Know Your Audience (But Not Too Well)

A weird thing happens when you’ve been blogging for as long as I have (5+ years). You start to develop an audience. But that audience is not who you might have imagined, and if you think too much about it, it will make you crazy and you will never write another post again.

Here’s what I mean. When you first start out, it may seem like you’re writing for yourself. (Cue cricket noises.) Or maybe for a handful of friends and family, instead of sending group e-mails. Then some random people start to find your blog, but that’s OK. They’re very nice and actually leave comments, as opposed to your friends who call you up or e-mail you to tell you what they think of your latest post. (Why not just comment? Are you that shy? That’s what the “anonymous” function is for, people.)

Then maybe your husband tells a couple of his friends about it, and they read your blog from time to time hoping to get some dirt on him. So they can say things like, “Dude, your wife was TOTALLY dissing your cleaning skills in her last post!! Harsh, man!” (Note to these people: Mind your own business. I don’t need you stirring the pot. I will track down your IP address and block you. Or maybe post embarrassing pictures of you from our wedding on Facebook. Oh, yes, I will.)

Then your mom might casually mention your blog to her book club and before you know it Mrs. Henderson from down the street is checking it religiously. And that kid you used to babysit for who’s now in college. And your weird ex-coworker. And probably an ex-boyfriend or two. And one of your clients, because you forgot to change your e-mail signature one time.

And also your sister-in-law, who didn’t know about your blog until she somehow found it through Facebook, but not because you didn’t want her to know about it, but just because you felt kind of weird about her reading about her brother’s atrocious housekeeping habits so you thought it was better not to mention it, but now it’s 10 times MORE awkward because you didn’t, since now it seems like you’re trying to hide something.

So then, when you sit down to write a blog post, you’re all of a sudden thinking: “If I write that my husband is a lucky bastard for getting out of diaper duty will that make his sister mad? And if I mention a party we went to, will so-and-so ‘s feelings be hurt because they weren’t invited? And if I post pictures of just how disgusting my house is right now – because it’s so messy it’s funny and I know my fellow moms can relate – will my client be horrified and refuse to do business with me again? And do I really want my ex-boyfriends knowing about my engorged postpartum boobs?”

Now, Mrs. Henderson is probably thinking that NO ONE needs to know about my engorged postpartum boobs. But this is a mom blog, dammit! (Oops, sorry, Mom. I meant "darn it.") The whole point is that I can write about whatever I want, however I want, and not have to run it by 7 editors and an advisory board. And because it’s fun. So there.

You really can’t focus on writing to please the masses. You will end up with a generic vanilla blog that no one wants to read. Trust me. So I guess I’ll just have to stop worrying about what everyone thinks and do what I want, even if it’s posting pictures of what my kitchen looks like on a typical day:



LINK O' THE WEEK: Have you guys seen this awesome "Reflections of Motherhood" video yet? Love it.