Back to blogging- July 9, 2012
I had a blog revelation this weekend. A blogevation if you will. I don’t know what it is about mom bloggers in Raleigh, but we rock. I feel so lucky to be in a city with so many talented mothers who write for the rest of the world to read. A little gander of my blogroll is proof we are keyboard happy mamas here in the Tar Heel state.
I have a new one to add. I didn’t find Settle Monroe during a Twitter party, through Top Baby Blogs, or a blogger networking event. No. I found her in my Sunday newspaper.
courtesy: The News & Observer
The News & Observer featured Settle and her blog As I Walk. She started writing after the sudden death of her nearly three-year-old son. When I read the article my heart went up into my throat and I had to catch my breath. She blogs her grief. She blogs her child’s memory. My God, she does it beautifully.
Suddenly I felt so silly looking at my posts with carefully cropped photos and crafted witty remarks. I felt foolish for checking stats or counting followers. I felt even more ashamed of being jealous of other bloggers. I realized in some ways I’ve lost my way with this blog. We all want a “successful” blog. But, what does that really mean? When I started writing Somebody’s Parents it was with the purest intentions. I wanted to remember my pregnancy and document the life of my baby. I knew NOTHING about mommy bloggers, SEO, Twitter, Facebook fan pages, BlogHer or any of it. One line of the article sticks out to me, as it should all bloggers.
“Monroe said she doesn’t know how many people read her blog. She could find out, probably, but she doesn’t care.”
It struck me that no matter why you write a blog, be it to celebrate, share, or grieve, you do it to write. Writing is the foundation.
Preparing for BlogHer ’12 is so exciting. I can’t believe it’s almost here. It’s my first blogging conference. I am anxious to learn all I can about blogging and how I can make Somebody’s Parents better. I LOVE blogging! I love all the connections I have made and the stories I have the privilege of reading everyday. Before I get too carried away with “growing the blog”, I need to get back to what it’s all about.
Thank you Settle. Thank you for being brave enough to share your story and inspire strangers all over the world, and right here in your city.
Spread it around:
I love that attitude. I won’t say I don’t care how many people read mine. I do care…too much! So I haven’t checked stats in at least a couple of years. It’s been very freeing.
A couple of years?! Wow! That’s impressive!
I apologize for taking so long to get here! This was a great post and reminds us why we blog. May we all move beyond numbers to remember why we started: to share our stories, big and small.