Blog Network 2.0: The Good, the Really Good, and the Ugly

So. There’s good news and bad news. Mostly good news.

What’s good? Actually, plenty. I’m pleased to announce this week that Kelly McCausey from WAHM 2.0 is now the Sparkplugging General Editor. This means that Kelly is going to be moving her wise words from that blog to this blog, she will be working with the Sparkplugging writers, and she will be helping me to grow this site and offer more resources than I ever could have on my own. WAHM 2.0 is now in the perfectly capable hands of Leslie Truex and Laurie Ayers.

I’ve known Kelly for almost as long as I have been blogging, which is now a full three years as of this week! I’ve admired her a-plenty, and she has grown to be not just a great Sparkplugging contributor, but also a key person that I have turned to for advice on more than several occasions.

Probably the most exciting part is that Kelly is going to be heading up a new Sparkplugging Internship program (I’ll post about this separately so that it doesn’t get lost in this announcement). This is going to be a FREE internship program where both she and I  (mostly she) will be taking on a group of people and mentoring them on how to run an internet business. In this economy, we really wanted to find a way to give more to the community, and I couldn’t be more pleased to finally get this idea off the ground!

So, you may be asking why is Kelly taking on such a big role with Sparkplugging? What am I going to do?

Well, funny you should ask!

Last fall, I started up another blog network – this time, for kids, parents and educators. Woo! Jr. Websites for Kids started out as a bit of a whim (don’t all the good ones start out that way?!). Less than 6 months later, the network sites at Animal Jr., Craft Jr., Fantasy Jr. and Space Jr. are already outperforming Sparkplugging on several metrics. So I really needed a bit more time away from Sparkplugging to grow this new blog network that is kicking butt and taking names.

So the bad news?

Well, I’m not really good at saying this kind of stuff in such a public way, because it’s just not my style to talk about bad news until there is some kind of resolution to it. And it’s really, really hard for me to admit that I’m not super-woman and that my life isn’t perfect. But there’s no way around it, because I’ll be at SOBCon this weekend and Mind of Moms next week, and then it will be out.

I’m having some health issues. It’s not just a cold, but it’s not cancer either. We don’t really have a diagnosis yet, so I wish I could say more. Indications point to a thyroid condition that would be fairly easy to treat if that’s what’s going on, and I get to go swallow radioactive pills this morning to find out more. And I hope and pray it’s this simple. Because the last month or so has been hell.

So after three years of working my ass off to support you, I’m asking you to support me. (Don’t worry, I’ll make this easy for you!)

Please give Kelly a warm welcome and make her feel at home here on Sparkplug CEO.

Please help to spread the word about Sparkplugging and all the free advice we offer here for people who want to start a business.

Please visit my new sites and tell people about the Woo! Jr.  network for teacher resources, kids crafts, coloring pages, and games for kids.

And lastly, please don’t worry too much about me. My body is telling me to cut back, and I’m listening. This is why I haven’t been blogging or Twittering very much. I really think I will be ok. But for the next month or so, I’m going to be taking it easy. And when I’m back up and running, I’ll hope you haven’t forgotten about me.

*Hugs*

– Wendy