The Circle of Life of a Mommy Blog

I’m writing this post right before going up to bed so I’m just going to give you the facts here, and wax poetic about them another time.

I started blogging in 2004, inspired by Dooce.com.  I remember thinking “I want to try this.  How do I start a blog?” and Googling “Blog.”  It brought me straight to Blogger.com – before Google BOUGHT Blogger, even – and the rest is history.  Dooce went on to become the World’s Most Popular and Moneymaking Mommyblog, and House of Prince went on to be read by tens of people!  (Awesome, wonderful tens.)

I’ve never met Heather Armstrong, the blogger of Dooce, in person, but last week I interviewed her by phone about her trip to Bangladesh with Christy Turlington.  We spoke for a long time and she was pretty cool.

I set out to conduct the kind of interview I would want to read.  And so I added some tiny personal comments at the beginning and end.  In the middle, I got all journalisty.  But girl, don’t accuse me of being a journalist.  I’m just a blogger.

Armstrong has been a notable voice on the internet for so long that talking to her on the phone for the first time was like chatting with Rachel from “Friends” – like a person I knew in my head who suddenly became very real. She was warm, articulate, and funny, yet she was straight with me about her experience in Bangladesh – about why she went, how she felt, and how much she is able to sweat. And when a particular memory rendered Armstrong speechless, I could feel her emotion right through the phone.

From “Using Her Powers For Good:  Heather Armstrong of Dooce Talks About Bangladesh”