lawmummy

(Photo source)

Okay, if you’re a Monsters, Inc. fan, you’ll totally get the title… And you know I’m a fan.

I mentioned that there is a lot going on lately, so I thought I’d dish on some of it.

For one, I am no longer a crazed blogger. Well, I guess I am crazed and still a blogger, but what I mean by that is that I am no longer writing a million blogs.

And here’s what happened.

I have been running a series on taxgirl.com called “Getting to Know You Tuesday” where I spotlight various tax professionals from around the globe. It’s been a popular segment and fun to do (hey, if you know anyone who should be featured, shoot me a note). I interviewed Kay Bell, who happens to be a favorite of William Perez who I also interviewed. When I featured Kay, William blogged about it and wrote the following:

You’ll enjoy reading the read of the taxgirl blog. Taxgirl is written by tax attorney-turned-obsessive-blogger Kelly Phillips Erb. When she’s not being an attorney or writing about taxes, the taxgirl writes about family life for not just one, but four different blogs. Where does she find all that energy?

Nice, right? I thought it was a really thoughtful mention - and it was about.com, which was good from a publicity standpoint.

And then I thought… but I write five blogs. Actually seven, if you count those that I contribute to as well. And I sound scattered.

At some point, I didn’t want to be that girl who wrote a ton of blogs. I wanted to be the girl who wrote a couple of great blogs. And as Katie would say, “A couple means two, right?”

So, that week, I gave 451 Press my notice that I would no longer be writing Kids Dish. Fortunately, my good friend and fellow blogger, Jackie, was up for the challenge so she took it over and has done a far better job than I would have done.

Then I stopped writing anything for the two other blogs that I contribute to… One was dying anyway because of lack of other participation. It was time.

I started streamlining lawmummy - that was part of the infamous switchover from TypePad - and focusing on taxgirl.com (my favorite to write).  I was trying to figure out what to do with the remaining blogs.

And then I got a little help.  Out of the blue, I received a phone call from Disney.  Long story, short, they told me that I would no longer be blogging for family.com.  I had never heard a peep out of them before regarding the blog other than a reminder about photo sizes, etc., so I had no clue about traffic or whether they liked my content.  I just received my check.

I’ve thought long and hard about what I was going to say about this…  I told Lauren at Disney that she had given me a lot of “blog fodder” based on our conversation.  But, in the end, I don’t think it gets me anywhere to be mean-spirited.  So, I will merely say this:  I did not enjoy writing the blog for Disney.  It was the most difficult blog to write because of the restrictions, blogging platform and lack of feedback.  I do appreciate their vote of confidence in me initially and I am grateful for the opportunity.  But it was not a good fit.  That is, after all, why they let me go.  I was hired to write about family and finance - with an emphasis on tax since they found me through taxgirl - but they felt that wasn’t a popular topic.  I was told that moms who visited family.com weren’t interested in my content.  They wanted, and I quote “crafts and recipes.”  Fair enough.  I was given the option of writing through the end of my term based on notice or not - I chose not.

So then there were three.  The original blog - lawmummy - and two network blogs.  I am extremely proud of how well taxgirl.com is doing and I’m having fun with my kids’ book blog, Tiny Treasury.

You know that I believe that things happen for a reason.  And finding some focus makes sense.  Hopefully, you’ll notice a change…  I already have.

June 22nd, 2007 | Category: Blog issues, Writing | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL