A Wrap Up and a Plea

So unless you spent last week living under a rock, I was the Boston.com Moms Featured Parent Blogger. It was an interesting experiment for me. I hoped to gain some new readers here, and I did have my highest-ever traffic to the blog on the day my picture and links were up on the Boston.com homepage. It was challenging to answer all of the questions that the Boston Globe host asked me, as well as those of you who took the time to also post your questions (thank you friends!). I think I did a pretty good job reflecting my vision for this space and the types of things I like to write about, and on the whole it was a great experience.

The cons? Wow, I did not like seeing my face everywhere. It made me very self conscious, especially because the day I appeared on Boston.com I was home sick with an awful stomach bug. I also didn't like the pressure to have to write every day. There's a reason I'm not a daily blogger (well, multiple reasons, named Hannah, Max and MY JOB). I was able to write most of it in advance in the evenings before the posts came up, so I made it work, but I've never wanted additional deadlines on my writing, and it did cause some anxiety for me. But I'm glad I rose to the challenge, and the links to each of the daily forums are below.

Monday: Introduction
Tuesday: 20 Facts
Wednesday: My favorite post
Thursday: Questions from the community
Friday: Other favorite bloggers

And since I've been asked this a lot: not a single person from work said anything about seeing me on Boston.com. I have a hard time believing that no one noticed it, but no one has admitted it to me. That's fine by me - it's not like blogging is everyone's cup of tea - but there hasn't been a conflict between my blog and work so far because no one seems to care. And while I do occasionally attend to something blog-related at work, I also occasionally (okay, fairly often) attend to something work-related at home, so it all works out.

Now to the plea part of this post. For the past 18 weeks, I've tried to present a wide variety of viewpoints in The Having It All Project. Participants have been asked to write their post by me, or found their way to me by friends, but all are volunteers. Eighteen participants is by no means statistically significant (oops, my MBA is showing!), and cannot possibly represent the wide range of humans who are trying to "have it all." And A LOT of people hate those words, and would never consider writing about the topic. Indeed, many people have rejected my request to write too. Despite the fact that I make no claims of being perfect, I've twice received the criticism that a certain (differing) viewpoint hasn't been covered.

So here's the deal: if you think something is missing here, WRITE IT. Not today, not even tomorrow, but if you want a voice to be represented, I need you to help me do it. It can be anonymous - no pictures, no links, no identifying details at all. But I don't want your complaints about it. Please trust that I am promoting the heck out of this thing (again, within the confinements of Hannah, Max and MY JOB, plus the fact that I earn no money here), but if you see a niche not filled, help me fill it instead of complaining about it. I'm glad you're all invested in this blog, it really does mean the world to me, but my traffic here is so ridiculously low that I'm not willing to take the criticism from those who won't support me too. So thank you in advance for your help.

And for those of you who like what I'm doing, I really do appreciate it. Keep sharing what you like and what resonates with you. I really believe that some day, this could become something, even if I still don't know what that something is yet, and I am glad you're on this journey with me.