November 25th, 2009

Blog Ambition

I was feeling kind of lacking in focus today during BabyBoy’s naptime, and although I probably should have been getting some work done, I started catching up on reading from my GReader instead. And my attention was totally caught by The Mom Slant’s semi-recent post The Secret of My Success. Julie talks about the misleading media information on blogging and other internet “careers”.

I think the topic particularly caught my interest today because I’ve been carefully watching my paypal account for when I have enough to commit to my BlogHer ‘10 tickets. Which of course reminds me of how one of the disappointments of my first BlogHer experience this past summer was all the talk about making money from blogging. I do NOT blog for money, I have no interest in blogging for money. My writing creativity is hard enough to find most days, let alone to feel like I have to blog in order to bring in money. I blog for ME. I blog as a way to share, to connect with like-minded people, to have some vague form of adult interaction on the days when I feel overwhelmed by the little boys in my world. I’m only trying BlogHer again because there was a lot of talk about more sessions on the craft of writing, something I could use (ok and the fact that it’s in New York was a big attraction, lol!!)

The written word has always fascinated me – I’ve been a huge reader since I was very young. I liked writing for myself when I was a pre-teen (short stories) and I’ve kept a diary almost as long as I can remember. Pretty sporadic entries, but a great outlet. So when I discovered blogging it seemed inevitable to me that I would want to have one of my very own. A place where I could attempt to develop my writing skills and let my passion for words flow. I haven’t accomplished that as much as I would have hoped, but I do get a great deal of pleasure from blogging and being part of the blogging community. So nope, no blog ambition here at all, at least not in the financial sense. Just an ambition to evolve as a person and a writer, and to share the journey with whoever chooses to share it with me.

Laurie

July 22nd, 2009

Who is Mobile Mommy Anyway?

I see lots of other amazing bloggers who are going to BlogHer are posting a “get to know me” kind of post, and that makes good sense to me since hopefully people will be checking out my blog when they get my pretty card at the conference! So here are some fast facts about Mobile Mommy, aka Laurie Mapp!

I’m from Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada. I probably say “eh” a lot, but honestly don’t notice it! I would love to live somewhere warmer, but only in theory. In reality I love where I live and can’t really imagine living anywhere else (at least not permanently!!)

I have been married almost 10 years and have been with my amazing husband for 14 years total. I love him like crazy but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t drive me a little crazy sometimes. And I miss him a ton right now while he’s working up north, I cried yesterday when I hung up the phone from talking to him, not something I usually do, but the stress of travel and leaving my babies with other caretakers plus him being away was a little overwhelming!

I use too many exclamation marks. I can’t help myself!

Hmmm, you’d think I’d have mentioned them first, and they ARE the most important people in my world. I have three darling sons. My oldest is 7.5, heading to grade two next year, my middle is almost 5 and going to kindergarten in the fall (sob!) and my baby is 20 months old right now. He is the most challenging child of my three and he seriously keeps me on my toes. And then he gives me a million kisses and snuggles close and I forget what trial he was just putting me through! They are all gorgeous (of course!) and BlogHer is going to be the longest I’ve ever been away from them.  They will have fun without me though I’m sure. Grandma and Grandpa will probably spoil the older two rotten and Auntie is a total sucker for baby’s smile and curly hair, lol.

My other “baby” is my virtual legal assistant business. I officially opened up my virtual doors last September, but I spent most of 2008 prepping and setting things up. I’m gaining more and more clients as time goes on and I really enjoy being my own boss. Most days. Some days are hard and I donn’t get enough sleep and I hate being inside on my laptop instead of outside with a good book!

Speaking of books, I LOVE books. Almost all books – fiction and non-fiction, drama, science fiction, historical or romance. I’m currently reading about three different books, so I can choose whatever suits my mood of the moment. Someone told me when I had kids I wouldn’t have much time to read. They clearly were not as bookish as me, I nursed every one of my boys with a book in one hand!

Not like you couldn’t tell, but also, I’m not exactly a big name in blogging. But you know what – totally doesn’t matter to me! I blog mostly for me (well except over at Halo Secretarial where I blog for my business!) I first got involved in blogging because I loved READING blogs – I was hooked on them the way I used to be hooked on soap operas (until we turned off the cable!) and eventually I just had to join in the fun. Going to BlogHer is an experiment for me, to see what it’s like to meet other bloggers in real life, I only know a few in my community who do it, and most are a whole different type of blogger (not that that is a bad thing!) My friends just look at me in confusion when I talk about blogging or social media like Twitter. They all thought it was cool when I was on TV thanks to my Twitter life, and they thing my business is cool, but they Just. Don’t. Get. It. I want to meet people who do get it!

And I hope once we meet – we stay in touch!

December 26th, 2008

Time to Rev Back Up

Well the holidays are flying by and now that Christmas is over I find myself completely invigorated and refreshed and ready to plan for 2009. I’ll have a detailed post soon sharing some of my goals and thoughts about being a work at home mom over the coming year, but right now I just had to say how great it was to take a little break!

I have been working a little over the past few days and I signed a really exciting new client which should push my monthly income into a much more comfortable place! This is a big milestone, since I’ll now be making very similar to what I did as a full-time, in house legal assistant, well at least what I took home after paying daycare, parking, union dues and such. Not even considering the cost of professional work clothes, birthday lunches, co-worker gifts etc! So I’m feeling very proud of my fledgling VA business and really, really excited about the coming year and all the possibilities that are unfolding.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are making your plans for the new year!