A MOTHER who began writing an Internet diary to promote her business, has reached the final of a competition for the best parenting ‘blog’ in the country.

Karen Combe, from, appropriately, Combe, near Woodstock, runs parties for children. She set up her website bizzymumsblog.co.uk last year.

Now, she is one of five finalists in the small business blog category of the awards, which reward the best in online writing by mums and dads.

Mrs Combe, mum to Jack, 11, Bethany, nine, and Charlotte, three, said: “I wanted to start writing about parenting.

“There’s not a lot of honesty in parenting. We all try to put on a good front but, behind the scenes, it isn’t always as glamorous as we like to portray.”

Mrs Combe spends about three hours a week posting her thoughts on the site, which was selected for the finals out of more than 2,000 entries.

She said: “Recently, we were playing pass the parcel and I was watching the children and noticed a few things that made me laugh, like how they clung on to the parcel and didn’t want to let it go.

“That kind of thing inspires me to write.”

Her site gets an average of 3-4,000 hits a month. Her husband, Colin, has also written his own posts.

Mrs Combe said: “I was quite overwhelmed to reach the final because I haven’t been blogging for that long.

“It’s lovely that people are enjoying it.”

The winner will be selected by public vote, with people having until Wednesday, June 6, to vote online at the-mads.com Sally Whittle, founder of the awards, said: “Parent blogging is such an exciting phenomenon.

“It provides parents up and down the country with an opportunity to support one another online, be creative, and make some extra money.

“And there are some truly brilliant blogs in this community.

“We were absolutely thrilled by the quality of the blogs entered for the awards this year, and are excited to see what happens next.”

Mrs Combe said that despite writing about her business, as well as her life as a parent, she did not expect to make a lot of sales through the site. But she said it helped inform potential customers about her business ethos.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London in September.