What's new about soap?

I am over the top excited about ordering my first soap making kit from Brambleberry.com. I placed the order on 6/13/11. It is now 6/16/11. I live in Florida and it ships from Washington state soooo…tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. <Heavy sigh>

I looked into making soap about a year ago and purchased The Idiot’s Guide to Soap Making, which I do NOT recommend. I read it and decided that soap making was far too dangerous and time consuming for the likes of me and left it alone.

I buy soap locally from Hickory Ridge Organics, here is St. Augustine, Fl., and spend at least 50 bucks a month there in various products. They make a great, organic bar of soap! I have this thing about soap. It kept nagging at me so I gathered my courage and once again, started peeking at what was out there for the soap newbie.

This time, I picked up a book that was widely recommended on the sites I was browsing; The Everything Soap Making Book. Way better resource! After getting past the, “LYE TO THE WATER! LYE TO THE WATER! LYE TO THE WATER!” warnings, I decided that maybe a clumsy girl like me, could actually take a run at this soap making thing. (My husband is more than a little nervous about the lye thing. He just put down new hardwood in the kitchen and he knows there’s not an ounce of grace in my entire body. Buck up, buddy. I’m going for it!) Yikes!

In searching for info for a “beginning soaper”, I realized that there was WAY too much information being vomited upon me. I found several sites I loved and already follow, but as far as a specific blog for a really, really, REALLY, green soap looker into, I found that for the most part, they all had a small section for beginners, but would invariably turn into an advanced soap making site as the author became more proficient in the art. I guess that’s a natural progression, but my goal is to keep my blog designed for the new soapers out there.

This brings me to why I am writing this. I want to keep notes on my progression and feelings and in the meantime learn how to put together an interesting, successful blog that someone might actually read. Here’s what I hate in a blog and don’t want in mine;

1) Too many words (blah, blah, blah)
2) Cute pictures of your family (or mine) Nobody thinks these people are as adorable as we do. It’s true.

     Not even this guy...

Here’s what I am searching for in a beginner soap blog and can’t seem to find in exactly the way I want to see it:
1) A question and answer section that is not over the top and too far advanced that confuses me! (Clumsy AND slow) Talk to me like I’m two.
2) A link to local soapers in my area. I need a mentor. Bad! (Not proper English. I know, I know.)
3) More videos. The best ones I have found so far are on SoapTv. I just enjoy watching someone do something, rather than looking at the still pictures of them doing something. Capiche?

There are HUNDREDS of soap blogs. How do I make mine more interesting or stand out? Maybe I just keep talking to myself like I am right now.