Blogging is a BIG DEAL.

WARNING. OPINIONATED POST AHEAD.

Another rant, if you will.

If you blog for profit...or HOPE to blog for profit...you might want to stop reading right now.



So. I have received this stunning revelation.

Blogging is BIG. Like MAJOR.

I had no idea. I'm REALLY late to this party...

All this time I thought blogging was just another form of social media. A public journal of sorts. A way to stay connected with Uncle Hugo and Aunt Hildegard. A way to share photos of Junior's first bath/smile/tooth/step/day of school.

I thought the blogging world was full of people (like me) who just liked seeing their thoughts and opinions set down in neat font on cool templates. (Instead of scribbled on yellow legal pads that end up in a box under the bed.)

It seems I was wrong.

Way wrong.

Blogging, it seems, is about two things.

Making money. And popularity.

Hmmmm.

My recent addiction to Pinterest (There really should be a 12 step program for junkies like me...) has brought me to this startling revelation.

From my pins on Pinterest I have visited many blogs. Some I've enjoyed. Some not so much.

Several are talking about their business. Blogging.

It's a business now.

Managing their sponsors. Juggling their clients. Pumping up the number of followers. (Pleeese, pleeeese, pleeeeeeeese follow me!!!)

Wow.

Invoicing their ad people and researching posts and...and...and...

It's confusing to me. I mean...if you can make money showing me a new crochet stitch...GREAT. I really have no problem with women finding a way to make money at home.

Just be REAL about it.

But...and herein lies my bone of contention...A LOT of these women are stay-at-home-moms. Homeschooling moms. Mothers of more than one child under the age of 10.

And while in one post they are telling me the best way to keep my floors shiny and how to decorate my humble abode on a shoestring and how to feed my family gourmet meats for $1.26 per serving, in the next post they are bemoaning the fact that THEIR floors haven't been mopped in a month and their 8 year old just learned to make Top Ramen in self defense. (He was tired of peanut butter and jelly and wanted something WARM to eat.)

Please, people. Practice what you preach. Don't blog about the importance of family dinner when your kids are eating Top Ramen in front of the TV...REGULARLY.

Don't admit that your kids aren't dressed or had their hair brushed yet (and it's 6:00 PM) because you've been SO BUSY WRITING YOUR BLOG ALL DAY. (And you stayed up all night "researching" so they got up alone and ate dry Lucky Charms out of the box...aren't my little darlings resourceful?!) and THEN try to sell me your ebook on Home Management.

Now...I refuse to tar every blogger with the same brush. There are hundreds...thousands...of honest folks out there blogging away and raking in the dough. And I know there are many, many people who blog AND still have it all together.

(Then there is the blogger who has made a business out of NOT having it together. "Come look at how trashed my home is...")

To be really honest...I'm not even sure why my feathers are ruffled. Maybe because of the sudden shift in perspective. Maybe because I now look at most bloggers with a jaundiced eye. I'm just another "follower" that makes them money when I hit their site.

I don't know.

I feel slightly duped...used. And here I thought they just wanted to share their enthusiasm for the latest way to make a hand-stamped burlap pillow. I didn't know they were MARKETING said pillow.

Kind of like the salesman that comes off as your best friend. You KNOW all he wants is to sell you something.

And now there are ebooks. Really? Everyone who can type thinks they're an author.

And everyone who has copied an idea from some other blogger (and ADDED THEIR OWN TWIST) thinks they are a designer. Sigh.

I just don't know.

What I DO know is that, for me, blogging will continue to be a format with which to record daily life. My home...my kids...my thoughts.

And...in my mind at least...this is still a very simple journal.

Now...excuse me...I have some blogs to read. My inbox is full of "New Post" notifications.

CHA-CHING. 