Blogging is weird.
Still a fairly new medium, particularly when you compare it to other forms of entertainment like television and newspapers.
The rules are constantly changing. Ebbing and flowing; the more literary way to say it.
I distinctly remember going to Blissdom (a now defunct blogging conference) several years ago, and they made the comment that “blogging is like the Wild West. There are no rules, and we’re all just making them up as we go along.”
They went on to call us “Pioneers of a Medium”.
It started out that everyone and their great grandma had a blog. This was pre-Facebook when there was no efficient way to connect with your friends and loved ones on a large scale.
Unless you count MySpace. Which you can’t really count because GLITTERED STICKERS GIVING YOU ANXIETY.
For free and about five minutes, you could snag yourself a blogspot account, find a cute template, and start writing. Friends and family could check in at leisure (and save yourself the slow download times that came with trying to email photos), and hey! random people might read too!
As Facebook has become ubiquitous, “mommy blogs” in the truest sense of the word, have dwindled, if not become a dying breed. Sure, the urls may still exist somewhere in the great wide void that is the Internet, but by and large, few of them are updated with any regularity, or even within the last 6 months.
A status update, an Instagram pic, and a tweet are all it takes now. No need for the long essays on blogs to keep grandmas happy.
And as the great sand sifter of internet media continues to weed out the smallest bloggers, the mesh seems to be getting wider and so are the medium sized bloggers finding it hard to keep going. Leaving only the biggest and best (admittedly, as it should be).
What was once a bunch of point and shoot camera photos with shoddy lighting and maybe even a thumb in the frame, has now become self-taught professional quality photographers with high end cameras and lenses once mostly reserved for wedding photographers and Ansel Adams. Pictures are staged with props and backgrounds and many bloggers have photo set ups akin to that found in a fashion magazine office.
Content has always been king in blogging. That’s still true.
But now that content must also be paired with photography worthy of a magazine spread. AND that incredible, perfectly back lit photo must also have just the right text, in just the right quirky font combinations, in just the right colors to be pinnable.
Because no matter how lovely the words, or even the images, the winner of them all is the content that can be SHARED.
It used to be that readers were content with reading the exploits of a family. Sprinkled with posts of the Navel Gazing Nature from time to time. But overall, the Here’s My Family At The Pumpkin Patch 2014 is no longer adequate. Now the post must really be about something more inspirational. More universal. More LET ME TEACH YOU A LIFE LESSON. And oh hey, here are National Geographic quality photos of my kids at the pumpkin patch.
Because you must have both aspects as a blogger: the great words and the stunning visuals.
Oh, and don’t forget to start the post with the One With Text first.
Today’s blogger is very much a DIY digital version of Time Magazine.
None of this is necessarily a bad thing. Just a Thing, really. Just the natural progression of Anything. Things change and as people figure out the details, what seems easy, soon becomes a Chore or a Job. Depending.
I suppose the hard part is for the Medium Blogger. Me. I’m talking about Me. Because I’m a blogger. And really, you have to be at least somewhat narcissistic to be a blogger, right?
So, I’m talking about Me now. Or always am.
I have this little band of readers. Whom I love dearly. Deeply. And yet, I struggle with what to write. When I snap photos I think “What’s my spin? How will I use these images as the backdrop of my thoughts? What’s the lesson to be shared here? I’m supposed to be all philosophical or inspirational or some other such thing. I CAN’T JUST TALK ABOUT PUMPKINS ANYMORE. THIS POST CANNOT JUST BE ABOUT PUMPKINS.”
A far cry from the early days of “We went to the Pumpkin Patch. It was fun. My kids are growing up too fast.”
Only prettier. I’d say that prettier.
Today’s blogging dictates that I spin this evening at the local pumpkin patch into a poetic piece on the passage of time. My own little pumpkins growing like weeds and someday having to be picked from the Vine of Life. Or something. Ten points if I’m snarky and sarcastic and say all the stuff that’s taboo to say about parenting. Or used to be, anyway.
Something that rings true with the masses and will be shared a minimum of 10,000 times.
No longer the digital family scrapbook; but instead the digital magazine. They’re not really Posts anymore. They’re Articles.
The dollars and sponsorships and ambassadorships and contracts and book deals tell that story. Of what once was a hobby blogger, is now a Force To Be Reckoned With, and “oh did I mention my husband quit his full time job to help me run my blog BECAUSE I’M A ROCKSTAR?”
Hear me: I’m not being snarky. I have dear, dear, In Real Life Friends (that’s totally a thing in 2014), who I am bursting with pride for. I’ve watched them start way back when. Back when we all had lousy cameras and were excited to review a $2 box of crackers. And today? KILLING IT.
I am proud of my girls. I could not be more thrilled for my friends who have kicked blogging’s ass and are taking names (mainly in the form of signatures on checks).
I’m just saying that it leaves Me in a bit of a lurch.
For a lot of reasons, I’m not willing to put in the time and energy required. Because I know for a fact that my friends who are making a very very decent living at blogging are also putting in at least a full time work week to make that happen. Non-bloggers who think that bloggers make money after an hour of typing in their pajamas are smoking crack of the purest kind.
So, here I am: not able/willing to put in the time to Go Big…but also not quite sure how to Keep Going Medium.
2015 will be interesting. It might be the year of Go Big or Go Home for this space. We shall see.
For now, here are some pictures of pumpkins.
And I’m really annoyed at how fast my kids are growing.
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All of this is so true. I have variations of this same thought process all.the.time. I love to write, maybe I should just get a paid column somewhere, maybe I should just quit, blah blah blah. And now with Facebook’s lame-o algorithms it’s even harder to share stuff. Bah!
You want to know what keeps me coming back for more? Your honesty about life! I don’t think your the type to go big. Those big blogs seem to forget that real moms with real kids read blogs in the 2 minutes the toddler is screaming in a time out while she simultaneously rearranges everything in her day so she can shower. I don’t really read the bigger blogs because I can’t connect with them. I can connect with you because you’re just like me. Maybe you blog less and use FB and Insta more. But I’d miss your space and watching your kiddos grow up way too fast.
And I desperately need to change my your to you’re lol
Such a good read. I love reading your words, so if you decide to “go home” next year I hope you sort of keep your blog still, because I just love reading it.
This. I feel this is ministry as well.
Baaah. The truth is I want it to be a bit easier, and I want a circle of people who want to do life big with me, and right now I am struggling with both.
Yes! All of this. Yes! I actually prefer the old way. Family scrapbook, here’s a great recipe I tried last night, my kid said this hilarious thing, see how someone in another state does life with their kids, and maybe make a long distance friend along the way…kind of blog.
I don’t like feeling that all of life is a competition. I’m inevitably going to lose in that. Because I’m not going pro any time soon, or taking photography classes. But I do love being incouraged, having a moment to laugh at something simple in someone’s day, sending my $5 when I believe in the writer and helping someone etc. I miss the old days. And I completely agree with refocusing on in real life friends.
But any day that you write a regular “mom blog” I will faithfully tune in. How could i leave the person who brought us Pasta Fagioli??! Keep at it girl, Because I’ve actually cut the “big ones” out.
And…….in the quest to become ultra-beautiful and super-relavent and uber-meta……….we miss out on the reality of life. I would SO much rather giggle at pics of #naughtyporkchop (and share them with my kids) than read (yet another) list of the 7 ways to be more present in my child’s life.
Please don’t go! As a reader, I am becoming less and less drawn in to blogs as they become less and less REAL and feel the need to polish up reality to a shinynew unrecognizable thing……
I suppose some people like staged and shiny. I prefer to see the pic of the glitter bottle spilled on the carpet……
SO agree with this comment. Couldn’t have said it better.
Yes. What the above commenters have said. I cannot bring myself to read posts about bullshit (excuse my language). Because frankly? The Big Bloggers Who’ve Made don’t write about anything important. And it pains me to know that everything is an ad. I’d rather not waste my time.
Personally I love the language use. Do exactly what you want. I don’t think bloggers should bend to the reader’s will. I love your story telling, but your kids are cute enough that if you feel like throwing up a “kids at the pumpkin patch” post i’m totally cool with it. If you want to share the hard stuff, the heart strings messages, by all means do that. But creating those moments/thoughts when they aren’t “organically” there isn’t necessary. As long as you keep instagramming I’ll be a happy camper.
Karri,you nailed it on the head! I used to read a ton of blogs now I read like 2, including this one. I love not being sold stuff, or a ton of giveaways with 50 billion entries, or how to be a better mom/wife/friend/daughter/niece in 22 minutes and 43 seconds blog crap. This is also the only blog on FB that is constantly in my feed because I do like to comment and interact with other readers. Please keep doing your thing, and I will keep reading =).
Oh not you too! It seems like all of the blogs I read quietly disappeared, loudly quit, or are feel like they have to be bigger and better all the time. I like your thoughts, your adorable kids and whatever the heck you want to talk about because you seem very real in your writing. A lot of these blogs that have gone “big” are staged and phony. Just keep doing what you love and what you feel and you will stand out by being you. I’ll keep reading.
I do really enjoy reading your blog. I read way too many blogs, but yours is at the top. Why? It is just life and real and funny and written by the person whose blog it it. Some big blogs feel more like a product, they aren’t written by the person that even started them, and are so over sponsored. But, having a blog is a big job and is completely understandable when a blogger stops blogging, cuts back, or changes their blog. Also sometimes it is weird that so many blogs have so many perfect pictures. That means they are spending a lot of time taking and editing those pics. Real pics are good to have, not every pic has to be the best ever! And a blog post does not have to teach me anything! I think you can be inspired, be entertained, and yes learn some new info from a blog. But posts can be just interesting reads.
Oh I so agree with all of your words! Except for the part that you said maybe your blog would “go home” if it didn’t “go big”. Please, don’t go anywhere. I follow a lot of blogs, but I usually skim the ones with the craft projects and room reveals. I ALWAYS read your blog. Every word. In the time that I have followed your blog (probably a little over a year) I feel like I have gotten to know you and your family, I have learned so much and become much more empathetic, have been challenged, and definitely LAUGHED and cried. Your words and your stories are real and they are important.
Ok, first of all…I can see Owen as an adult in that first picture! Wasn’t he a baby yesterday?! I have actually found myself not really reading many blogs lately… Especially some that have been my favorite for several years because most of them seem like magazines now. I have adored watching you crew grow up, sharing special needs momma’s heart and quite honestly it’s the reality of your blog that keeps me. Plus, I just care now…all of us readers screamed and wiped tears of joy when we saw Jilly taking unassisted steps and so on. Whatever you decide…we’ll always have insta :)
I love you, Jeannett. I love your writing. I love your pictures. And I love your kids. I love your medium blog! ;)
Amen sister! You have summed it up so nicely. It seems to be the year of “go big or go home” for a lot of people in the blogosphere.
Oh yeah, Cute kiddos!
This right here, this is why I read your blog. I become and more and more loyal reader with every post. I love the photos, I love how your words lay out your thoughts, I love how you put these photos with these words, and most of all I love how real it all is. My questions are different from yours, but hearing your questions makes it easier for me to live with mine.
I was wondering… You’re so busy with Real Life. No matter how much we love a space, juggling all of the balls is difficult. While it would totally suck if you shut down your blog (faithful reader for many years over here), and I would be sad (as would many of us), I get it. I don’t read very many blogs. I don’t have much time to do what I want (read old books and sniff their mustiness) but your blog is one of the things I like to spend time with. So thank you. Thank you for letting us into your life and sharing your joy and heartache and ideas and creativity and love and wonder (and laundry soap recipe because ahem I love it). Because even if you decide to stick around, we should remember that reading your words and having a window into your world is a gift that we can’t take for granted.
Best,
Caryl
First, this is weird. I read your blog every day— well every time you post. I never comment. EVER. It’s weird to comment, for me. But, for this, I will totally embrace my weirdness! I love your blog. It’s real. It’s true. It’s honest. And I never ever ever feel like you are that annoying sales person who shows up at my door and wont go away! Maybe you do a sponsored post here and there. Like for that roomba vacuum mopper thing. I still REALLY want that. I love that and it’s real life. Not some stupid brand of new fancy gummy bears that actually have a multivitamin in them and help your kids sleep at night, sort of sales pitch. I quit reading all those blogs. When you post a picture of an ambulance, I stop what I am doing and I pray. I hope and pray for your family. For you as a Mama. For your other littles who are siblings. I hug my kids tighter. I appreciate life more. I WANT to read real life. If I’m going to take time out of my REAL LIFE then it will be for something REAL. BRING ON THE PUMPKINS! And stitches at the ER for poor porkchop. And #teamjilly stuff. I love all of that! When I read those stupid gummy bear sort of blogs I just tune them out. I’ve stop reading those. I don’t like them. If I wanted to have someone pitching something at me all the time I would get cable again and take down the no soliciting sign! I don’t follow anything in google reader, or blogger or whatever the heck it is. I have the old fashioned saved bookmark to your blog! Just like the few others that I do read. I check in when I can and I always enjoy it. Thank you for being real. Even if its not everyday! I enjoy your realness whenever you post it.
PS. My state (Washington) isn’t on the map yet. I want to get us on the map. :)
I would so miss you if you “went home”. I enjoy following your family and all the journeys. Thanks for sharing your life!
You’ll never be “weeded out” if you blog for YOU. Don’t worry about readers or stats or pins, you should blog solely because YOU enjoy it, even if that’s just a few pictures and words each post.
I wrote about blogging recently along these same thoughts, perhaps you’d like to read: http://www.awesomeville.co.uk/sonder-feeding-the-ego-and-other-rainy-day-thoughts/
Ii love reading your blog because of the everyday stuff and how down to earth you are. Please don’t go away!
I’ve stopped reading so many blogs because they are too formal and I can’t relate. Thank you for giving us a peak into your life and sharing your cute kids with us. I feel like we’re besties that just haven’t met.
Echo all the commenters above!! We would miss you something fierce if you completely stopped here…and I have majorly scaled down my inbox as well. So I would be sad to not read anymore of your real life, make me laugh in the gut, heartstring-tugging posts. Do what makes you sane and happy, but selfishly I hope that includes keeping us happy and sane by sticking around in this space! Ha! xoxo
I’m guessing that the people above me said something similar to what I will now type… Your blog is a top 3 favorite of mine. I don’t do social media, so I don’t share in that sense; but my friends that I meet with in real life, we all follow your blog and talk about stuff you post on here. We enjoy it, I know you’ve got to decide this based on what is best for you and your family, I respect and support that, but I wanted you to know, for sure, you have dedicated followers who enjoy your content, photos, and words. When I want magazine quality layout and “thoughts” I go purchase a magazine, when I want real life, I come to you. The good/bad/blurry/thumb in the way photos let me know you are a real human, not an edited, glossy page that I paid to read. Your stories touch my heart, they let me glimpse into your life in a way that an edited and “perfect” article never could. I just really enjoy what you put out there for the world to read. To really drive this home, you are popcorn in a world of potato chips; still salty and delicious, but way less processed. I appreciate you, your blog, and the stories you choose to share.
Also, I know you weren’t necessarily looking for all this blogger love, you weren’t asking us to affirm you and your ability to capture our imaginations. But we (I) want to let you know that you are heard and appreciated over here. So, just accept our kind words as a verbal hug, please. Whatever you decide for your blog in 2015, know that Sugar Land Texas will be supporting you.
I’ve been a longtime follower of yours… Not that anything you write relates to me. I don’t have littles at home. I don’t frequent the ER or ride in ambulances and deal with life and death stuff. I don’t wait anxiously for someone I love to have a grand-mal seizure. Good Lord… Our lives could not be any more different if we tried.
But I do love Jesus. Just like you. And I do love snark. You deliver faithfully… but not just the snark, but a whole lot of raw, vulnerable heart. I love how you journey, intentionally, though life. And can I tell you how much I LOVE watching little Jillybean grow up, achieve and be this inspirational pint-sized WARRIOR!?? Swoon.
Let’s not forget #naughtyporkchop
Seriously, I die.
I have stopped blogging for many of the reasons you describe… that and a really insecure daughter who thinks every word I publish is a direct reflection on her. I also have insecurities and wonder why in the world anyone would want to hear what I have to say. So with nothing particularly pithy or interesting to share, my blog sits. We shall see…
But don’t stop. Love you Jeannett. Keep us posted. ;)
I like medium. I like seeing pictures of your cute kids at a pumpkin patch and reading your random thoughts. I enjoy your posts about your everyday life that don’t always come with a Life Lesson. You have to do what you feel is right for yourself and this space. But I’d miss you if that meant you weren’t here sharing the small details of your life on this blog anymore.
I’ve been reading for a while, and I’m not sure if I’ve commented before or not, but I love your blog just because you’re so matter of fact, ‘Here are my kids at the pumpkin patch’. Please don’t feel like you have to ‘go big’ for us. Do it if it’s what you really want to do, but I really like how you do it now.
Personally I love your blog. It is real. As a soon to be mother of 4, I like to see real life. I love hearing about your struggles and seeing your daily life. Yes those blogs with the pretty pictures are fun to look at but honestly, I rarely read the words. Because I just don’t think the pictures show the truth. Or maybe my kids are the only ones who are too busy at the pumpkin patch having fun to sit and take beautifully staged pictures.
I actually look for medium bloggers to follow. They seem more authentically and sincerely inspired than “big” ones because they do not have advertisers to please. I comment more on medium blogs because my comment will not be lost among the masses, it seems to count more.
I feel this. I feel it a lot.
And I also, as a blogger, feel crazy jealousy at these comments. I would kill for these comments.
Ahem. Back to the issue at hand. Being a medium blogger is rough, no? I love it, I will never stop it, but I also know that I lack those extra things that people use to go up a notch. I would love to have more time and freedom and be able to pick and choose who I work with and all that jazz, but instead I feel really stagnant.
Or at least, I’ve grown and changed a ton but I can’t say that it’s led to any actual changes. It certainly hasn’t helped my traffic or engagement and that’s a rough thing to deal with year after year.
Oy, I’m sounding bitter. I mostly wanted to say I get it.
I much prefer your medium to someone’s BIG – when I go to a blog and ALL they seem to do is pitch this and that – hawk this and that – I am way less interested. I understand doing that from time to time – and I understand IF you have a business you are running – totally – use your blog as you need to – but I don’t have to read.
I enjoy following along with you – praying for you and I appreciate the things you make me aware of. I honestly, NEVER expect ANY blogger to have perfect pictures and a meaning/point/lesson learned when I read – when they share their thoughts and opinons and lessons learned if I can take something from that then I am grateful.
I probably dont fully understand where you are coming from because I have a tiny blog that is really just a scrapbook – I like connecting with people and I have found that my tiny blog is a verhicle for that. I say stay medium if that works for you and try not to put so much pressure on yourself – pictures of your kids are ALWAYS fun! Its your life – so blog it!! :)
I love your mediumness. I’ve followed other (bigger) bloggers and stopped. I just don’t have the time. The time to blog myself – which puts me in the mommy blog category (hello InstaFriday, my digital scrapbook) – or to read other people’s blogs.
But you. I keep reading about your sweet family that I’ve never met. You have even been (hope you’re not too weirded out by this) in a couple of my dreams. Why? Because you are medium. I think “medium” might be another way of saying that you keep it real. You do it in a very compelling, non-threatening way. Which, I think, is very tricky to do.
All that is to say, go big if you really have to, but stay medium.
xo
I don’t remember the last time I blogged. I long to go back to it, because it makes me think and it makes me a better writer. I’m in marketing and write mostly copy – some days complete, grammatically correct sentences are a struggle. (And I put in over 40 hours a week a paying job – leaving no time for blog post thinking.)
It’s also not fun when your readers drop off like flies. My blog was rocking when I struggled for years with infertility and then my son was born 3 months early. Struggles. My articles were usually full of drama, with highs and lows. When things settled, my son was healthy and growing as any child would, my readers dwindled. It was like losing real life friends…
Best of luck with this blog in 2015. I understand. I do hope it doesn’t go away completely. I really enjoy it.
I hope you keeping writing, no matter how infrequently. You changed my life (for seriously) with your “God is good. Always. No matter what.” and your honesty about your own life. You are the only “mommy” blogger that infertility hasn’t caused me to quit. Instead, I see you with your beautiful children and your life rearranged and you inspire me to know that maybe, just maybe, life will work out anyway. Even if it doesn’t turn out like I planned or expected or hoped.
So I guess I hope you keep writing for selfish reasons. But for non-selfish reasons, I hope you do what’s write for you (that’s subliminal messaging) and are happy!
Yeah, some of my favorite mom blogs have kinda turned into these weird…every 12th post there’s something actually personal and real blogs. The rest is sponsored, way too fake and set up (borderline seductive ew?) fashion posts and yada yada. I like the real people who make me laugh. Soooo….yeah. Blogs are just weird. I still have mine going after…man…7 years? And I feel like my little tight knit group of blogging peeps is sufficient. And the good lawd knows I aint got the time to make my blog any more then what it is. Anyways, keep going yo. People love your blog. :)
Please don’t stop blogging! I love your “medium” blog exactly how it is. Sometimes the blogs that wind up going big get annoying (not all – some do it well) because it’s all sponsored posts. I TOTALLY get that bloggers need to make money too and I fully support it but I hate when the sponsored posts are super forced or irrelevant to the normal topics. I love your style of writing and how you honestly and candidly share your heart and family with us. I even hear your words echo in my head sometimes… “God is good. Always. No matter what.” It’s kinda become my mantra lately as I’ve praying for a whole lot of things that just aren’t going according to what I thought the plan should be. So anyway…. that’s a lot rambling to basically just say don’t leave!! I’d miss you!
Hallelujah for speaking my mind. Snarky and all with no pinnable images. Love.
medium blogger over here too, wondering what the hell to do too. I feel ya girl. big time
sometimes I wonder if some of us medium-ers should get together and join forces. not for the purposes of going big, but at least we’d have less pressure to post so often. and i don’t mean a contributor blog…more like a communal, you do what you’re good at, i’ll do what i’m good at…post when you have something to share…and if we get two posts in one day, fine…if we all go three days with nothing, fine. heck…the more i think about it…
I love your blog. My list of blogs I read is much smaller recently. I don’t have the time anymore and to tell you the truth, don’t want to read when I can tell it’s staged. You made my cut – from 20+ to about 3. I have two girls 6 and 2, so I can relate to some of your stories – I’m right there with you. Your Porkchop, I have the perfect girl for him! And my 6 year old Kindergartner, who I am scared to death to send to school each day because she’s diabetic. What if she doesn’t tell them she doesn’t feel right? What if the nurse gets her shot wrong? (That happened on the 1st day!) What if, what if, what if. Sometimes my fears get the best of me, then you post about Jilly and remind me to just do what we do because we have to. And they will be ok, God is good no matter what. :)
I’m plugging along as a little “Mommy Blogger”. Still posting the silly and tiny little things we do as my kids are really getting too big. I don’t think anyone reads my blog…except for my 12 yr old daughter and so I will keep posting and taking crappy pictures just for her.
WHAT YOU SAID. And, my SLR just broke. So I’m pretty much hosed.
I’m way behind on blog post reading but I did want to say I agree with the other comments. I would totally miss your blog and voice and words.