave was they share something honest and vulnerable about something they had wrestled with at some point in their life, whether in the past or at that moment. They didn’t have to show a before and after picture or talk about how now everything in their life was perfect, they just had to be honest about their lives so other people could read and know they’re not alone in their struggles.
And friends, WOW, did they blow me away with their responses! The women I emailed me went above and beyond, sharing the darkest, most broken parts of their hearts in beautiful and courageous ways. They wrote real and inspiring words about the ways that life had broken them, challenged them, and shaped them into the women they are today, and over and over again, their posts were some of the most highly shared on this blog.
Each week the Womanly Wednesday posts get hundreds of shares and thousands of views from the people in the authors’ worlds and the readers of this blog. Last month this little blog of mine blew me away and got over 25,000 pageviews, and I love knowing that some of these people are getting to read your hearts and your stories. (Can we talk about how crazy that is and how much I’ve been squealing about that? 25,000 pageviews when I’ve been on blogging maternity leave and not posting consistently?! You all are the best and I’m grateful for your faithfulness to keep coming back and being a part of this community even when I’m a little preoccupied with taking care of a tiny human.)
Since I’ve been on maternity leave and unable to spend time coordinating and scheduling posts, I’ve taken a few months off from this series. Now that I’m getting back into the blogging world I am excited to kick it off again!
My friend Louise’s post about grief received thousands of views and almost 450 Facebook shares!
I still have plenty of friends on my shortlist to email (so if you know me and read this blog at all, you’ve been warned you might see an email from me sometime soon!), but I’ve decided that it’s time to open up series to anyone who might be interested in sharing their heart and their story. So now, dear reader, it’s YOUR turn to be my next Womanly Wednesday guest poster!
I need people who are willing to open up and share about their real hearts and real struggles, because like I shared in my recent post about vulnerability, it’s only in sharing our stories and being our true selves that we find a sense of love and belonging. If you have a heart to encourage others by sharing your own struggles, then it would be an honor and a joy to have your story on my blog.
The Guidelines For Submitting A Post
If you are interested in submitting a Womanly Wednesday guest post (and I hope you are!), here are some of the guidelines:
- Topics: Posts will share honestly and vulnerably about something the author has wrestled with in her life at some point. These are not essays about your thoughts on a certain issue or posts with tips as much as real stories to encourage others. Past topics have included things like abuse, eating disorders, anxiety, chronic illness, deciding on a passion or career, wrestling with grief, challenges in being a mom, infant loss and infidelity, and many more. Your story doesn’t have to be dramatic or crazy, as long as it’s real and honest and shares something other women can relate to.
- Post Length: Posts should be approximately 700-1000 words long and include at least 3-4 pictures of the author so the readers can have a face for the voice and story they’re hearing.
- Social Media Sharing: A huge part of the Womanly Wednesday series is being willing to share your story with YOUR people (not just my readers). I will be promoting the post and links to your social media/blogs on my blog Facebook, personal Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and ask you to do something similar! If you have a blog, I’d love for you to share this post on your Facebook page and/or other social media on the day it goes live. In addition, I encourage ALL guest posters (bloggers included!) to share the link to their post on their personal Facebook as well. It leads to deep, real conversations with people and I truly believe that is worth the risk that comes with being vulnerable. Let’s be brave and share the good and the real and the hard with people, even when it’s scary.
- Dates: Once I’ve assigned a date to you from the options you suggested, I’ll just need the post and pictures (as well as links to any social media pages/blogs you want me to include) by the Sunday evening before the post goes live. This will give me a few days to get everything ready for the week!
For all you non-blogging folks: PLEASE consider sharing your heart in a Womanly Wednesday post! Some of the most powerful posts have come from brave women who decide their stories are worth sharing, even if they don’t blog or share their hearts online frequently. I would love for this series to continue to be a mix of bloggers and non-bloggers alike!
My friend Aly wrote a beautiful post about losing her sweet daughter and ending her marriage, all in the same year.
How To Submit A Post
If you are interested in writing a Womanly Wednesday guest post, please fill out the form below giving some information about who you are, what you would like to write about, and what dates would work best for you to post. If I don’t feel like your post is a good fit for the series or there aren’t any more dates available, I will try to let you know that as soon as possible. Otherwise, I will try to get back to everyone within 2-3 weeks with some dates and topics! Thank you for your willingness to be a part of my blog. I am so excited to feature your heart and your story on this blog and can’t wait to read all the submissions!
