After being away from my daughters at a blogging conference for a whole day and missing their bedtimes, my little girls gave me more than the usual hugs and kisses the next morning. And that, my friends, was the best part of Bloggy Boot Camp Chicago.
What I mean by that statement, of course, is that time away from my family is a good thing. Being away from my daughters and husband for the day recharged my batteries as a mother and wife. Being in a room full of women who had the same passion as I do about blogging was invigorating.
It was also terrifying.
Let me explain. The hostesses, Tiffany and Francesca, were awesome. They were so friendly and personable. After being a part of SITS, a blogging support community, for so long, it was great to meet them in person.
The speakers were all experts in their field. As they spoke, I felt as though we were all instant friends. Questions were fielded in such a thoughtful way and no question was ignored or tossed aside.
The terrifying part came in between the sessions, when we were to “talk among ourselves.”
And I don’t even mean the time I found myself sitting at the same table as The Empress and became completely and utterly tongue-tied. I don’t know if the other women sitting at the table felt the same as I did, but we were the quietest table in a room full of women chatting away!
Awkward.
No, that’s not the moment.
It was the moment when someone first asked me what my blog was about.
I want my blog to stick out; to be a blog that is memorable. Promoting my blog was one of the reasons I was there, after all. But I hadn’t really thought about what I would tell people about my blog.
I took a deep breath and I blurted it out: I write about being a mother after having breast cancer.
Here on Lemon Drop Pie, I write about breast cancer frequently and without hesitation. Having a space to write about being a breast cancer survivor was one of the reasons I started this blog.
Talking about breast cancer in real life, however, is much different for me. It’s not a topic I bring up often. In fact, I hardly ever talk about having breast cancer. When I do talk about it, my heart starts to beat faster and I need to stop my voice from trembling. Even after 15 years, it’s still difficult to talk about.
If I want to be a advocate for young breast cancer survivors, I need to get used to talking about breast cancer as well as writing about my experiences.
Each time I told another person about my blog, the subject matter became just a little bit easier to talk about.
It was an unexpected accomplishment; a goal I didn’t set out to accomplish and yet did.
Amazing!
I learned so much about blogging, social media and design at Bloggy Boot Camp Chicago! Hopefully you will see some changes on Lemon Drop Pie showing off some of what I learned. If there is a Boot Camp coming to your area and blogging is your passion, I highly recommend attending!
It was so nice to finally meet you, Ginny and I'm glad you had a great experience at BBC Chicago!
I wish we all had more time to talk. It's the former teacher in me that makes me comfortable being in a room of strangers, but I could tell some many of the women are more the writer types who tend to be introverts. I'm glad you talk about breast cancer, just as I have chosen to be open about my own health issues and my son's autism. We need to "keep it real" on blogs.:)
It was great to meet you on Saturday, I'm glad we had the hour or so to talk when we broke off into our 2 groups. And no silly – you weren't the only one who was a nervous wreck that day. I actually stayed up until midnight the night before drafting a blog about all the emotions I was going through. So you were not alone my friend!
Good for you for attending! Some day I would like to attend a blogging conference. It is funny how talking in person is so different from "talking" from our keyboards isn't it? It's great you got to actually meet and chat in person with some fellow bloggers. I'm a bit envious! Thanks for sharing about it. And the good night kisses from your girls sound pretty special too! All in all, a great day!
I was thinking about you as I visited your neighbor's house on Saturday. I was dying to hear how it went. :)Glad to hear it went so well!
Oh how cool, good for you! I'm glad you had a good time. 🙂
That is wonderful, I'm glad you accomplished something you didn't even have set as a goal. God is good.
Good for you! Sounds like it was a fabulous experience. That is one thing I do feel sad about not being in the States for: I'm missing out on lots of great writing & blogging conferences. {SIGH} Maybe next year…Looking forward to seeing what changes you have percolating over there!
I don't think I met you at BBC, but I wish I had! I'm glad you learned more about what you want to do with your blog and that BBC helped you talk about it.
I am so very glad that you found value in it and that it sort of reaffirmed what you're doing and where your passion lies. I'm totally bummed I am not still in Michigan though, because I would sure love to meet you!
I'm so glad you found the courage to go and to talk about your blog! I clam up at conferences and then afterwards regret I didn't connect more with people. It's so hard for me to break out of my shell though. I'm so glad you shared your blog with everyone, because it is a beautiful blog and so helpful for so many people!
I was once asked what my favourite destination was out of all the ones I've been to and after listing a lot of places and the reasons why, my final answer was: home! You can only enjoy being away, if you have a home to come back to!Blogging Boot Camp sounds like a great thing. And if I ever get the chance I will try to go, because it sounds fantastic! Perhaps I would even be meeting you…
I think that's the best blogging conference take away I've ever read – I'm so glad you went!
Great post! You didn't seem nervous at all when we spoke 🙂 I am so glad you were able to open up about it!
Oh, lady, I remember how frozen I felt in the moment the first time someone asked me what my blog was about. I was so baffled. I didn't even know what it was about. I'm really glad you had that experience so that you could begin saying it outloud. Your space here is powerful, and your message about being a bc survivor is encouraging and one that is so needed. Applauding you and the bravery it takes to bring up those memories and talk about it all.
I'm attending the Atlanta BBC – eek! Excited and nervous.