Amazon Canada Vine Voices and a blogger’s journey

Yesterday I received an email from amazon.ca and trust me it caught me by complete surprise.

First of all let me tell you a bit more about my journey as a blogger.  It all started when my oldest son was still in Kindergarten.  That year he was going to school and we slowly explored the possibilities of homeschooling him the following year.  We were giving ourselves until after the homeschool conference in town before making a final decision but several things happened that made us decide before the conference.   When we attended the conference we decided to purchase the math curriculum we desired to use.   Our son continued the remaining couple of months at school.  There are times I wish I had simply removed him from the classroom then but since the school year was almost finished we let him complete the year.   However, in the mean time he also jumped into the math curriculum we had purchased (which was the Kindergarten and grade 1 levels).   He completed the Kindergarten level quite rapidly.  He was excited about it.  

However, I was wondering what other curriculum we would use.   I had a friend in the US who encouraged me to blog and be part of a new blogging group who would review homeschool curriculum for a homeschool magazine.  I applied and was accepted.   I was part of this group for three years but I started to feel a bit discouraged about the fact that Canadian homeschoolers would not get the cool products available out these because of shipping fees.    So as I was completing my third year of blogging with this viral blogging group, I started to stretch my own wings and approached various Christian publishers in order to review books.   And because of my experience, I was able to review numerous books.   Then it dawned on me. What if I could approach other kind of companies and offer to blog about their products?  Would it be possible?

And so started my journey in the blogosphere as I call it.  I have been blessed beyond my own imagination with products that are helpful for us at home, at the RV, for leisure or for homeschool.   And each time I have the possibility, I also review the products on third party websites.

I had heard about the Vine Voices program on Amazon.com but I also knew that it was only for people living in the US.   Imagine my surprise when I received an invite to be part of the brand new launch of the Amazon.ca Vine Voices program yesterday.   I just couldn’t believe my own eyes.

What is Amazon Vine?

Amazon Vince is a program by invitation only where the most trusted reviewers on Amazon post opinions about new and pre-release items to help customers make an informed purchase decision.   The invitation is based on the reviewer rank, which is a reflection of the quality and helpfulness of their reviews as judged by other Amazon customers.   

So  guess my truthfulness and my dedication in posting my reviews have been fruitful as I am not part of the Vine Voices program.

So as I am waiting for two products to arrive in order for me to review, I am in awe of how blessed I am to be able to provide my thoughts on Amazon.ca.  

And I am quite excited about this opportunity.

The end of an adventure

Three years ago – on February 2011 to be more precise, I was approached with an opportunity to write for Woodall’s.   They had a blog and were recruiting bloggers to write about anything that was camping related.  After discussing with my husband and talking over the phone with the person in charge back then, I decided to embark on this new adventure.   In exchange of a weekly blog I would get paid by Woodall’s.     

For forward three years and it’s now April 2014.   Lot of things have changed through the years and I was informed this week that my services were not required anymore since the blog was going to change in the near future.   Three years of blogging of camping and being paid – a great adventure indeed.

Now, I am somewhat relieved.   I was sensing that my time with them had come to an end.  

I don’t know what the future has in store for me.  In the meantime, I have a few things I want to blog about and I think I can put more of my own energies on my personal blog.    My kids are growing up.  Homeschooling is still a choice we have made and we enjoy it quite a bit. 

Thank you Woodall’s for the adventure.   I had a blast during these three years.

Blog Planner from Confessions of a Homeschooler

 

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I am now part of a group of bloggers who will review a variety of products for Mosaic Reviews. We comes from various background and our families are all different but we all are eager to explore the opportunities that will come to us in this adventures.

As a first review, we were all asked to proceed with a test review before everything starts officially.   And the best part was that we had a choice in this particular review…  The gals leading us had found ten different Blog planners to help us to get organized.   They are all free as well so you could discover something that will be very helpful for you if you read our reviews.  Each and every single one of us had the possibility to choose which planner we would review.  This possibility made it very interesting and I slowly proceeded to check out the ten different planners suggested by our leaders.

Almost immediately  one of the planner caught my eye but I wanted to check all of them.   As much as each and every single on of the planners are interesting, I have selected the one found at Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Actually, you can find get two different planners on the website – Calendar style layout or the Lined Format Post Planner.    The Calendar Style Layout was interesting but my heart went toward the Lined Format Post Planner.  I love have some space to write down so it made sense to me to use the lined one.  See the two different versions below.

So as soon as I downloaded it, I printed it and started to use it.   That day, I immediately wrote the review I made as well as the giveaway to be held later in February. 

What I particularly like about this planner is it’s simplicity and the fact that I don’t have to print over 100 pages.    It goes right to the point and simple to use.   I can see my whole month in one quick look as I check the posts I have made.  It does contains all that a blogger reviewer needs to do her job.   I can mark down which social media received the post, if the review was posted, if there is a giveaway and if a winner was chosen.

My only major disappointment is the fact that I would love to have more than one line per day.  But then again it would also mean that I wouldn’t have a full month under my eyes.   So I have to write small when I do multiple posts in a day. 

I must admit it will take some getting used to write down my post on this blog planner.   Why you wonder?   Well I am used to organizing my reviews and post with Word and Outlook believe it or not.  I have set up a specific outlook calendar for the reviews and I make sure I include the giveaways there as well.  Then automatically I get a reminder about it when I check my emails.   The other thing is that posting on social media is automatic for me.   It goes with the job.  I also email my clients as soon as the post is on (which I can’t record in the planner). 

But as a blogger part of a team, I think this blog planner will be very handy as I can jot down when a specific review is due.  Already I have included the three post for March and April that I know of.   And with a quick scan I can realize if I am on time or late to review it.    MY journey with Mosaic Reviews will be organized and I hope to be able to track my post more efficiently with this blog planner.   I am keeping it close to my laptop and update it as often as I can.   There are days when I forget to write a post but then when I think of it again, I quickly write it. 

I suspect that this planner will give me a better understanding of the reviews I do in a year and visualize which months are more busy than other.

Already I have discovered an interesting tool to use in my journey as a blogger reviewer with the blog planner I have in my hands.  

Why I blog and my inspiration

What inspires me to write?  How did I start blogging?

Well it all started over four years ago.

I had a friend who was blogging already and I decided to try it out.   I was also starting to homeschool and wanted to connect with other homeschoolers.   My blog was on Homeschoolblogger back then.  I also found that blogging was a bit like journalling.

After a year, I transferred my blog to Blogger mainly because I wanted the flexibility of adapting and modifying my blog.

My friend was also working for The Old SchoolHouse Magazine and told me about a new marketing project that would be starting the following Fall.  She suggested that I try to apply on the TOS Homeschool crew to review homeschool products.   I applied and got accepted.   When the year was completed I decided to separate my reviews into a different blog and expand on it.    I was part of the TOS Homeschool Crew for three years.    And since then I have expanded my opportunities in various ways – books, food products, drink products, toys and so on.

So now I have two blogs – well make that three.

LIFE AT OAK GROVE – my personal and family blog where I write about our homeschool, participate to the Ultimate Blog Challenge, the 365 Project and share my thoughts about life.

CANADIANLADYBUG REVIEWS! – this is my review blog where I give my honest thoughts about books, products, food and so on.

MOUTHWORTHY – I started this in the Fall of 2009.   Here I try to present the restaurants we go to when the kids go to AWANA or on dates.    This is updated sporadically. 

This year, I was also approached by Woodall’s to become one of the bloggers.   This opportunity permits me to write about camping, discovering new areas with kids and so on.   LINK WOODALL’S

Now to be honest I don’t put anything and everything on my blog.  I like privacy and I am careful to respect the wishes of other people in the family (close and extended). 

My inspiration is mainly from our homeschool adventure, our travels, our camping experience, the Ultimate Blog Challenge suggestions, the 365 Project challenge – I am flexible.   

One thing I make sure I am careful with is how much time I spend to blog.   I don’t want to overdo it – so sometimes I am more quiet than other times.

Same goes with the reviews… I am very careful not to have to much of them to do.    I have reduced the quantities of reviews I do drastically since one year as I was not enjoying it as much because of the fact that it was demanding too much of my time.  Now I have strong relationships with various companies and publishers which I cherish.    More recently one publisher has changed their blogging program for international bloggers (I’m from Canada) and I won’t be able to receive real books anymore – to top it up if I take a ePub version (which is available for me to review) I will have 60 days to read it and review the book.  After that I won’t be able to access it anymore.   Such decision means that they will more than likely loose a blogger to review their books. 

I don’t know what opportunities lies ahead of me but I am keeping my eyes open and continue to seek out new products to review.