“Cocktail Party” conversation can really, well, drive you to want to down a cocktail.

Erin: Cocktail parties? Who is going to cocktail parties? Do you have a secret life I don’t know about?

Ellen: That is why cocktail party was surrounded by quotes. One of these days I’m going to write an air quote manual for you. “Party” can be a work picnic or going to a college reunion, but really it is any get together where the standard “Get-To-Know-You” conversations take place every time you drift over to a new person.

Erin: More apropos would be, “Get-To-Categorize-You.”

Ellen: Right? It’s always the same question.

Erin: “What do you DO?”

Ellen: That question has always been a landmine for me, no matter what. When I said I was a doctor, shirttails would get yanked up to show me some crusty rash. In later life when I responded, “Stay-at-Home-Mom,” eyes would glaze over to a catatonia so deep, I would start to consider if  I wanted to dust off my CPR skills.

Erin: Well responding, “Teacher” prompts people to morph into the National Enquirer: “Give me the school scoop. What dirt do you know?”

Ellen: But now we can say, bloggers or even, dare I say, writers.

Erin: Which prompts the question that is the nails to my chalkboard, the cantaloupe in my fruit salad, the fly in my bean dip: “Do you make money at it?”

Ellen: It is a pretty rude question, but are you sure you aren’t overreacting just a wee bit?

Erin: Not at all. The question implies that UNLESS I am making money at it, there’s no real value to it.

Ellen: Okay, but we do consider our blog a business, so why so worked up? But really, no one has ever pointblank asked my husband how much he makes. You know what? That does get under my skin . . . like a crusty rash.

Erin: Some people think that blogging is glorified scrapbooking. Yes, there are family memories showcased and put on display, but most bloggers put a frame and a purpose on those memories to make a larger point. Blogging is writing and writing has its own rewards.

Ellen: Rewards like being able to work out your issues in a blog post?

Erin: I was thinking more of rewards like this:

Ellen: Oh yes, building a community has been an unexpected gift of blogging that has fed my soul.

Erin: Oh, my goodness, melodramatic much? But I totally get it. Old school writers might bristle a bit at some of the work that goes viral, but people respond with shares and likes because someone is speaking to them and for them. That has value. That is real. That alone makes blogging worth it.

Ellen: But I’m still not understanding why you are so bristly. We expect to make money from blogging and we do. Why is it so bad if others expect us to make money too?

Erin: In my experience, money doesn’t always measure what really matters. I don’t make money being a mom and it has been a worthy, many say even a noble pursuit. It has also been the most important thing I will ever do.

I’m not going to say that blogging is even in the same realm as mothering, but it has value to me beyond a paycheck. Your lovely garden is valuable not just because it brings beauty into my life, but also from the joy I see it gives you.

Blogging brings me joy and therefore is inherently valuable, just like your pretty garden.

Ellen: You sound like an SAT analogy. So, let me get this straight. You just want everyone to love our word babies as much as we do?

Erin: Is that too much to ask?! We started this blog because we felt a need to tell a story, our story, to other people. Self-expression is valuable in and of itself. Finding a way to bring your own personal truth to light even in a small way is valuable to your own well-being.

Ellen: Yeah, everyone deserves to know the personal truth of your issues with Andy Griffith. Earnest much?

Erin: One of the best parts about blogging is that we said we were going to do it and then we did it and then we kept doing it: two to three posts a week, 350 posts and counting. As Amelia Earhart said, “The most effective way to do it is to do it.” The act of simply doing it for almost three years now is valuable even if there was no paycheck.

Ellen: Did you get us a contract with Nike? That was a lot of “Just Do It.” But I have to insist that paychecks are nice. Really, really nice.

Erin: I’m starting to think YOU would be one of the annoying people at a cocktail party.

Ellen: Okay, calm down. So what is your point to people who may not understand blogging? To those bloggers starting out?

Erin: Well, for people who don’t understand blogging I would tell them how it is just worth it, dammit. Writing is a wonderful concoction of creativity, work, and baring your soul. And blogging is all that plus learning HTML, graphic design, social media, promotion, negotiation, and selling your product, which is when you really come down to it, a little piece of your heart.

Ellen: Hmmmmm, maybe that is more of an understanding of blogging than a normal citizen should be expected to know walking into cocktail hour.

Erin: But it is the perfect inspiration for those first starting out as bloggers. But one more point before I let this dead horse crawl mercifully into its grave: IT IS SUCKY TO ASK SOMEONE IF THEY ARE MAKING MONEY. EVER. Especially if it is the first question.

Ellen: I agree with you on that, Sister, but you might want to exercise a little bit of patience for those who don’t understand right out of the gate. Just sayin’. But forget those people because I am here to give you your Medal of Blogging Bravery because I know how much it costs to put words out there, no matter how much you are getting paid.

Erin: That’s all I ever really wanted.

 

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