The WMF Archives: Hurling Myself Into the Mysterious World of Mommy Blogs

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Hurling Myself Into the Mysterious World of Mommy Blogs

6:00 AM

By Pam Houghton

Mommy blogs started to pop up while I was working away from home. Though I'd hear a bit about them here and there, I never paid much attention. After all, I was a "working mom." Who had time to go online and read the ramblings of a bunch of mommies?

Now that I'm home (after a corporate reorg eliminated my job, sad tale of woe) I decided to see what all the fuss was about. If you are unfamiliar with them, there are quite a few flavors of mommy blogs.

A lot of blogs focus on giveaways, coupons, and reviews of stuff I'd never buy.

There are blogs breathlessly written by working moms trying to keep up with life.

There are blogs that seem photo-heavy.

"Here I am pregnant."

"Here I am post-pregnant."

"Here are a zillion pictures of my little baby, the most adorable, beloved baby in the whole entire universe - I LOVE BEING A MOMMY!"

The photo-intensive sites weren't that interesting to me, but some have really large followings, so what do I know?

Then there are really cute sites where the writing kind of disappoints.

I found myself most attracted to the ones with good writing. If the writing was edgy, engaging, compelling, relevant, fun, humorous, etc etc etc - all qualities of good writing - I found myself willing to slough through multiple posts.

Here are a few I liked.

1. The Mommy-Blog: Adventures from the Wonderbelly of Motherhood by Melinda Roberts. Reads like a book. In fact, Melinda (Mindy, for short) published a book based on her blog in 2006. I imagine there are a few more mommy bloggers out there who intend to do the same. Here, Mindy tries to survive motherhood and that whole work/life balance thing as a divorced mom of three. I found it engaging, humorous and even poignant at times. She makes blogging look easy. I know it's not.

2. Pretty All True by Kris (no last name provided). Great if you don't mind liberal sprinklings of the F-bomb. I think this is one blogger with a ton of talent. Definitely has the stuff of which great books are made, if you like frank and funny. Wife and mother to two daughters - eight and ten years of age - she blogs about a lot of things in addition to her own "pretty all true" take on family life, including a twisted upbringing. I see memoir.

3. Theta Mom by Heather (no last name for her either). This blog is a little more traditional, and much less irreverent than blog #2. Trained as a teacher with an M.A. from Columbia University (yeah, I'm impressed) she's like the wise neighbor who sits you down with a cup of coffee and lets you ramble on about wayward children. She incorporates product reviews and giveaways in her blog, but not with the same yuck factor as others I've seen. Her writing is straightforward and warm. Oh, and she has over 2300 followers; nothing to sneeze at.

4. The Kerrie Show by Kerrie McLoughlin. I have to put a plug in here for our fellow WM blogger Kerrie. She does blogging right. Just short, fun, little bursts of energy from a breast-feeding, home-schooling mother of five. (Or is it six? :-) ) Except for the mom part, I was none of those things, proving that common experience isn't the only draw; good writing helps.

Are you a fan of Mommy blogs? Do you write one? Got any favorites?

photo by cheryll hogan

Labels: blogging, mommy blogs, Pam Houghton

16 comments:

Greta Garbo said...: Pam--
I got addicted to alittlepregnant.com, which basically started as an infertility blog. Again, mostly hysterical--commenters routinely say they spewed coffee all over their keyboards at work--but she takes on heavy things like repeated in vitro failures, adoption, miscarriage, financial costs, pre-mature births, etc., with a ridiculous amount of panache. Cried my eyes out the day she--and other followers--posted during nurses appreciation week.; May 15, 2010 7:52 AM
Pam Houghton said...: Hi Greta - it has to be reassuring to read about others' struggles esp. when they are similar to your own. It's amazing that the vast reach of the Internet has brought folks together like that.; May 15, 2010 9:55 AM
Christine said...: I'm a huge fan of a lot of the giveaway mommy blogger sites. My biggest problem with a lot of these sites is that they tend to forget that not all mommy bloggers (such as myself) aren't mommies of babies or small children. Some of us mommy bloggers have teenagers and/or adult children. I'm searching for more sites such as these/ and trying to create a few myself. LOL
Great post. Thanks.; May 15, 2010 1:15 PM
Jenna said...: I don't really read a lot of mommy blogs (no reason to), but I love Amalah.com. It's freaking hilarious. My mother reads a lot of them, though, and her most frequent comment is that the writing is wimpy or scatterbrained. Still, they're moms, so I suppose you do get a bit of that. Anyway.; May 15, 2010 8:19 PM
Carol Tice said...: For me there's only one mommy blogger worth reading -- the salty, laugh-out-loud true adventures of busy suburban mom Jenny from the Blog, a/k/a Jenny Baitch Isenman of Suburban Jungle -- this crazy lady is going places. I read her stuff out loud to people...if I can stop laughing long enough to manage it. http://www.thesuburbanjungle.com/

I write a lot of styles, but I don't feel like I excel at comedy writing -- maybe squeeze out one truly hilarious thing a year. Which may be why I love Jenny so much! Laughter is something we can all use more of.; May 16, 2010 11:05 PM
Jae at Stinky Angels said...: I also lost my FT work through a reorg at the end of 2008. My sister (who is neither a mommy nor a blogger) turned me on to Sprite's Keeper and Steenky Bee, a couple of "mommy blogs," proving that even someone not going through the same things can get enjoyment from a well-written blog. Reading others' fantastic blogs, and getting comments on my own blog, has helped me become a better writer.; May 17, 2010 10:23 AM
Laura K. Cowan said...: My favorite mommy blog by far is Dooce, written by a hilarious mother of two with a great sense of humor and a flair for photography:

http://www.dooce.com/

I also like the giveaway sites that stay focused on a particular product I'm interested in, so much so that when I started my own informational blog about cloth diapers, I incorporated giveaways into the site:

http://www.29diapers.com

Thanks for the post! I wish the world of SAHMs and working moms weren't so polarized. I am a SAHM AND I am a part-time editor and writer working from home, so I guess I'm proof that we're not all at opposite ends of the mommy lifestyle spectrum, anyway.; May 17, 2010 10:27 AM
Pam Houghton said...: I agree Jae - you can get enjoyment and writing inspiration from blogs that are well-written even if they don't necessarily apply to your own life. And comments (aka feedback) do help shape your writing because you learn what works/connects with readers and what doesn't. The challenge is getting people to read your blog!; May 17, 2010 10:31 AM
Pam Houghton said...: Laura, that's really true. In the end, we all have the same worries and concerns about our kids, whether we work away from home or stay home.; May 17, 2010 10:33 AM
Mary Kraemer said...: I found your posting to be really interesting, but my favorite moms' blog site/s weren't there, so I want to share them with you!

Check out the SV Moms Group (the original site was Silicon Valley Moms but it has expanded to include area-specific sites such as Chicago, DC, New York, New Jersey, Deep South, LA, Philadelphia, Rocky Mountain, Canada, Ohio, and Orange County Moms as well as the 50something Moms (where I post my writing). Check out
http://svmomblog.typepad.com/silicon_valley_moms_group/2008/03/silicon-valley.html
to link to your favorite area blog. These blogs are written by funny, smart women who work at home, stay at home, work at an office, juggle between the two, and everything else imaginable.; May 17, 2010 12:02 PM
Pam Houghton said...: Mary - Thanks for the suggestion - I'll have to check it out as well as all the other sites mentioned here. (I'm gonna be busy!); May 17, 2010 12:57 PM
Anonymous said...: If you ever hope to earn a living as a writer, check this out:

http://writerspetition.ning.com/profiles/blogs/writers-petition; May 17, 2010 5:28 PM
Kris said...: Hmmmm . . . I see a distinct lack of love in these comments for Pretty All True. Which is a travesty, people, because the woman behind Pretty All True is an F-bomb dropping genius!

She makes me laugh so hard I spit coffee on my computer and tears roll down my face.

Also? I sometimes pee a little.

You should check her out, because she is going to be rich and famous and all published in the very near future.

I am pretty all sure.

I am also Pretty All True.

Kris, who adores being mentioned in this fine fine company. Thank you!; May 17, 2010 9:57 PM
Lisa said...: Great article! Off to check out the blogs!; May 18, 2010 10:11 AM
MyKidsEatSquid said...: I don't follow many mommy blogs because as you point out, it seems like many focus on younger children and I'm past that stage now. But I'm a fan of foodie blogs--and of course my favorites are from moms. My favs are zoebakes.com, lettuceeatkale.com and marthaandme.com.; May 18, 2010 12:06 PM
Nicole Lusiani Elliott said...: There's only one I love, maybe that's because I love the woman who started it and she was kind enough to feature me too :) notsosupermom.com check it out, it's fantastic.; May 18, 2010 5:11 PM