Harry did it again with the label maker today. I keep the label maker unloaded now, as a precaution, but he got his hands on the cartridge and pulled the tape out like so much pretty ribbon. I tried, I really did, but it wouldn’t wind back in.
In honour of this occasion, I thought I’d share this story with you:
I was chatting with a knot of school mums at some “Meet and Greet the Teacher” malarkey the other night. This might sound silly, but I struggle sometimes with School Mums. Normally, I’m a loudmouth extrovert, but with school mums I get all awkward and reserved. I feel Different.
So one of the mums starts talking about her new label maker and how much she loves it and I blurt out, “You really should read my blog!”, thinking of my recent Label Fail post.
Of course, I realised all too late she didn’t know what I was talking about, that it would just sound like a spot of random blog promotion. I eagerly and ineptly tried to explain myself and she politely suggested that she might have better things to do with her time than to read my blog.
One of the school mums (I’m going to call her M) is a close friend of mine and now that she’s a school mum, she is a Delightful Exception to the Rule. At this point in the conversation M (God bless her) leapt to my defence. and faster than I could say “Stop talking. Oh, please God, stop talking.”, she launched into the following:
“Oh no! You don’t understand! Kate’s blog is really good! She’s a proper Writer! Like one time her two-year-old burnt the roast except she calls him ‘Harry’ or something. And she’s really, like, creative? She crochets cool hats and stuff in her spare time and then writes about them on her blog! You really should read it!”
The look of mild shock that had registered on Label Lady’s face earlier in the conversation, when she discovered I had four children, now was gracefully developing into a look of sheer horror. Her husband (“Label Man”?) wasn’t too far behind her.
I would like to write that at this point a lovely deep hole conveniently opened up in the floor in front of me and I stepped lightly down into it and it swallowed me up. But, sadly, this did not happen. So instead, I cringed inwardly, gave a strangled laugh and tried to steer the conversation forwards (“so, tell me about this new label maker of yours” I attempt. Label Lady replies “what are you?”)
So, for those of you who have blogs of your own, I’m curious: do you talk about your blog to people in real life or do you keep it a secret? How do people react when you tell them you have a blog? Does it sound really lame when you try to describe it? Do you inadvertently inject random blog promotions into every conversation?
I can’t wait to hear what you think. In the meantime, I’m off to buy some more label cartridges (still waiting on that endorsement deal – Dymo won’t return my calls…)
Laptop on the Ironing Board 
I have it easy. I am a Catholic missionary mom in Germany with stateside family and friends. Any time anyone wants to know how I’m doing with the culture, missionary….I point them towards the blog. It is on my business cards, Facebook, email, etc.
Ah, see, there’s a blog with a legitimate purpose! No need to be crawling into floor cavities over that one! I think my problem is that so often my blog feels like self-indulgent ramblings without a proper purpose. What kind of missionary are you?
Mission Base Family for a Catholic youth program called LifeTeen in a little town on the Germany-Netherlands border. The website is LifeTeen.com for ALL of us -the youth curriculum and catechesis program, the missionaries in the U.S., Haiti, Germany, Netherlands, as well as some alumni in England at a place called SPEC.
In my opinion, there are two types of blogs. One is a ‘dear diary’ type in which you will find all sorts of brain spew like the following: “today I painted my nails green, then I ate a Lamington because I felt like it. Here is a photo of a Lamington. How delicious. Coconut-yummy! Tonight I’m going to watch TV and cook chicken Kiev for dinner. Garlic!!! Here is a photo of chicken….”etc.
THEN there are blogs that actually speak to something deeper-that share a piece of someone’s heart, so that when you read them you feel closer to the writer than before.
I feel that you are definitely the latter. Why share? Because, I can only imagine, that motherhood (while ‘everyone’s doing it’) must feel so isolating at times- the doubt/the frustration/the fears. By writing honestly about your experiences this helps people feel that they are not alone and that it IS okay to drop the ball occasionally, in fact it’s natural. Plus that it’s okay as well to celebrate being a mother-and OKAY to feel pride in the role. I think you have an obligation to share about it! Yours is the voice of many a mother, and not just mothers but many a young woman fulfilling a role in life. Finding a balance between the ‘self’ of one and the ‘self’ of all. So yes, keep that laptop on the ironing board, or on the kitchen bench or on the dashboard or on the pram and keep writing and promoting until the cows come home- and when then do come home, share it with them. 😛
I find that as a blogger’s mother I am often turning the conversation around to ‘Oh you should read my daughters blog’. The thing is, I really think that they should! They would love it – Ido.
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I don’t bring mine into conversations- to avoid those awkward moments where it sounds as though I am totally self-obsessed. But it’s on business cards, and I promote via artistic social media profiles (not personal ones). I think people react favourably to that, because it’s not annoying spam (hopefully).
As an artist, if it isn’t recorded, it never happened, and if it never happened, why would people want to work with me? The blog is my record of artistic events and practices I took part in.
I shouldn’t bring mine into conversations – it’s always awkward! But sometimes I can’t help myself! I agree with what you’re saying about the blog being a record. I have a small, shy hope that one day I might become a professional writer. If I did, this blog could serve as an online portfolio of sorts. Thanks for your lovely comment – I love to hear from fellow bloggers!