blogging

Blogher09: So what do you do all day? (Part II)

by mayberry on August 7, 2009

BlogHer. Saturday. Sessions!

The a.m. keynote featured Tina Brown of the Daily Beast, Donna Byrd of TheRoot.com and Ilene Chaiken, creator of the TV series “The L Word.” As Fourth Breakfast tweeted during the event, it was a sobering reminder that print is a dying medium. (Pause to note how much I used Twitter during the conference, to garner sound bites from sessions I missed and to make plans to meet friends. During this a.m. session, I retweeted Fourth Breakfast—who was sitting right next to me—and saw a twitpic of Tina Brown which had originated from someone else at my table, and then been retweeted by someone I follow. Small Twitterverse!)

For the first session, I surprised myself by wandering into the  TravelBloggers as Boundary-Breaking Evangelists session. I’m not a travel blogger (although, dude! I just checked my travel category and it has 42 posts in  it), but I do love to travel. Well, under certain circumstances I love to travel. This list of amazing places is one of my favorite posts ever. So I enjoyed hearing about how four very different bloggers approach the idea of writing about travel. Their strongest collective suggestion was that if you’d like to be a travel writer, being an expert in your hometown or region is an ideal way to start.

Also meeting at this same time were the session for/about the men of BlogHer and the session on women of color and marketing, which featured four seriously amazing women; I heard many many positive reports on that one and I’m sorry I missed it.

After lunch, I attended the session driven by the wonderful writers of Mamapop: Women Writing in the Age of Britney. Like the Mamapop site, this was a session that deftly juggled the funny and the philosophical (and the fascinating). Unfortunately, attending this session meant I didn’t go to the session featuring the BlogHer International Activist Scholarship winners. I heard from several in the audience that this was a real highlight.

On a totally different plane, the session I attended also conflicted with Sponsored Vs. Unsponsored: Blogging for $$$. As a professional writer, I am interested in things like pay scales for professional bloggers (insanely low, IMO) but this session was much more about reviews, giveaways, and the FTC. (And my position on that is that as long as I am honest and transparent in my reviews, I am pretty safe from any G-men who want to come after me.)

On to session three! Another set of tough choices. As you would’ve guessed from the roster of speakers, the crowd in the Dying Is Easy, ROTFLMAO Comedy Is Hard session overflowed the inexplicably tiny room. I got there waaaay too late to even try to listen in. Instead, I wandered into Enough About You … Who’s Reading You? which in the end, turned out to be much like the mommyblogging “tribes” session from the previous day. It dealt with similar issues of balancing what you write about and who you are with what your readers want … or what you think your readers want. In retrospect–no knock against that session–I should’ve checked out Blogging as Storytelling with Neil Kramer and Amy Turn Sharp.

And then there was the closing keynote and the closing cocktail party which featured lots of really meaty appetizers (and copies of Time magazine?) so Ladies M and O and I went to a gourmet grocery store and I had veggie sushi with brown rice like I used to always get for lunch in NYC.

The end.

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Thanks, Captain Obvious!

by mayberry on July 15, 2009

I am feeling a little stumped for blog fodder right now, not to mention pressed for time. It didn’t help that I had some kind of one-day guinea pig flu (not as bad as swine flu, but crappy nonetheless) on Sunday, accompanied by a nauseating migraine.

Anyway, sorry, I hate posts about why I haven’t been posting. So I’m cruising through my reader today and come to a post on The Blog Herald which is a “wow, this is great” item about someone else’s post describing his writing routine. It’s basically: start with an idea, put calls out to sources, do research while waiting for sources to reply, talk to sources, write.

Really? This is news??? Marshall, I am sure you are very talented and all and your blog probably has about 500,000 more readers than mine, but … wow. There are lots of things I don’t blog about because I think, “Everyone already knows that.” Clearly I need to rethink this position.

Next week, look for posts on how to pour a glass of water (I will reveal my stance on the all important question: ice or no ice?) and the best ways to put on socks.

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Nora and the Gruffalo Twins

by mayberry on May 25, 2009

nlfamilybutton Didja see these two cuties? Nonlinear Nora had twins, a boy and a girl, last Friday, and Mo-Wo is throwing a babies’ shower. (So what if the babies are already here. We like to flout convention here in the blogosphere.) Our gift to Nora: a list of picture books for her growing family and its growing library.

I love to give books as baby presents. No worries about size or decor or duplication; if they have it already it’s easy to regift or donate. If the baby in question has an older sibling, get a board book and a big-kid picture book and everyone’s happy. My must-gives include Where the Sidewalk Ends, the Little Pea/Little Hoot combo by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and anything and everything by Peggy Rathmann (Gloria is a dead ringer for our own dog).

For Nora’s new little pair, today I offer the talented author/illustrator duo of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, starting with The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child. The rhymes and illustrations work  together brilliantly in these two very funny books about a clever mouse who outwits a much bigger adversary. Another title by these two that I adore is Room on the Broom, in which a temporarily wandless witch is saved from an unpleasant end by a motley pack of companion animals.

As Mo-Wo says, Nora, “our hearts are filled with gladness for you all”–gruffaloes, mice, babies and all.

(P.S. Speaking of mice, I trust you already have a copy of Noisy Nora, one of the best sibling jealousy books ever?)

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Time for an ideas meeting

by mayberry on March 1, 2009

As an editor, I had to attend my share of stultifying meetings. Anything with the word “analysis” or “budget” or “strategic” in the title would usually fall into that category. But we had fun meetings too. The whole editorial staff would gather, ostensibly to generate ideas for articles and columns for the magazine/website. Really, we would spend a couple of hours complaining about our kids/husbands/friends/hair/thighs. The ideas were simply a byproduct of the bitch session.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all get together and have a blog ideas meeting? At my fitness site, I have a list of ideas a mile long, because I have a particular topic to target. Here, the wide-open space overwhelms me.

Back when I had to come up with a batch of ideas to present at a meeting, I’d start by thinking I had nothing. But then I’d force myself to sit down and brainstorm and sooner or later I’d have something written down, enough to get me in the door of the meeting.

I don’t like to think of this blog as a job. It’s not (and in fact I am so tired of reading about marketing yourself, the business of blogging, blahdeblahblah–even though I know that I really need to do all that on my fitness site if I am ever to earn a living wage from it). But I still think I might have to summon myself to an offsite ideas meeting to liven up this place a bit. I might even treat myself to doughnuts to make sure I arrive on time.

P.S. The other good meetings were coverline meetings. You know, where we came up with new, creative ways to promise to solve problems with 5 steps or 11 tips or 49 steals and deals. Numbers sell, baby!

P.P.S. Most of the blog-as-brand posts have been very good. They just always give me a case of the (self-imposed) “shoulds.”

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I’m like a stereotypical sitcom husband

by mayberry on February 17, 2009

I missed my anniversary again. My blog-iversary, that is. Actually, I checked my archives and it appears that I’ve never acknowledged it, so maybe we have an agreement, my blog and I, that we consider anniversaries a Hallmark holiday, and we don’t celebrate them, at least in public.

So, never mind? Well, I’ll just whisper in your ear that it’s been (a little more than) three years since Mayberry Mom first arrived on the blogging scene. Together we’ve traveled to BlogHer, documented far more cute kid stories than a scrapbook ever could, succumbed to the lure of Twitter, quit a job, launched a freelance career (not to mention a second blog), and most importantly, collected a truly beautiful group of friends. Thank you for reading.

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Muchas gracias, you Hip Mom, you

by mayberry on December 18, 2008

Far too long ago, the lovely Kirsetin gave me a bloggy award, in Spanish no less. I’m going to go ahead and take her word for it when she says that recipients “are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!” (I mean, wouldn’t you take her word for it, if her word was “charming”?)

(I do like prizes though. I bought a bundle of Christmas presents and several months of upcoming book club books with recent PBN winnings.)

So hmmm … writers that need more attention.

  • Kate from Eucalyptus Pillow recently started a couple of new blogs and a business so I guess she’s attention-seeking. Right, Kate?
  • Tammie from Soul Gardening needs us to read so she’ll keep posting, because I miss her when she doesn’t.
  • That goes for you too, Nancy. (Uh. No pressure, though, gals.)

If there’s anyone you’d like to pass this award on to, go forth with my blessing. As if you needed it.

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Random ‘n’ ranty

by mayberry on December 11, 2008

Item 1. Not so much a rant, really, as another “What’s the deal with…” question. Why do kids love getting their faces painted? It takes for-fricking-ever, we always have to wait in a huge line (because every other kid at the event wants her face painted too), it smears within 10 minutes, and the kid can’t even see it. Why, I ask you. Why?

Item 2, in case you missed this on Twitter. It is too important for you to miss: The best search string ever. Someone arrived here at Mayberry Mom by googling “are you down with opie pee.” Yeah, you know me! My friend, I hate to break it to you, but this here is a mommyblog. If you’re looking for OPP, try here. Or possibly here.

Item 3. I had the most stay-at-home-momish kind of day I’ve ever had. School drop-off, yoga, home briefly, school volunteer thing, church thing (me and 40 old ladies in the church basement, for real), home again to clean up hideous dog accident in basement, school pick-up, back home for small window in which I accomplished one tiny work task (only because kids were watching TV and husband came home from work early), swimming lessons, home to wolf down dinner, PTA meeting. And tomorrow? Is a half-day of school. TGIF.

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Blog to Fight Diabetes

by mayberry on September 6, 2008

My friend and Full Mommy collaborator extraordinaire, Leeanthro, is hosting a big giveaway at her site to raise funds for her Step Out Walk to Fight Diabetes.

So many of our kids and adults are affected by this condition, which has no cure and requires a lifetime of care and attention. It runs in my family and my sister’s boyfriend was diagnosed with Type I (juvenile) diabetes just last year in his 30s.

Please consider making a donation or spreading the word! Enter by September 15.

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Yeah, I’ll take dying in my sleep, thanks

by mayberry on September 3, 2008

Occasionally our neighbors gather for a summer potluck. There is an older man who always attends; he’s more than 90 and lives alone–and a bit lonely since his wife died several years ago. He’s always in good spirits at these events and basks in the attention of kids and adults alike.

At one such party, he started choking on a hunk of meat. Luckily for him, there were several doctors in attendance. One of them Heimliched the man and he was soon fine again, although those of us who witnessed all this were shaken.

As the party drew to a close another neighbor said goodbye to Mr. G., giggled, and noted “Glad you are OK! That would have been an awful way to go, after you’ve lived this long!”

Oh yes, she did.

Jen’s post inspired Magpie’s which inspired mine. Are you next?

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Wordy

by mayberry on August 12, 2008


Via Wordle (click on it to see it bigger), which I found via Mimilou.

This is an image derived from the RSS feed of my blog. How perfect is it that “child” appears right in the middle, connected to words like “love” and “thought” and “nasty” and “normal” and “responsible” and, of course, “sucked”?

*

Today’s PSA:

Hoard is not the same as horde.

Chic is not the same as chick.

Pore is not the same as pour.

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Words that sound better with a British accent:

controversy
aluminum
whilst

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I’m finally a-Twitter. I’m afraid this is a slippery slope which inevitably leads to me neeeeeeding an iPhone.

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