Spoiled, Not Stupid
July 21, 2008 by 25 Comments
BlogHer ’08 squees have faded and hundreds of powerful women bloggers are now back home with their families.
Companies are furiously entering new email addresses into their databases and I am going through the three totebags filled with everything from gift cards for photo prints to thumb drives to toys for my children.
I’m used to it.
I’m not impressed.
I’m spoiled by the big stuff. The video game sytems and the hottest electronics. The humidfiers and the loaner hybrid SUV’s.
I’m spoiled.
But while I revel in my swag, I fully realize these ‘gifts’ are bribes.
I’m not stupid.
The assumption that I am, pisses me off.
Just like any business, some people will act professionally and some will not.
Just like any friendship, some people will latch on to a person to use them and some will not.
I’m not stupid.
There is an assumption floating around the internet that we silly mommybloggers have no idea how to handle all this ‘fame’ and ‘fortune.’
We are taking free stuff and not being transparent when we write about it. We’re taking free stuff and thumbing our noses at any offering that isn’t the best and most expensive.
I’m not stupid.
I’m wondering if the tech bloggers were all called spoiled when they started getting the new notebooks via UPS. I’m wondering if the fashion writers were called spoiled when new designers sent over their spring lines. I’m wondering if any publishing site, anywhere, at anytime, for any reason was called ‘spoiled’ when they were sent the ‘newest’ or the ‘latest’ or the ‘most recent innovation.’
I’m not stupid.
It might make some of these larger names or sites or companies uncomfortable that this Mom of two in her PJ’s, drinking her morning coffee, conducts the business of blogging from her laptop while the rest of the industry toils.
I’m not stupid.
I’ve spent 3 years now wondering why you didn’t take me seriously. Annoyed you refused to acknowledge the revolution occurring. Pissed off I had to jump up and down screaming to have you notice me. Then, while being called spoiled, I realize something;
We do it better. We do it easier. We do it on our terms.
You are jealous.
I’m not stupid.
Hate. Criticize. Do whatever makes you feel better. I’m going to conduct the business of mommyblogging. The best of my community will continue to rise, the less transparent will fall. The typical cycle of any new medium will play itself out from rockstar, front page headlines to being replaced with the next best thing.
I’m not stupid.
And while it all plays out, my spoiled self will have paid some bills, met some amazing people, engaged in some unreal opportunities, all while you called me spoiled in my oversaturated market.
I’m not stupid.
I will also continue to do what I do, WHY I do it- for this hobby that became a business, but was always about my friends, my life, and my community.
I’m not stupid.
Spoiled…but not stupid.
Once again, I am amazed
July 17, 2008 by 1 Comment
I’m at BlogHer ’08 in San Francisco.
But I wanted to quickly introduce you to BlogHer’s newest blogger.
Click. Read.
Welcome.
Your Mom is So 2.0 – She Blogs From the Car
July 13, 2008 by 13 Comments
We’re ramping up for BlogHer!
Yes, it’s Cannonball Run, 2.0 style with Sarah, Devra, and Meagan joining me live TONIGHT on Ustream.
I fully expect silly to occur.
We might actually talk about important things too. Like how your mom probably never did a sponsored road trip with wifi in the car, while webchatting with friends and twittering.
But let’s be clear…
They are without their kids, making their way to San Francisco in a hybrid.
They’ve already invoked the Blues Brothers.
Silly will occur.
This is going to be fun. 8pm Pacific. Don’t miss it.
Kicking Off BlogHer: my friends, and Katie Couric
July 10, 2008 by 12 Comments
Ok, I’m getting all geeked out. And listen, if you are not coming, drop me your phone number and we will call and pass the phone around. I’m not kidding either.
Check out Katie Couric giving a shout-out to those of us heading to San Francisco, with a special hello to my very good friends Sarah (who sang at my wedding, people) and Devra who are two of the five women making the cross country trip Katie speaks of.
Yeah, I’m getting a little misty.
I Know These Women…
July 7, 2008 by 26 Comments
A friend had an interesting ‘status’ message the other day on her Facebook account.
I’m not even sure how I caught it, as I’m being pulled in about 40 directions right now and catching the change of some one’s status message is rare. It said something like ‘I think about getting a job or doing something big, and then I remember I’m just a mom with two kids.’
So in true Erin Kotecki Vest, Queen of Spain fashion…I sent her a link to BlogHer’s interview with Senator Barack Obama. Because afterall, I too am just a mom with two kids.
A blogger Mom, with two kids.
In 10 days hundreds of blogger Moms, blogger aunts, sisters, nieces, grandmothers, wives, and daughters will gather in San Francisco to learn, teach, share and remind each other that they are not ‘just’ anything.
Not just a mom.
Not just a wife.
Not just an aunt.
Not just a sister.
Not just a daughter.
Not just a blogger.
I’ve watched them become authors, professors, leaders, citizen journalists, activist, mentors.
I’ve watched them take their writing from a daily journal to an online force.
I’ve watched them go on trips, pay their bills, start new companies and empower each other.
I’ve also watched them take the word ‘just’ and turn it into the most compelling community online.
An Open Letter To MommyBloggers
June 28, 2008 by 82 Comments
Back in 2006, as the PR companies started circling and the world was just starting to catch on to this ‘Mommyblogging’ phenomenon, I very clumsily attempted to tell Heather Armstrong the A-listers were hurting my feelings.
Of course this was at BlogHer con, and I was tipsy, so it came out very awkward and bitchy. I had heard grumblings of the cool kids’ club. I had heard complaints that all these new Mombloggers were just copycats. I wanted to know if the community I shoved myself into was, in fact, real and supportive.
Heather was, of course, gracious and understanding. She didn’t feel that way at all, she loves this community, and so on and so forth.
I felt better.
Flash forward to 2008 and BlogHer con just around the corner. I’m watching some high profile names make some pretty hefty accusations and some new and eager bloggers scratch their heads, fight back, and even second guess this amazing community.
The good thing about us bloggers, is we talk. We comment, we discuss, we post. Communicate. Sometimes we over-communicate…but at least it’s out there.
With the rise of Mommyblogging has come growing pains, competition, traffic, ad money, the works. It’s exciting and it’s frustrating. There are no longer thousands of us, there are millions and we have influence and reach.
What we can not stand to lose, is the community.
It is what makes us. It is what drives us. It is the entire reason we are who we are. There will always be flamewars and snarking and back channel chatter about who did what to whom. Human nature. But what is new is the megaphone’s power.
I learned this the hard way. I am one of the megaphone’s biggest abusers.
Like it or not, you are now widely read and widely heard. Like it or not, it comes with responsibility. Trust me, I’m the last person to like the responsibility part of it all.
Not too long ago a few entrepreneurs I know bickered over some ventures. One thought the other was copying, the other thought he was making it his own. The analogy that came up: it was like McDonalds getting mad Burger King had come to town and set up shop across the street.
I think that is a fair analogy here. McDonalds is mad Burger King is making hamburgers. However, as we all know, no one has the monopoly on hamburgers.
No one has a monopoly on snarky parentblogging either. Or the name ‘Queen’ or even who gets to be loudest at any given moment. I may protect my ‘business’ but I certainly can’t hate that someone wants to be the Pepsi to my Coke.
What we DO have a monopoly on is community. We own this one, outright. All of us. Not one of us is more of a rockstar than the other, and we all take inspiration from each other. MORE importantly, we all RELY on each other. We all know why we are involved in this blogging/twitter/fill-in-the-blank-social-media-service-here: it’s the support, the advice, the friendship.
As I have watched other communities get into pissing matches, it strikes me how much we may be traveling down that road.
Fame and fortune bring trainwrecks I guess. I’d like to see us remain the ‘closest knit community online.’
Because in case you hadn’t noticed, the world is watching.
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