Fellow freelance writer and editor Michelle Rafter created the WordCount Blogathon three years ago as a way to motivate herself to blog more. That year she got about two dozen writers to join her. Last year, the blogathon was even more successful. About 45 freelance writers joined the event and committed to blogging every day for a month.

This year there are about 110 freelance writers who will blog every day between May 1 and May 31. You can check out the other participants — many of whom are friends of mine — at the official Blogathon site. There truly is something for everyone. Blogs about personal finance, parenting, food, travel, blogging, marketing, gardening, business — it’s all there. The writers hail from all over the world. I spent some time on many of the sites and had to pull myself away since I have a huge assignment due tomorrow and needed to get writing (and stop reading)!

Oh, and you can keep up with what everyone is doing by following the #Blog2010 hashtag search on Twitter. I just took a look and there are a TON of people posting about their latest blogs and the blogathon.

Hope you’re having a good weekend. I’ve had a migraine since yesterday afternoon. Got a massage today. I’m hoping it will help loosen things up. Massage therapist said my muscle groups were all stuck together. Too much work, I think, and not enough yoga! I hope to change that. In addition to blogging daily this month I’m making a commitment to practice yoga daily whether it’s alone here or in a studio. Wonder which — yoga or blogging — will do more for my life?

“Wow – this is truly the silliest thing I have read. What a narcissist you are! You were traveling with your CHILDREN!!! Has anyone ever told you that you (as a mom) are setting an example for them? That you will make your childish, irrational fears their childish irrational fears should they have the misfortune to witness them? I feel bad for both your husband who must suffer with you and your children who must suffer because of you. Give your family a break and stop being the center of your own little universe. The best part is all this AFTER you blamed your mother for own your fear of flying. Really? Do you have any mirrors in your house? Do you like what you see? Oh, wait – you must. You’re a narcissist. I suspect I know what that “disability card” is all about….”

Hmmm. Okay, you have a right to your opinion. I have a right to respond. ‘Cause, hey, it’s my blog! First off, you got it wrong. I never blamed my mother for creating my fear of flying. You need to read more carefully. I was explaining where it came from.

Second: ABSOLUTELY I feel terrible about crying in front of my kids. I hate myself when I can’t control what’s happening in my head. Do you think I would choose to act like this? I have a mental disability called a phobia. It’s real, and I am not proud of the way I act because of it or that I am so weak that I can’t over come it. And trust me, I have tried.

Finally: What I didn’t write in the post you responded to was how I talked to Katelyn while we were on the flight and when we got off about why I was upset. I actually explained how, as we experience things, our brains create synapses — like roads — and when our bodies experience that same thing it goes on automatic pilot, so to speak. I had a bad experience as a child and now my brain takes me back there over and over again. And yes, I told her how I act isn’t right or normal. That Mommy is sick. She has something wrong with her head. But that I fly anyway so someday so she can enjoy herself. Besides, the more I do it, the more chance I have of maybe overcoming my fear. And I told her about the doctors I’ve spoken to and the classes I’ve taken. And everything I do and have done to try and overcome it. Finally, I told her how proud I was of her that she enjoys flying. And how it’s a relatively safe mode of transportation. And she got it. She did. And she was smiling and kissing me and telling me how she thought being a pilot was cool.

So before you go all Simon Cowell on me, maybe you should get the facts.

Love, –KB

]]> http://naturalaspossiblemom.com/2010/dear-first-mean-commenter/feed 2 http://naturalaspossiblemom.com/2010/black-and-white-blogging http://naturalaspossiblemom.com/2010/black-and-white-blogging#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:23:28 +0000 kb http://naturalaspossiblemom.com/?p=928 I was at a playdate today. Everyone was talking about television. Me, I was chasing around my crazy baby, so I wasn’t in the conversation. When I finally sat down one of my friends turned to me with a question: “Does Keira watch TV?” No, I said, feeling very uncomfortable. I know she’s seen my Facebook updates, and maybe even read some of my blog posts. I wondered if she was asking to be curious or because she was wondering if I was sitting there judging them as I chased my little one around the room.

It’s so hard having a pulpit that can’t really be personalized. As a writer, I take a stance on something, and have to stand behind it. I can’t temper what I write for each person who reads it. Take my post on babies and toddlers and television viewing. Do I think babies should be watching TV? No, but I also don’t think that moms who do let their kids watch an episode or two of Sesame Street — or in this case Handy Manny — are bad moms. In fact, this mom and the others at the playdate are pretty wonderful. The one mom who posed the question is so devoted and so attentive. She is what I would classify as a Great mom. Still, as someone who has seen the research, and talked to the experts, I should be telling her what I know, right?

I’m not so sure. Research is great. It helps cure diseases, and helps us avoid harmful situations. However, the research subjects are human. They are exposed to thousands if not tens of thousands of other variables. So sure, television might cause children to have difficulty sleeping, and contribute to obesity, but maybe it has a different affect for a child who spends plenty of time running around, playing with other kids, and having his mom and dad read to him than the kid who doesn’t move from the set all day. Maybe the researchers are right, but only for specific types of kids. Maybe kids who watch a lot of TV are also eating poor food choices, and not getting any other exercise. Or maybe the kids who — like my friend’s son — only watch TV in the morning won’t have the same outcome as kids who spend hours and hours in front of the tube from morning until night. I don’t know. I do know that no parent should ever feel judged or bad about the choices they make for their kids as long as they are doing the absolute best that they can do. For me, that means no television until after the age of two. For my friends, it means an hour or so of television every day so they can get through the day. There is no right or wrong answer. There truly are shades of gray when it comes to this parenting thing.

Are you a blogger? How do you deal with keeping your blogging life and your personal life separate? Are you a reader? Have you ever felt uncomfortable or judged after reading someone’s blog?

Blogging is a lot like being on a merry-go-round: It's fun, but you feel a litle dizzy sometimes.

This is my 42nd blog post. (I had planned on writing about this topic as my 40th post, but I misread the WordPress dashboard. Sigh.) Those who have followed my musings from the beginning have read about my klutzy mistakes, my abusive ex, my friend issues. I’ve shared stories about my urinary incontinence, how I feel about playdates, and how I feel about the environment. With these disclosures, I’ve joined the ranks of fellow bloggers who talk about dealing with their own cancer, their mother’s cancer, their failed marriages, their use of sex toys. In retrospect, I can’t think of a single topic that hasn’t been covered in the blogosphere. We bloggers seem to have little or no filter when it comes to normally off-topic topics.

You, as a reader, may enjoy the voyeurism, but it’s a little weird for us on the writing end. It’s very strange, as a writer, to put these types of things out there. Things that most people reserve for close friends. At least it is for me. Sure, I’ve written a story for Redbook about growing up with a mother who yelled. A story I wrote for Parents — in excruciating detail, I might add — about my miscarriage was one of the most commented stories I’ve ever had the privilege to work on. But only a handful of the people in my real life ever cracked open those magazines. I could hide behind the relative anonymity of the newsstand.

On the flip side, as a blogger, it’s also weird knowing that my friends, family, and acquaintances are right here reading every word. Words that I might not say out loud to people I care about. And while I love that they are reading my stuff — please, please keep reading, everyone — it often has an impact on the way we interact offline.

Take my husband. Last night he commented that he loved my blog, but he thought I wrote a lot like a single mother. “There’s not a lot in there about me,” he complained. Another example: On Sunday night I had dinner with two girlfriends. Amy was in my Friday Favorites about friends; Lori, who is one of my oldest and dearest of friends, was not. She joked around about it, but I think inside the jokes was a little bit of truth. It hurt her feelings that she was omitted.

Other friends have reacted to blog posts, too. On Monday I had a playdate. Precisely ten minutes before Keira’s naptime everyone picked up and rushed out of here. They had all read my post about Playdate Dos and Don’ts, I’m convinced, and they didn’t want to hang around past what they thought was my limit. They didn’t want to be pegged “unsupportive.” That’s not the first time I felt uncomfortable because of my playdate post. A few weeks ago we were having a playdate with a new friend. While the girls were standing next to each other her daughter tapped my daughter’s chest ever so lightly. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it. And yet the woman picked up her child like she had stabbed Keira with a Mr. Potato Head arm, hustling her onto a time-out before I could say a word. I actually felt ashamed. Here, this nice woman was afraid of offending me because of something I had written.

Of course, there’s nothing I can do about how people react to what I write. I can’t edit or censor myself. One of the cardinal rules of blogging is that you have to put your heart and soul on the screen or your readers are going to smell fakery and fear and leave. But not before they flame you for your insincerity. So I guess I’m going to keep putting it all out there. And my friends? I hope they will understand that, as my friends, they shouldn’t take my blog so literally. Still, just in case: Have I mentioned how much I love my husband, Chris and my friend Lori?!?

Do you blog? If so, what’s been the most difficult part for you? As a blog reader, how do you feel about reading such personal commentary? Does it ever change the way you feel about what goes on in your own life? Please share your thoughts below.