A BlogHer Introduction

I have these friends, Denise and Tarrant (Or TW. Or TDubs.). They are both amazing. Like Chris and I, they pretty much come in a set. A #teamoftwo. They are great and best that way. Denise and TW are encouraging people. They are my biggest cheerleaders, and they spread love and support to all of our friends. They are generous and kind and smart and good. Since I’ve known them, they have inspired me to do things that I never thought could happen. I love them a lot.

I met Denise and Tarrant many years ago when TW wanted to learn to knit a pair of socks for Denise. That sock-inspired introduction was made possible through our friend’s blog, so you could say that a blog is why I even know them at all. Denise and Tarrant are bloggers themselves, so it’s natural that they would use their powers of encouragement to urge me and my other friends who have bloggy tendencies to blog more often and to find ways to do it better and faster and harder. They have been going to BlogHer as long as I’ve known them well enough to know what they do in their free time. Their mere attendence at these conventions has been motivational to me. It’s made me want to make more of my blog, and to evaluate it and ask myself where I want it to go and what I want to do with it. And that has often made me want to attend BlogHer myself. And this is finally my year!

So last night we’re texting about what rooms we’re in and when we’ll get there and what gin drinks will be consumed, when Tarrant starts to ask me the tough questions: What do you want out of this convention? What are your blogging goals? Are you meeting up with anyone? And then the big advice: You should put a fresh post on your blog… Gah! I kind of freaked out a little bit. Those posts take me HOURS to write, and I’m practically on my way out the door to Orlando! There’s no way I can do that. Ok, well maybe I’ll try to pop something quick up there as we’re driving on Thursday… yeah, that’s the ticket. Of course, they are spot on correct with that advice. And that’s why I’m sitting here at 5:30am on the first day of a blogging convention writing a blog post. My phone just buzzed to tell me about all the things I have to do this morning, but I haven’t even folded the laundry that I need to pack. I’m kind of headachy, and I’m hungry, but I’ve got my cuppa tea and the house is blissfully quiet. Blogging.

And with that long introduction, hi! I’m Sharon. I’ve had a blog, this very one, actually, for… jeez, at least fifteen years or so. It’s come and gone in many iterations, and like many casual bloggers it comes and goes for me as well. I tend to be more of a craft blogger than anything else. Sewing, knitting, and spinning are the things in my life that I love most, and I’m pretty damn good at them. Naturally, those are the easiest things to blog about.

But I feel change coming. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m not a great writer. I’m ok. I made good grades in English class. I have a solid grasp of grammar. But I don’t have a huge vocabulary (I am the worst Scrabble player ever.), and the words don’t flow from me when I type. Writing is a chore for me. But you know what comes easily? What I’m good at? Talking. I love that shit. I can babble on for days about the most mediocre things. It’s through audio and video (And real life transactions, of course) that my personality comes through to an audience. I’m much funnier and fun in ‘person’ than I am on paper.

Putting all of that on top of some major upcoming life changes, I’m going to be looking more at videocasting and podcasting. I’ll still keep the blog up and running! It will become a dashboard presence for the audio/video stuff, but the real content will be on the YouTubes I imagine.

I do have some big plans in my head, and that’s something I’ll be putting on paper this weekend at BlogHer, so do follow along! I Facebook a *lot*, so friend me there if you like (There’s a little button down there on the right side.), and of course say hello if you see me in person this weekend. I’d love to meet you and chat! I’ll be the one knitting the sock!