About Chasing Roots


Frequently Asked Questions:

HOW DID CHASING ROOTS COME TO BE?
As a little girl I dreamed of winning an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics, marrying Chad Allen, and becoming a writer. It turns out gymnastics wasn’t my sport, Chad Allen wasn’t interested in me, and writing wasn’t a good fit, not because I didn’t love to write, but because I never found a style about which I was passionate. I’m not creative enough to write short stories or novels. I’m not abstract enough – and quite frankly, I can’t stand – to write poetry. And I can’t (won’t?) follow “the rules” enough to tackle journalism. It wasn’t until I discovered blogging – I can write about what inspires me, using a relaxed, conversational style – that I knew I’d found my writing home.

I took over our family blog from my husband in early 2011, and knew after just a few days at the helm that posting pictures of and writing about my kids – as much as I love them – wouldn’t fully satisfy me. I needed to tell stories, make comments, and share pictures about my life in Texas, and because such things didn’t belong on a blog about our children, I began writing “A Midwestern Girl in Cowboy Country” in April of 2011. 

I loved writing at Midwestern Girl, but started itching to make a change in early 2013. It was time to take my blog – and along with it, my writing career – to the next level, and I knew that a new name and a new look were necessary in order to make that happen. Chasing Roots officially replaced A Midwestern Girl in Cowboy Country in March of 2013.

WHAT DOES CHASING ROOTS MEAN TO YOU?
Until my mid-20’s, I felt strongly that my roots were firmly planted in Madison, Wisconsin. It wasn’t until I’d moved to, established a life in, learned to love, and then left behind three different states that I started to question how truly tied I was to the city in which I lived my first 18 years. I still felt connected to Wisconsin, but began to understand that who I’d become – not just superficially, but to my core and
in the deepest, darkest caverns of my soul – was as much the result of the places in which I’d put down roots as it was the result of where I’d been born.

I used to think that roots were static, unchanging; that because I was born in Wisconsin, I would live my entire life and then die in Wisconsin. But I was wrong. Our roots don’t tie us down. They help us grow and change and become the people we were meant to be. The journey is less about looking back on the roots we’ve already grown, and more about chasing the dreams our roots are leading us toward.

WHERE CAN I READ MORE OF YOUR WRITING?

DO YOU DO PRODUCT REVIEWS? WHAT ABOUT GIVEAWAYS?
Yes and yes, but I will only review and give away products that I think will interest or be helpful to my readers. Contact me at erin@chasingroots.com for more information.

DO YOU ACCEPT BLOG ADS?
Yes, contact me at erin@chasingroots.com for more information.

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