I was determined that this blog would not be a mommy blog. I wanted to write about all sorts of things, including motherhood, to keep it relevant to all my readers.
But as it turns out, if I don’t write about mostly mommy stuff, it won’t be relevant to ME. It seems that mommyhood is all I think about these days, or at least it’s all I care to write about. I’m still trying to find room in my life for my other interests (skating, singing, etc), but most of my blogable obsessions center around motherhood.
I think making a blog irrelevant to my life in an attempt to make it relevant to my readers’ lives would, uh, kinda defeat the purpose of the blog. It is, after all, for me. A place to express my thoughts and feelings, a place to practice writing, a place where I can write sentences without verbs and then ponder whether I can really call it a sentence or if I should just call it a sentence fragment.
Blogging and its purpose has been on my mind a bit lately, with the reports of baby-elbowing for swag at BlogHer and the magazine articles about mommy bloggers and their sponsors. (About the baby-elbowing — I was in tears and had to scour the internet until I found that mom’s blog and saw that the baby was okay. Ah, new mom hormones.) There’s been a lot of discussion about ethics and transparency and real bloggers and fake bloggers and sell-out bloggers. And I have to say, while I consider myself a person of integrity, if some company wanted to give me a free video camera because they liked my blog I WOULD TOTALLY TAKE IT. Although maybe only if it shot HD.
The thing that strikes me about the truly great mommy bloggers is their transparency and vulnerability. Sure, there can be a level of TMI, but the bloggers that are open and honest about their lives are a pleasure to read. Take Suburban Turmoil, for example. Lindsay writes good stuff. Sometimes embarrassing stuff, sometimes stuff that makes people mad, but good stuff. They are her true experiences and opinions, and they are wonderful to read.
I foresee my mommy bloggerness being limited by my desire for privacy and security. I hesitate to post about my struggles, because I don’t want advice, and sometimes I don’t even want encouragement. I think I’m just looking for a safe place where I can be happy, sad, angry, perplexed, or everything at once and just sit in the experience without trying to fix it.
Personally, I can’t wait to hear all about your mommyhood. And I love a lot of mommy bloggers, but I don’t consider you one, at least not the specifically targeting moms and advertising to moms and all that. You’re still just talking about your life, which just happens to currently revolve around being a mom. And very soon, also around hockey. 😛
PS I’m sorry we didn’t get back to your booth – we barely made it back to Woodland and called it quits. But we need to do coffee, now that we can, and get those kids together.
Feel free to tell us what you do/don’t want with each post so we can respond accordingly! 🙂
I love reading whatever’s on your mind, my friend!!
I have to agree with what previous comments have noted and add…I love to read you writings. I marvel at your clarity of thought – even when you are expounding about your confusion! You have a rare gift with words. I hope you will have more time to “put pen to paper” in order preserve and even share your thoughts.
Yay! Give in! It’s sweet over here. 🙂