On Sunday I had lunch with several members of the SoCal Lady Bloggers. Yes, it was theoretically an excuse to get out of the house without the kids and have some adult conversation. Underneath the surface, however, it was an opportunity to meet new people and get my groove back.
You all know I love blogging. I love everything about it… writing, reading, giving and getting comments, facebook, twitter, pinterest… the list goes on. It has become more than a hobby to me, it is my lifeline. It is also my business, although it’s hard to think of something as a business when you are having so much fun doing it. Still… every once in a while you start to wonder if you are heading in the right direction. Sometimes those blog post ideas just don’t come as easily. Maybe you go a day or a week without any offers or pitches in your email in-box. Giving up looks really good on some of those days. And then there are the other days… the days when you get the chance to sit and talk shop with other bloggers and all of a sudden the floodgates open and the ideas start flowing again. Sunday was that day.
I helped start the SoCal Lady Bloggers because I was looking for a group of women who would be willing to talk about their experiences, share their opportunities and connect in such a way that people of the non-blogger variety can’t. Blogging is a unique world. For the most part, you work alone. You write alone. You research alone. You might converse back and forth via facebook, twitter, Skype or texts, but basically it’s you sitting in your house, car or office by yourself. While this can be a pleasant experience, there are some days you just want to get the hell out of the house and actually have a real life conversation with people. Non-blogging friends can’t understand the drama of blogging. The people, the connections, the disappointments. Then there are the technical aspects of working with blogs and the guest posting and the negative comments. I have found that when you get a group of bloggers together, there is never a lack of conversation. And to tell you the truth, most bloggers are just outright hilarious. We sit cooped up alone so much that when we let loose… we REALLY let loose.
I think bloggers have this stigma attached that we’re all lonely, shy people (some are) that don’t have any real friends. Oh please! Real friends CAN be made through social media and they frequently end up being some of your BEST friends. Where else would you have the chance to get to know people from across the globe. I have friends in Australia and England and Canada that I never would have met through traditional channels. I feel my world has gotten immensely larger.
So, having lunch on Sunday and getting to gossip, complain and have a few laughs… Priceless! And my my groove is back and I’m ready to forge on with my little part of the blog world.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi! Glad you had fun at the event! I really wanted to go, but after the massage wasn’t moving around so well. I also went to a dance event in Irvine that I had to leave early to. I hope this won’t be the last meet up for awhile! I’d love to meet all the local gals!
Trina recently posted..Do I join a gym?
Trina, there will be many others. We are working on setting something up in Temecula, but we’ll also have others more local to LA. Anytime you want to get together, let me know and we can always grab a group of people to meet for lunch or dinner.
I wish I would have gone to lunch as opposed to the travel show… Instead, I left disappointed from there…. Next time I’ll know better =) It sounded like a GREAT time. And much needed!
Jamie recently posted..Museums Around Town
I wish you had been there too. We really have such a great group of women here in SoCal.
These are so zany. Whenever I have to leave my bubble I kind of dread it. This, I can’t understand. I am strong and confident. I know (usually) when to be bubbly and when to listen sincerely. And yes, I had some of that trepidation before I headed to Northridge Sunday.
But I instantly saw your smiling face, Carolyn, and was so glad I made the not-so-distant trek. We laughed like idiots about commonalities and differences. I was glad that Ricca, whom I met at BlogHer ’11, joined us, but I wish she hadn’t monopolized the conversation so much! (Kidding. She was quiet as a smiling mouse!) And I made two new friends, which is always a perk.
I can still hear the giggles and smell the barbeque. Meetups really can be as simple as posting on Facebook, “Hey, I’m in Burbank and I’m hungry. Who wants to join me for lunch?”
I am working with the Temecula winery, with Gigi’s help, for early March. More updates to come!
Sidney recently posted..My Exciting Weekend
I can’t wait for Temecula. It’s hard for me to do lunch during the week because of the kids, but I can always do breakfast… or just coffee… in the mornings if you ever want some company and aren’t working. Burbank is a hop, skip and a jump away.