We were blogging virgins. Neither of us had any idea what a blog was and had never read one, let alone written one. But as we have dipped our toes into this corner of the social network and are now up to our knees, I have realized a few things:
I love:
Thinking about parenting issues with the clarity that writing imposes.
Meeting people all over the world. I guess I could have done this with an airplane, but my computer, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and our blog are so much easier.
Trying to think of something original to say. On the rare moments that it happens, it makes my brain sing.
Mastering social media, a brave new world for those past life's midpoint.
Blogging with a friend. And equally inspiring, asking our friends to write posts about what they love the most, their kids. Editing the wonderful writing of our friends is the next best thing to writing.
Reading other bloggers' work and seeing my life reflected back to me through the wisdom of their beautifully crafted words and stories.
When someone we admire publishes our writing. The thrill of seeing oneself in print, even if the print is virtual, never gets old.
The silence.
Here is what I hate:
Pushing and promoting to get readers. I hate putting stuff on my Facebook page, hate tweeting and sounding like a Madison Avenue sound bite. The only thing I would hate more is no one reading our blog.
Feeling so far behind the curve that I may never catch up. I wasn't born in the 1990s, and it is a disappointment from which I may never recover.
Having a parenting blog but needing to respect my children's privacy. Their lives are very much their own, not to be tread upon for my amusement.
I was a fan of the Internet from the start, blogging has made me a junkie, not sure that is an improvement.
Having my words come back to me. I am a very private person and a blog is a very public thing. This internal struggle eats at me every day.
Feeling like an idiot on social media, asking my kids questions, getting the eye roll or worse, "Oh God mom, no, tell me you are NOT on Twitter."
Rejection. Part of putting yourself out there with a blog or writing submissions is the big NO. It always knocks you back for a moment before you steady yourself and forge ahead.
That after hours spent alone reading and writing, I wonder why people don't just tweet, email, text or Facebook me their thoughts because speaking can sound so... loud.
The feeling that blog posts and tweets, those bite size pieces of writing, may have forever ruined my attention span and with it my ability to think in paragraphs longer than 140 characters.