It's Been Forever

OK, it happens each time I go to these things. I meet lots of incredible bloggers and I tell myself I will post more often! BlogHer was, what, like 6 weeks ago now. I know I should post more. Believe me, I have ideas on a daily basis - at least. I just can't seem to sit still long enough to get them typed. I get to the computer and check my mail (1st mistake), after sorting through the garbage and the good stuff, I usually pop on over to Facebook (2nd HUGE mistake). About an hour or 2 or 3 later, I am ready to post... The problem is by then, I either need to drop off or pick up a kid somewhere or, more likely, I have completely forgotten what I wanted to post (if I even remember I was going to post at all).

On the bright side, the time I spend on Facebook has reconnected me with so many people from my past. It's like a big old reunion right here in my house with no schedules to arrange and no airline tickets to purchase. I love it. I've found high school friends, BBYO friends, camp friends, friends of friends. I even discovered my own cousin was engaged because I saw her talking about it on Facebook. How crazy is that?

Oh yeah... So, it's been forever since I posted and lots has been happening. BlogHer with Mom Road Trip, a new season with LCS, back to school events, the DNC right here, close to home and some new discoveries about communicating on line. Like Devra said, it's a bit overwhelming to even figure out where to start!

I won't start at the beginning (too long ago to remember), or at the end (even though that would be easy). I want to start by sharing the discoveries I have made along the way. Regardless of where I am, who I am with, or what I am doing, the same question is asked of me over and over again, "What do you blog about?" It probably shouldn't catch me off guard but it does. It catches me just as off guard as, "What do you do?" and "Wow, you wrote a book, did you always want to be a writer?"

These all sound like reasonable questions to ask someone at a blogger conference, blogger meet up or any other blogger gathering. The problem is I never considered myself a "blogger." Yes, I have a blog. Yes, I write on the blog. But, as I have already said, I don't write very often - at least not as often as I feel I should. I always thought bloggers were people who posted daily (at the very least)! You know what I have learned over the past couple of months? That simply is not true. Sure, there are those who post daily, heck, it seems like hourly, but there are also those of us who post less often. The reasons for this are as varied as the people I have met. Up until this point in time, my response has been something along the lines of, "Well, umm, you see, I have a blog but it's only because I wrote a parenting book and then my co-author and I started a speaking business supported by a web site and our web master told us to start a blog." If you have ever heard that lame response from me please replace it with the following:

Devra and I blog at parentopia.com. As parenting professionals, our blog definitely talks about parenting issues but we also blog about anything that we believe may be of interest to parents or others involved with the care of children. It may be new born coping strategies, school topics, political, social, fun, serious, kid full or kid free. Occasionally, we even blog about things we find blog worthy at the moment even if they have nothing at all to do with parents or kids! Just come look, it's too hard to explain.

As for the answers to the other 2 questions I mentioned, they haven't changed much...

1. What I do depends on the day of the week, the time of the day and the season.

2. No, I never aspired to be a writer. My BA is in Adolescent Behavior and Sexuality and my post graduate work is in health care system reimbursement and early childhood. Writing is just something I do and I am a bitch of an editor (just ask my kids).

I suppose this post would fall into the "nothing to do with parents or kids" category so we'll file it under, "a personal revelation I thought I would share" and call it good. I fully intend to post soon (a relative term) on other recent events I mentioned and even share some things I am degreed in and have put to use as the mom of 2 adolescents. Now you're all interested aren't you. So y'all come back soon now, ya' hear!