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.
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.
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!
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
I tried to be private for a while, but gave up. I’m too lazy to hide it.
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.
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!
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.
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…