I hope to do an actual BlogHer post but I need to get this off my chest too.
I didn't go to many sessions but there was a definite theme running through the ones I did attend. Perhaps it was because, in my opinion, there were a lot of very new bloggers in attendance. Maybe it was just the session I went to. Whatever the reason I heard things like this over and over again. Someone would stand up, say their name and blog name and start off their question with:
"My blog is really little"
"Only my family reads me"
"I don't have nearly the traffic/comments/readers/subscribers as you do"
"My blog is just..."
Et cetera, et cetera.
Can I ask a favor?
Knock that shit off. Please?
You decided to be online, be a part of this digital community for a reason. You established a presence and put your words out there for all eternity. You wouldn't have done it if they weren't important to you. Stop telling the rest of us they're not.
Every time you belittle the work you do (particularly with 'just.' It bugs me to no end when people say they or their blogs are 'just' anything), you are diminishing your space. Why would you make the effort to go to a conference and then tell everyone how unimportant your space is?
Claim your space. Own it. Stop telling us what it isn't and show us what it IS.
Right on! KNOCK THAT OFF! I wanted to scream it at the top of my longs all weekend long. So, I just blogged it once I got home. :-)
ReplyDeleteAs one who would probably have been guilty of exactly what you described - THANK YOU for that splash of perspective. You are right & I vow not to do that next year :-)
ReplyDelete@Denise - Ha! Thank you.
ReplyDelete@Christina - You're welcome.
It is definitely hard to NOT say something like that, and I was probably guilty... but I started realizing that there were all sorts of kinds of bloggers out there -- big, medium, little. Made me feel like I fit in because I was a blogger. Because I put myself in with that group that was at BlogHer.
ReplyDeleteSo. Very. True.
ReplyDeleteAnd now {hiding head in shame} and pretending I haven't done that and will not it off instantly :).
This is perfect. Thank you!
ReplyDelete@Natalie - I've been guilty of not heeding my own advice but after hearing so many people say things like that I think it finally sunk it that comparing myself isn't doing me any good.
ReplyDelete@Tonya - Good, since you're kicking ass and taking names on your site!
@j - Thank you for visiting, and you're welcome. :D
Thank you, thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteI missed BlogHer this year, but I hear these same comments all the time and there is really no place for them in the blogosphere - old, new, 1 reader or 1,000,000; our opinions, our words ARE important!
"Claim your space" - wonderfully said!
@Kim - Thank you! Maybe you can make it next year. Lots of us San Diego peeps are already in planning mode.
ReplyDeleteAmen sister! The self-deprecation is way annoying! I only do it about my booty. : )
ReplyDelete