A twitter pal, M.J. of Pars Caeli, gave me a big fat nugget to think about the other day. She asked me this: How do you talk about your blog in real life? It stopped me short for a moment, as I realized this is a topic I struggle with. My family sort of gets what I do, as well as some of my friends. But the general public?
When people ask me “what do you do?” I always start with a chuckle. Because what I do is a varied kaleidoscope depending on the day and the job at hand. I’m a designer, a stay-at-home/work-at-home mom, a sometimes (former? hibernating?) artist, a sometimes part-time professor, a chronic disease sufferer, and a writer/blogger. Notice I put blogging last. I have a stigma about this. And I’ve realized I only say “blogger” when I’m in a room full of like-minded bloggers. Because the term blogger still has a very weird response in the real world. Have you noticed this?
Somehow saying I’m a writer ties right into my creative ethos – I’m always somewhere on that spectrum. It took me years to say I was a designer, then even longer to say I was an artist. But owning up to my creative talents feels really good. Then Birdie arrived and suddenly those terms came into question. It’s only in the past year, as I began contributing to other blogs, that I felt comfortable owning the term writer, and blogger too.
Blogging pays (some) of my bills, it fuels my online friendships, it challenges me all the time, it spurs my creativity, it keeps me making things. I love having a space that is all mine. I love the opportunities for collaboration and contributing that it’s brought me. But I don’t say any of those things to people in real life.
In the end, I usually say something much less important: I started the blog to support my freelance design career. At least, that was my logical reason – the out loud reason I gave to my bemused uber-logical husband. But if I’m really honest? I started a blog because I wanted a place to call my own. A place I could share with anyone anywhere. A place to tinker, chat, and design. The fact that it has become so important to my day-to-day life is rather stunning to me. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think it’s time to own that. I think it’s time to help others understand what blogging really is to me.
How the heck do you talk about your blog – or what you do – in real life?
Do you own it? Or do you accidentally apologize for it?
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