By Sthefany Flores | Friday, April 6, 2018
Erin Odom began writing her blog, The Humbled Homemaker, to share all the lessons she learned about being a mother.
The 2003 Gardner-Webb alumnus signed a two-book deal with HarperCollins Publisher that resulted from her success in her online blog. Odom said, “I never dreamed that my hobby blog would turn into a two book deal with such a big publisher.”
Her first book More Than Just Making It was released in September 2017. This book covers her journey as she and her family went from having to foreclose on their home to living comfortably and being able to send her children to the private school she dreamed of. Her second book will have some of the same themes. Odom said, “It’s a little gift book that is supposed to be an encouragement to all that who staying home with their kids and are having a hard time with trying to make their finances stretch on a single income.”
Much like her blog, her goal in these books is to help families who are struggling financially and give comfort to stay at home parents. “I want to give them some bite sized tips that they can apply to their homes and to their families and their lives.”
Odom’s love for writing started at a very young age. In first grade she wrote a story about a giraffe who ate “luscious leaves”.
In her time at GWU Odom double majored in Journalism and Spanish and minored in English. She explained, “I ended up majoring in journalism because at that time in Gardner-Webb I could take every single writing class GWU offered if I was Journalism major and an English minor.” After graduating as valedictorian however, she took a break from writing.
She began to write again as she worked with Carolina Weekly Newspapers and became interested in writing a blog. She started writing in 2011 and now her blog and her books have become her family’s primary source of income.
Odom advises students to write online about what they are passionate about. “If you are passionate about something, blog and market yourself with social media.” She also advises that if you can you should invest a little in your blogs to make them look professional and marketable.
In terms of careers, her advice is to, “try to do something that allows you to work at home.” She explained that by doing this people can spend more time with their families and become entrepreneurs.