It's been a bloggy kind of day

I hobnobbed with some very cool bloggers today at the Minnesota Bloggers Conference.  It was informative, entertaining, enlightening, and FREE!  Minnesota has a wonderful and large blogging community.  And I, of course, jumped at the opportunity to spread awareness and wore my "Got Fragile X?" t-shirt (Mark's idea).

I want to thank all those that put it on (by their Twitter handles):

@bridgetmonroe
@suzimn
@jlbraaten
@whereitblooms
@marketingmama

And the sponsors of the event:

TopRank Online Marketing
KARE 11
Allina Hospitals and Clinics

I saw some of my lovely bloggy friends, and met some new ones.  I learned about how to make sure my giveaways and reviews align with current FTC rules (if I ever have any giveaways or sponsors, I'll be ready).  I found out there are lots of places I could go to, if I ever decide to publish my blog as a book.

It was interesting to me, though, how many people take their blogging very, very seriously.  It's not like Blogger sends me a biweekly paycheck.  I don't make a dime (nope -- that BlogHer ad you see over there hasn't paid me anything, yet.).  And those bloggers who do make money - they invest a huge portion of their time and energy on their blogs - usually only to make enough for "beer money."

Not that there is anything wrong with that.  More power to them, I say.  They are having fun and have a fulfilling hobby and pasttime, that actually pays them a little.

This is also not to say that if something doesn't pay well, it's not important.

Wow, look at me, backpeddling.

I guess I just don't blog for the same reasons most people do.  It's not that I'll NEVER have a sponsor or do a giveaway (actually I've been pondering a giveaway....).  I'm just trying to make myself remember why I started doing this in the first place.

It's easy to get caught up in the blogging game.  It's easy to get all competitive, scrambling and scratching for all the followers and page views you can possibly get.  It's fun to feel popular.

But the point here, at least for The Fragile X Files, is Fragile X.  Education, support, awareness, and friendship.

I hope my bloggy friends take the time to sit back and remember why they write.