Earlier in the week Martha Stewart angered a lot of online creatives with her comment, "Who are these bloggers?"
I'm not sure what was behind her emotion but she caused a howl in the blogging world when she pointed out that in her mind, "bloggers aren't experts...they aren't editors at Vogue Fashion." If you missed it, check out the video here. After all the excitement, I expected something a little more outrageous. It's pretty low key but there are some inferences Martha makes that really grilled a few onions.
No, no we are not Martha. In fact most of us have embraced the beauty of blogging and online everything because we know we won't be part of Vogue or even Martha Stewart. I don't know where Martha is mentally, emotionally and whatever else as she shared her sentiment. Lots of people are talking about. The 92 million women strong Blog Network published a letter to Martha. The LA Times developed an article. My favorite commentary is from Holly Becker, the lovely lady from Decor8. She posted an excellent discussion point about Martha, giving her the benefit of the doubt and sharing the positive aspect of criticism.
In fact, Holly did such a good job, she got me to do a few things.
First, my "about me" page. My about page has needed an update for a while. {note: not all the links work yet!} It's been a bit long winded, like a story by Bilbo Baggins. Listen, I absolutely love the Lord of the Rings series but the descriptions can be a little wordy sometimes. There's a lot of trees and marshes and walking through dangerous terrain in the book. Sometimes I just want to get to the action.
And, my "what I do" page (which is not done yet, soon to come!)
The "what I do" page came as a result of a midnight thought. I've been waking up a lot at night. For whatever reason I woke up thinking about my blog. I realized I do not have a "what I do" page on the blog. As in, if someone wanted to hire me to write for them or whatnot, it might be a good idea to have a "what I do" for companies on the website.
Which is partly Martha's point.
I think when she said, "who are these bloggers?" she is referring to the looseness that comes across many of our websites. To those of you who are in the process of starting your website, take note: the clearer you are on what you do and who you are, the better.
Of course, all of this takes time. I've started six blogs. Six blogs. I've been through design changes and new ideas and lousy ideas. I've got domain names registered of "really good ideas" that have never come to pass. When I started Launch Your Creative Life, I wasn't really sure what I was doing. I started it with an idea. The idea I started with and where I am today is very different. It's all a process. I still feel like I am in the beginning stages. I'm gearing up to take some more classes on working on my blogging voice, improving my design and painting and working on the styling for my photographs. Instead of allowing blunt comments by an expert offend me, I'd rather let them spur me on to work harder and better.
That is the joy of blogging. We're throwing spaghetti noodles on the wall. What will stick? What will dribble down? It is hard to know what will work and what won't until some action is taken. Many bloggers aren't blogging their recipes or DIY projects to make money. We share because we love to share. We can write and talk about the interesting ideas, discoveries, projects and other things we find valuable other people might like too. And we discover that while our families may get tired of us, there is a lot of people online who totally get us and quirky ways.
Ironically, if you stick it out long enough, you will become an expert. You do anything with a desire to get better and just stick with it, the "expertise" comes. The more we write and learn and figure out how in the world a blog works we will become experts of sorts. After one has wrestled through the technical part of multiple websites, there is a bank of knowledge there.
One thought about Martha: She started when there was no internet. Her first book Entertaining was traditionally published. Martha has always used traditional media to promote and market her business until she became the media, moving from catering and decorating for other people's events and teaching them how to do it through television shows, magazines, books and now the internet. Martha comes from a different era. In one way she still makes her living through traditional media.
Most of us won't get the chance to work for a magazine such as Martha Stewart Living or Vogue. That's fine with us. The internet allows us the chance to experiment.
We're having a blast doing this online blogging thing.
Happy Friday friends! Doing anything fun this weekend? Let us know in the comments!
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