Honest to Blog

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.

Cyril Connolly

I took a little break from blogging this past week to give me some time to adjust to my new (and relatively insane) work/school schedule.

Blogging has made me aware of an interesting trend:: there is something about motherhood that creates in women an urge to blog. I have stumbled upon numerous "mommy blogs" in my pursuit of knowledge these past few months.

It seems that many mothers feel a need to share their experiences and express their opinions; they are often looking for other women to connect to through their writing. They soon become marginally famous because other women relate to their experiences and enjoy their writing style...
then they write a book, go on Oprah, and start selling various homemade goodies and/or motherly advice.

There also seems to be a big debate within the mommy blogging community about "blogging with integrity." Whether accepting sponsers and selling ad space on your blog makes your blog less honorable...but I am not entirely sure where I would stand on this issue, in case you are dying to know.

I suppose it sounds like I do not approve of mommy blogging- but that would be rather silly, wouldn't it? Obviously, I understand the urge to express your feelings about such a huge life-altering experience. I have yet to lay eyes on my son and he has already filled me with so many overwhelming emotions I am not entirely sure what to do with them all. I am also suddenly in need to be in constant contact with other women: instead of being "one of the guys" as I have been my entire life, I find myself joining online communities of women, calling my mom daily and longing for close female friends to talk to.

In fact, I follow two "mommy blogs" ( Soulemama.com and dooce.com)with some regularity and I enjoy them both very much, thank you.

On Fridays, I volunteer in the teen center at the local library. I am meant to be supervising the teens... but as you can imagine, teenagers who spend Friday evenings at the library to not require copius amounts of supervision. As a result, I spend the majority of my time aswering questions about the next anime day, providing change for the copy machine, and staring at a computer so heavily filtered the pope would probably find himself blocked a time or two. Lucky for me, blogs are not (yet) blacklisted so I often find myself browsing other people's thoughts- primarily the two I just mentioned.

These two blogs are written by two very different women with very different personalities and very different writing styles leading very different lives. But I find them both equaling entertaining and informative.

I am not sure you could lump either of them in the same group as the millions of mama bloggers who freckle the world wide web with the ramblings of their daily lives considering they have both written books, have numerous sponsers, and have been featured on various media spots due to the popularity of their blogs; however, I don't see how any of this makes their experience as mothers any less real or their writing any less enjoyable.

But that would just be my opinion, wouldn't it?