On Blogstipation and Selling Out

When my kids were younger, it was so much easier to be a “Mommy Blogger”. I had so much ammunition. Those 5 kids of mine supplied enough blog fodder to feed a million moms.

Yeah, not so much anymore.

And when they do say or do something, I inevitably get this look of horror which is directed at me with a “You can NOT blog or Tweet about this.”

So, like any good Mommy who loves her children, I curse under my breath and promise not to write about it. I don’t even cross my fingers. These kids know how to find my blog and they aren’t afraid to bitch up a storm if I say something that wasn’t child approved.

Little Fockers.

Instead, I’m cursed with teenaged children blog fodder and no blog to put it on. Because, I’m not ALLOWED to.

In comes that uncomfortable BLOGSTIPATION. I mean, I can’t even think up a post to go along with a bra review/giveaway I have to do. Yeah, I know. I needed a new bra though…right place, right time, that email was.

And man, when those words and ideas build up with nowhere for them to go, they sit in a giant ball in your chest. Hello elephant.

Ah, the good old days. When kids were cute. And bloggable. How time certainly flies, eh?

I have all these stinking drafts here, begging me to finish them. I can’t do it. This blockage hurts.

Have any of you EVER known me to go this long without blogging? NO! I mean, once upon a time, I was a blogger. I mean, I could find even the littlest thing and turn it into a stinkin’ blog post. WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT GIRL!!??

Then I think, eh, what difference does it make anyways? There are so many blogs out there, what’s one less? Well, I’m not quite ready to throw the towel in yet. And just because there are so many…none of them are ROCK AND DROOL man!!

There’s a lot to be said for all you peeps out there who never told your family about your blog. Sweet freedom!!

I totally know that to be a unblogstipated blogger, consistency is a key ingredient. Just sit down, write and hit publish.

Except, then you get mindless drivel like this. Only really, this post isn’t mindless drivel, it’s actually what I’m thinking about right now. Deep thoughts, that’s what you get here.

OK, then I was thinking about this whole thing going on now in the blogs about the “selling out” issue.

I gots something to say on that, too…of course.

When many of us started blogging, back in the dark ages, things were different. We blogged to share our lives, to capture snapshots of time and write about them. We wrote to be validated. We wrote so that we could be understood and also, to understand ourselves. We wrote for the love of writing. We wrote so that we had memories to pass on to our children. We wrote for many different reasons, but we wrote. And we shared. And we grew in strength, recognition and numbers. Quite honestly, I happened to have grown as a person. It forever changed and shaped me into who I am today.

When many of us discovered that we could take our passion and turn it into some spending money, we jumped on that. I mean, we were plugging away at blogging and pre-social media social media like it was a full time job. Why the heck not get compensated for our work, right?

I am proud to say that I have made a career out of something that I took from basically nothing. I make enough money now to help pay for things that we might not have otherwise been able to do. I take opportunities to go places and do things in exchange for a blog post because that is part of my chosen job.

Blogging for money is NOT selling out. Not in the least.

What it comes down to is this…

You do what you want with what you have and let others do what they want. It does NOT make those of us who decided to take our blogs and our skills to the next level less transparent or less serious than those who decide to blog for no monetary gain.

To each their own.

There, that’s my $.02. And no, I was in no way compensated for my say in the matter. 😉

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