Trying to find my Niche…. a beginning that ends with the Beer and Wine Store Girl

I've been surfing the web for years and have come across many blogs that covered many subjects, and have been mulling over the idea of starting my own blog.  But, the big question has always been, what do I want to write about.

I've spent the day researching blogs, what they are; why they are; and what is the best way to get your blog noticed.  During my web crawl I came across the words "niche blogging" more than once.

"Niche blogging is the act of creating a blog with the intent of using it to market to a particular niche market. While it could be argued that every blog is, in some form, a niche blog, the term as it applies to marketing refers to a particular kind of blog." (Per the dictionary app on my mac.)

There are more than a few blogs on how to get started.  I won't regurgitate those here.  But the concept of "niche blogging" got me thinking.  What have I been researching all of these years?  What am I passionate about?  How will my blog contribute to the blogging community?  Is my voice worth hearing?


I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis in the fall of 2007 and my world was changed forever.  Before the diagnosis I was a young carefree wild child of 30.

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I had just spent the previous 2 years frolicking and cavorting with my new friends.  Frequenting the bar and carousing with the other locals suffering from the same syndrome as me "Peter Pan" syndrome.  I was never going to grow up.  29 and holding as far as I was concerned.  Nothing could stop me.

I worked in the local Beer and Wine store and so was used to lifting multiples of beer and cider cases, restocking shelves.  I was used to partying all night, sleeping all day, going to work, wash, rinse and repeat.  The only days I wasn't drunk or hung over, oddly enough, were my days off.  I was "The Beer and Wine Store Girl".  Everyone knew me.  Everyone wanted me to go to their party, because they knew that if I knew about their party and was going, I would get everyone else to show up.  I was the unofficial Hotel Promoter.  If there was an event in the Bar, I was there.  Leading up to the event I would unabashedly use my femininity  to entice the blue collar crowd to come out and see what I would get up to.  I was infamous.

After the first few months with my new boyfriend, after I knew he's the "forever guy", I decided that I didn't need the party scene anymore.  So I quit.  I still worked my job, still picked my new boyfriend up off the bar floor when my shift was over and went home, but I dropped out of the party scene as quickly as I had risen to semi small town stardom.

This is the change that sent my body into turmoil.  Or, at least I think it was the trigger.  The doctors were never able to pinpoint it medically for me, but I know what was going on before, and the doctors only knew what I told them.

I quickly gained 100 lbs, couldn't lift things or move quickly anymore.  The beer coolers were making me ache.  I was struggling to do my job.  Simple tasks became formidable.  The Bosses started to notice, I wasn't the promoter anymore.  I was going home right after my shifts.  The loss in productivity at my real job and the sudden stop to my unofficial job must have hit their bank accounts hard.  They started to reprimand me for stupid things like not flattening the cardboard, I think because they couldn't reprimand me for quitting the Hotel Promoter gig (it wasn't a real position).  I had enough of being picked on for petty things and quit.

Because they had harassed me over trivial tasks I was able to plea a case of harassment at work and stress leave.  I didn't end up pressing charges, or wherever harassment would have ended up.  I just wanted to be done with them.  Thus ends the Beer and Wine Store Girl.

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While your in it, you don't think about the harm that you are doing your body.  I spent 2 years on a liquid diet.  My only source of "nutrition" was a daily V8 in an attempt to fend off a hang over.  I think that this consistent malnutrition was part of my down fall.

So we come to back to the Niche…  I have dedicated the past 5 years researching.  Research is a part of my personality.  I can throw myself into a project and go until dawn.  I have found ways to decrease the affects of my life long diagnosis.  I still see the doctors, still use their drugs, but I also use common sense and good old book learning, in a manner of speaking.  I have tried to share my gathered knowledge with my friends and family, but my words seem to fall on deaf ears most of the time.  I don't think it wise to let my research go to waste, so I think I will share it with you.  This is the beginning of my story.

I hope you enjoyed the intro.  I will add more.  I have found this entry alone cathartic.  I think this is something I need to do.  Comment if you like.  Nice to meet you, constant reader.