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Blogging IRL

Being a blogger is weird. I don’t call myself anything other than a Mommy Blogger. I’m not a social media consultant, I’m not a social media expert, an explorer or a writer. I’m a Mommy Blogger. I’m a Mommy with a Blog, and frankly the blog could go on any given day. The Mommy part, that’s forever.

I just came home from a really nice evening at Kim Prince’s house. I met some new folks, connected with some who I’d met before, and had a really awkward moment where someone said, “oh are you a blogger?” I kinda froze, avoiding the question.

I cringe when my real life friends are reading my blog. I know, it’s about the strangest thing in the world, but I love that most of my friends don’t actually read this.

I’m starting to have folks recognize me from twitter, Dr. Phil, and Momversation too, and while I stand behind everything I’ve said, and all that I’ve written, it’s weird to not get to introduce yourself to people at the moment that you’re meeting them.

I met some new folks today, and it was really fun to not talk about blogging.

10 thoughts on “Blogging IRL”

  1. I think being able to blog and be compensated is awesome. I don’t mind when I find out that someone is reading my blog. Mostly I am just amazed that people read at all and that some of them think I can write. It’s a childhood dream come true to be thought of as a “real” writer because most of the folk I know don’t look down on the medium like those in the print media do. And I like to talk about what I do now just like I loved (and still do) to talk about teaching. Writing and teaching have been a part of who I am longer than being a wife or a mother.

    What would be weird and uncomfortable is being famous.

  2. I hide my blogging from people I work with at my part-time out of the house job. I am waiting for the day when one of them finds me online…

    then I will change the name, url and start to write under a pseudonym :) I think that could be REALLY fun!

  3. Hi Jessica,

    I know what you mean. When we first started our blog about living in Fethiye we were using nicknames. Now we’ve relaxed a bit and are on first name terms. Eventually we’ll probably have full exposure and then everyone will know who we are. Scary!

    Barry

  4. My anonymity has been crumbling for years. Sometimes I miss it because it was easier to write much more freely.

    I have met very few bloggers IRL and that has been intentional, but I have slowly been reconsidering it.

    The blog is a repository of all sorts of thoughts and feelings that I haven’t always shared with friends. It is kind of strange sometimes to meet people who have read all these things and yet haven’t grown up with me.

    Not really a good or bad thing, just an observation.

  5. I am with you: I don’t want people IRL to know about my blog. I did let a few know about it: those who I consider to be likely-minded and will not judge me by what I say, with no filter. I only hope that my intuition is correct… I respect your embracing the mommy blogger label though anybody can see that your blog is “more than” just a mommy blog. Of course, by saying this, I am implicitly looking down on “just” mommy blogs. I think it is interesting, at times frustrating, to ponder why we loathe to be labeled as “mommy bloggers” while at the same time demand to be respected as “mothers”. I am probably not making any sense here. That is why I enjoy your writings tremendously: succinct, lucid, to the point. Happy New Year!

  6. Many people I know read my blog, which means I am left without a single story to tell at parties. I get three words out and people say, “Oh, I read that on your blog.” I’m stealing my own best material.

  7. I agree with Country-Fried. Most of my good stories are on my blog. When someone already reads me it just means that I’m repeating myself and probably not as well the second time around…

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