Maybe My Mummy Blog Sucks

Don’t mind me, I’m just joining the legions of parenting bloggers responding to some random parenting blogger who is apparently successful but no-one had ever actually heard of, who wrote a post the other day entitled “Dear Mommy Blogger”. I’m not going to link to it because I can’t be arsed with giving her any more views, but the basic gist of it is “I quit writing my mommy blog because it sucked, so you should quit writing yours too because yours definitely sucks too even though I haven’t read it”.

Right.

Basically, all bloggers are selling their soul and convinced they’re going to be the next big thing and forking out to go to blogging conferences and accepting sponsored posts with nothing to do with the topic of their blog. That’s right, all of us. And it makes us all absolutely shit at blogging.

According to the mummy blogger who wanted us all to know she wasn’t a mummy blogger anymore, so she wrote a blog post on her mummy blog.

Because that makes sense, right?

So if you’ve read that letter, and you’re feeling a little downhearted, read this one instead.

 

Dear Mummy Blogger,

Your blog isn’t a pile of shit.

Maybe you write the occasional review. Maybe your blog is full of sponsored posts that you’ve been paid for. Maybe you have a full media pack. Maybe you advertise yourself as “PR unfriendly”. Maybe you broadcast your perfect life, or maybe you’re proud of your imperfect parenting. Maybe you’re brutally honest, or maybe you’re sugarcoating your experiences.

Whatever, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you and I and every other “mommy blogger” on the internet has been told that we’re shit and should give up.

And to that, I say “bullshit”.

People who tell you to give up do so out of jealousy or spite. They do it because they’ve given up, and they want you to do the same. They don’t want to see you succeed.

You don’t need to concern yourself with these people.

If you are happy reviewing products – whether it’s a cheese grater or a holiday to Hawaii – keep writing those reviews. If you’re content keeping the PR companies from the door, you just keep on going. If writing sponsored posts puts food on the table, you keep pitching to those companies.

Go to blogging conferences. Buy new WordPress themes. Purchase a DSLR. Do a photography course. Share your posts, grow your following, expand your reach. If it makes you happy, do it.

This delightful person who wants you to quit, also wants you to believe that no-one reads your blog. That’s also bullshit. What she’s saying is, “I never bothered to read anyone else’s blog posts”. Real, engaged members of the blogging community – and there are a lot of us – read your posts. Your followers on Facebook and Twitter read your blog posts. Your family and friends read your blog posts (unless you don’t tell anyone you have a blog, in which case they probably don’t read it). People read and enjoy your blog posts, no matter what some bitter failed blogger wants you to believe.

I don’t advertise myself as PR friendly. I don’t accept sponsored posts, and the competitions and reviews I do run are few and far between, and only when it’s something I feel is appropriate to the theme of my blog. I’m always honest (brutally, at times). I don’t do blogging conferences or premium WordPress themes. In short, I’m not the sort of Mummy Blogger that the original letter was referring to.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to argue against it. I’m not arguing because I’m personally offended, but because I think it was a colossally douchebaggy thing to write.

The last line of the letter reads –

“Find what you love, and what you do better than anyone else, and do that”.

Thanks, lady who I still have no idea who you are, for giving us all permission to do what we’ve been doing since we started blogging. 

The thing you do better than anyone else is writing your blog. No-one else could write about your life, your experiences and your opinions in the way that you do. No-one else has your unique voice, your story to tell, your quirks and writing preferences.

And, if you’re a mummy blogger, I’m assuming you enjoy doing it too.

So just in case you are in the habit of letting random women on the internet tell you what you should do, here’s my advice.

Keep blogging. Don’t change your style, don’t stop sharing, and don’t quit because some internet randomer tells you that you should. Her mummy blog may have sucked. Heck, my mummy blog might suck too.

But I’m going to keep on going. This is what I love, this is what I’m good at, and that’s something you’re just going to have to deal with.

Sincerely,

A mummy blogger who doesn’t care if you think her blog sucks.