Shout out to my three fans/Have you noticed the blogging trends?

Meg in Sheridan, Katy, and Mariann are my three loyal fans, not related to me. Mel comes back too. Thanks guys.

They come back, even when I do what I have been doing, and take long hiatuses (Hiati? What's the plural of "hiatus?") from blogging.

And Katy even recommends my blog to people, even when I haven't blogged in three months. Wow. That's faith.

But Katy's faith in me is a great reason to come back to blogging. Because reading that book I just posted about and blogging about it was monumental, and so satisfying that I see it happening again soon.

My baby, who isn't so much of a baby, is turing one in a few weeks. And he mostly sleeps through the night, which changes EVERYTHING. And I foresee reading as a Deborah hobby coming back. And then blogging about reading. But I have been thinking about blogging.

So. New Topic.

Has anyone else noticed a trend in some of the popular mommy bloggers lately? It seems like a few things are happening in the mom blogs of MB who have become very popular and obviously blog for profit:

1. MBs are getting more protective of sharing their kids/family/life with the world. I wonder if this is the mom not wanting to share, or her kids getting sick of their lives broadcasted for everyone to see.

I've wondered about this: it's really cute when a mommy shares pictures of her messy three year old's banana plastered face, but what happens when this same kid turns into a 11 year old tween who does NOT want her life shared. Does NOT want her picture posted. Does NOT want her mother to get out the camera and when the mom does the tween screeches: "Don't post that on your blog!" What then?

2. The topic (a crisis, kids growing up, a remodel, learning about new place) is coming to a resolution. Harder to come with things to say when it's been worked through/discovered/done.

3. What used to be a cute mention of brands or toys is becoming an obvious sponsorship and it's annoying. (Buy this dress (I got one for free)! See this purse! Check out this soap maker and buy her stuff!)

As the reader, I feel like I'm being played---I come for substantial intellectual female thought and good writing, and what I get is an endorsement for something I a) Don't want or b) Suddenly notice that EVERYONE has because it's "individual." But then it's not individual, because everyone has the same "individual" thing because we all read the same blog which promotes the same thing.

4. It must be a catch 22 for some MB who rely on blogging for family income. Because, if this is their source of income, then they have to write what their readers want to read so they will come back and check out their ads (thus the profit for the MB). But in needing this income, it seems this stifles voice and creativity: "having" to blog makes the writing forced. And stale. And when I notice this, I don't go back---it seems trying too hard.

5. It's all starting to look the same to me. Cute kids in designer clothes at Valentine's Day! Cute kids in designer clothes at Halloween! Cute kids in designer clothes celebrating back to school! Cute kids at the beach! Cute kids at a family reunion! What we ate for New Year's! What we ate for St Patrick's Day! What we ate for our Fourth Friday celebration! We are smiling! We are always smiling!

Anyone else noticed any of these?

Maybe this is why I'm gravitating to sassy women of all ages who are solid writers. Seems like, whether they blog for profit or not, they still have things to say. I'm really coming to appreciate the women who blog from their perspective of being in their 70's: They aren't trying to impress anyone any more.

Take it.

Leave it.

All the same to them.