Notice where the apostrophe is placed. Drives me nuts when I see “Mother’s Day” because the way I see it, this is a day for ALL the mothers.

Anyway.

I had a nice weekend. I baked a pie (more on that later), had a pedicure, read a book, watched a movie, did laundry, went to two Girl Scout events, went out to dinner, attended First Communion mass for a young friend of ours, drank some lovely tea (new flavors from Teavana, courtesy of my husband) and goofed around. Pretty much the perfect weekend.

On the downside, my pie was a failure (post to come, I promise) and I managed to spill three-quarters of a cup of Mudhouse coffee all over me and the inside of my car (and the First Communion card for our friend). I was a sight. Coffee on my shirt, skirt, legs, shoes, carseats; everywhere — I could not believe how far it spread. And of course it was hot, so I sat there in my car going, “Ow, ow, ow,” before I composed myself enough to drive home, sopping wet and pouting. (I drank the remainder and it was still good.) I WAS glad that I was on my way home when I decided to take my java bath. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d been on the way somewhere and running late.

For Mothers’ Day I’d like to share some of the mom blogs I enjoy as my little gift to you. I hope you like them, too. Here’s what I read, in no particular order:

Zuzu’s Petals
Fluid Pudding
WOBL in Training
Mommy Track’d
Rocks in my Dryer
Confessions of a Pioneer Woman
Mamalogues
Self-Made Mom
Say La Vee
Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck
Fussy
I am Bossy

Mutha Mae
Because I Said So
My Heart’s In Dixie

The State of Discontent
A Bun’s Life
Same Old STLBee

I hope you all had a wonderful, celebrated day.

As most of you know, I work in the field of communications and public relations (i.e., reputation management). When the roles are reversed and a reporter is contacting me not as a client contact but rather for me (glorious ME), I cannot turn down an interview opportunity.

Thus the article in Parenting Teens Online (free registration to read the article — trust me, it’s painless) which appeared today. In the article, It Takes a Virtual Village: The Blogging Mom Phenomenon I’m quoted in the company of world famous blogger and mom Lisa Stone of BlogHer. Not bad company to keep.

Author Jennifer Williamson did a nice job with the article. Let her know what you think with a comment on the site.

I read. I read so much, I don’t even like to talk about how much I read. If I need to get something done around the house, I better not be in the middle of a book, that’s all I can say. So, being between books (which means I’m in the middle of two and finished another) I happened to catch Ree’s post, P-Dub Book Club. Immediately, I bought the book she recommended, Comeback (hey, Ree, you sold a book!) by Claire and Mia Fontaine, a gut-wrenching mother-daughter memoir about abuse (all kinds) and recovery.

Since I’m a rock star super special Amazon customer, I got it the next day (free shipping) and knocked it out shortly thereafter. It was good: thought-provoking and interesting, albeit a tad depressing. I offered it to a friend, but she declined, noting the drama in her real life was enough. This book might be too much for some.

It is not a book I’m going to read again. This much I know. So I’m offering it for FREE to the first person who writes a compelling enough comment sharing why they think they should have it.  I make the rules, so I get to decide who wins. This offer will end on Saturday, Sept. 15, so I’ll be making my decision this time next week. If you are the chosen one, I’ll expect an address where I can ship it. That’s all; nothing else. Oh, maybe some gratitude. That’d be nice.

Side note: are you following Confessions of a Pioneer Woman? Or The Pioneer Woman Cooks? I heard Ree speak at blogher07 and was charmed. CHARMED, I tell you! Her photographs are beautiful and she’s a funny, refreshing writer. Go there – come back — but go there, and I think you’ll find you love her as much as I do.

At Blogher, (and I promise I’ll stop writing about it soon) one of the speakers talked about “outing the lurkers” on your site. It’s not as aggressive as it sounds because what the speaker was really talking about is inviting your readers to speak up.

Now, this is a blog that began for the St. Louis audience, as an extension of the writing I was doing about shopping and the like for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It began and still is, primarily a personal blog where I attempt to share what I’ve learned as a working mom and as a PR professional, to those who happen to stop by for a read.

And sometimes it’s just to share something hilarious that happened with the kids.

So, to the readers, commenters and lurkers alike, what would you like to see in this space?

At Blogher, I met up with three other tall chicks . . . and one short one to pose for this funny photo.

From left, Ruth Dynamite, me, Kristin Darzugas and my new friend Stacy Libby.

I liked Stacy the minute she said, “I’m not a salad mom. Are you a salad mom? Will you eat cheeseburgers and french fries with me?” Yes, that’s how I like to make friends, too.

Down in front is Elisa Taub, also our photo director. Thanks to Elisa for the hilarious photo!

Tags: Blogher07

As a PR professional, a blogger, a former journalist, a person who was a problogger (a person paid to blog) for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and an avid blog reader, I am particularly qualified to address the topic of blogger relations.

At Blogher, the topic of “pitching bloggers” came up with some frequency. PR people are trying to get their arms around how to do it successfully and bloggers are trying to illustrate to PR people how NOT to do it.

As a blogger I’ve been pitched badly; on topics I don’t cover (religion, politics) from people who clearly don’t read what I write.

As a problogger covering shopping and fashion, I received lots of product pitches, some good, some bad. More on this later.

As a PR person, I’ve pitched traditional media. I have monitored blogs for opportunity to interact. I have trouble saying I’ve “pitched” bloggers because it’s different than traditional pitching; it’s a conversation with a friend.

The key to blogger relations is the relationship. I wouldn’t dream of doing a straight pitch to a blogger, just as I wouldn’t dream of pitching a journalist whose work I had not read thoroughly.

I believe developing a relationship with a blogger consists of reading the blog regularly, commenting often, e-mailing questions and ideas that are genuine and sincere. Interacting with transparency is important. I’ve made it no secret that I work in public relations and I interact with hundreds of bloggers professionally and personally. If there’s crossover, in which I get an idea of a topic a particular blogger I read might enjoy covering, if there’s a natural fit, I will make that suggestion. From where I sit, it’s sharing an idea with a friend, something I do often, online and off.

When I was “pitched” successfully as a problogger, the ideas sometimes came from a PR gal who was an avid reader of my blog. She commented over time, interacting with me enough so I knew her name and a bit of her personality, also recognizing when it was she that popped up in my inbox. She asked if she could send me some makeup to try, since I hadn’t written about the latest in lip gloss and bronzers in my shopping and fashion blog. She made it clear that her expectation was if I wanted to share what I thought of the products on my blog, that would be great. If I didn’t, well, enjoy the new stuff.

I appreciated her approach and the care she took in developing the relationship. On the flip side, I learned to delete without reading the random pitches made from other PR people that were clearly form letter pitches from non-readers. I still get pitches to review diet products or interview political refugees. I consider this spam. So would you.

Wearing all these hats over time has made me sensitive to all sides of blogger and media relations. Recent posts on takeaways from Blogher inspired comments asking follow up questions regarding this topic, leading me to compose this post, sharing my thoughts on blogger relations. Was that pitching? In a way, yes. I’ve now developed a relationship with another blogger and, incidentally, a PR person who inspired these thoughts. Who knows what synergies will come from this relationship?

I’m interested in others’ thoughts on this topic.

To PR people: Have you pitched bloggers? How did it work out? Did you do anything differently than you do when pitching traditional media?

To bloggers: How do you feel about being pitched? Do you want to be pitched and if so, how? 

Tags: Blogger relations, public relations, blogher07

There were three moments during my Blogher weekend that made my heart hurt.

One, Birdie told a crowded room how, when she was a girl she had to write a story about a cockroach as a punishment at school. The pleasure she got out of writing that story was immense and delighted with her work, she went home and told her father she wanted to be a writer. Her father folded down the newspaper he was reading, looked at Birdie and said, “Don’t be a writer. You’ll never make it.” And Birdie didn’t write again until 25 years later.

I think every writer has experienced rejection; it’s that which comes from closest to our hearts that stops our pens or our fingers. I’m glad Birdie found her way back to words.

Two, Elizabeth Edwards told the room of 800 bloggers about a woman who she met on the campaign trail. The woman whispered to her about the lump she’d found in her breast. She had no insurance; no money. This woman, said Edwards, would die.

Three, later that night I called a friend of mine. I’ve written of M., my friend who is living with metastatic cancer. Her cancer began as breast cancer and now, five years of treatment later, her employer is strongly encouraging her to quit. Her job performance is stellar; she works more than the required hours. She needs the insurance. I mean, NEEDS it. Without treatment, like anyone with progressing cancer, she will die. I find it incredible her employer is comfortable having that reality ahead of them. If they force her out it will be akin to killing her. Hearing how hurt she is by the treatment she’s getting from her trusted employer, my heart hurt even more.

I think the state of healthcare for people in the U.S. – not just poor people but hardworking middle class people, too — is a national tragedy. I don’t get political in this space, but the healthcare issue sometimes hits way too close to home.

Did we meet at Blogher?

I set up a We Met at Blogher wiki to arrange and save all the great contacts I met at Blogher07. This is an open and collaborative project in which all Blogher attendees can participate, adding and editing contacts, links and notes. Enjoy!

Tags: Blogher07  

Here’s my celebrity moment caught by photographer, social media expert and friend Josh Hallett. Photo courtesy of Josh and Flickr.

Elizabeth Edwards was warm and extremely accessible to the Blogher crowd, even joining us at the cocktail party after her keynote, an unexpected bonus.

All of Josh’s outstanding photos of Blogher are here.

Tags: Blogher07

Elizabeth Edwards was introduced as an attorney, mother, wife and blogger and is Blogher07’s keynote speaker, interviewed by Blogher founder Lisa Stone.

She describes the blogosphere as the new town square. She said she has been blogging before blogging existed, interacting within newsgroups and listservs, as she looked for an online community while she experienced trying to get pregnant and after the loss of her son.

She said, “Part of the magic is the medium makes us not separate from one another.”

Stone asked about the experience dealing with Ann Coulter. “I think of trolls as cowards,” Edwards said, “Sometimes you have to confront them.”

“Having a blog is like having a child that needs to be fed three times a day,” she said. “I admire you all.”

“We need people to take an aggressive stand on healthcare and women’s issues.” Edwards said most of the questions she gets are about healthcare.

Questions came from the audience. Follows are some of Edwards’ responses:

On childcare:
“I was a working mother myself dealing with childcare issues. The big problem is we don’t have enough slots in childcare.”

“Education should be a birth to death experience.”

“Sometimes we need to educate both parents and children.”

About activism: 

“Young people feel powerless because they don’t believe thier voice will be heard.”

“If the mothers were in charge there would be no wars.”

On blogs:

“The genius behind blogs is that it invites people to tell their personal stories.”

When asked how many people have to approve her blog posts before they are published, Edwards said, “Zero.”

Tags: Blogher07