Wednesday night I decided I was going to meet myself some
CJane.
CJane, or Courtney Kendrick, is my blogging idol sort of speak. The first time I ever heard of her was on a train ride in France. Hubs and I were on a study abroad program in Europe and CJane's brother, Chris, was the program supervisor. Somehow we started talking about family and Chris mentioned that two of his sisters, CJane, and
NieNie, were professional bloggers.
I was interested. Mostly interested in the word "professional."
I had had a blog for years, posted on it every two months as it seemed fit, and enjoyed the attention I got from close friends after they read a post. I love to write and I love to make people laugh, but it had never once occurred to me that I could do this not only as a pastime, but as a career. Of sorts.
Thus began my daily blogging escapades. As soon as we were home in the states, I looked up both of Chris' sisters. While I enjoyed NieNie's blog, CJane's really hit home to me. She was charming and funny and real. Totally real. I felt like she was my old crazy college roommate who was writing out all of her adventures on the internet for the whole wide world to see. She was hilarious, yes, but she was also vulnerable and honest. I read her archives when I was supposed to be grading papers, followed her twitter rants while I was supposed to be making dinner, and read and commented on her daily current posts when it was long past my bedtime. I think most bloggers have someone who influenced them to really start writing. To get their story out there. CJane was mine.
When I heard that Wednesday CJane was going to be speaking on a panel at the Orem Library I was all for it. I sent out a twitter invite, got Elisabeth to agree to coming with me, and we were off!
That's CJane on the right. The picture is bad. My apologies. Also, the lady on the left was no bueno. She had no idea what she was talking about, rambled on quoting other authors and writers, and took all of CJane's time. Am I allowed to say that about bloggers who speak on a blogging panel? Because I just did.
Things that CJane said that really affected me:
How do you deal with negative feedback? "You open your arms and accept what they have to say. Some of it is true. Some of it can make you better. In a way, I guess I am grateful for the negative reviews because they challenge me and make me grow. When you reach a certain sized audience you will have critics no matter what. Accept that and move on." (This one was especially interesting to me because I've got some haters lurking around here.)
Do you publish a post even when you know it is not your best? "Yes. All the time. Bloggers can't be perfectionists. I have maybe five posts where I honestly genuinely think I got it 100% right. The others thousands of posts have flaws and mistakes and were published before I was entirely ready. But if you wait until a post is perfect, you're never going to be able to publish it. So you just go for it."
How do you have something to write about every single day? "I go out and live. I take my kids places, I interact with people, I try to have adventures. I consider that part of my job. I have to have something to bring to the blog, so I go out and find it."
Then I asked her the big question everybody else was afraid to ask her- money! I know CJane's blog supports her family and that she is able to make enough off of it to live comfortably. She has a million monthly page views. I asked her how she went about monetizing and how she found the time in the beginning to juggle full time job + blog + family + other interests so that her blog could get to the place where it is now.
Her answer: "Quit your job."
I was surprised by her answer, but also not surprised as I know from my archive reading that when CJane was looking seriously at becoming a blogger she quit her job as an elementary school teacher to focus completely on writing. At that point she wasn't making any money off of blogging but she did it anyway- took that total leap of faith and just went for it.
Obviously there has been a lot flying around in my head the past few days. I am not ready to quit teaching, that much I know for sure. But I also know I have to find a way to make more time for blogging. It makes me wonder about the rest of you out there- would you quit your job for your etsy business or your blog or whatever passion it might be? Is that totally reckless and stupid or do you see it as a necessary step if you want to achieve real success?
CJane shared this quote about writing that totally resonated with me. The reason we write, the reason we blog, the reason we lay it all out there: "
Give, give, give--what is the point of having experience, knowledge or talent if I don't give it away? Of having stories if I don't tell them to others? Of having wealth if I don't share it? I don't intend to be cremated with any of it! It is in giving that I connect with others, the world and with the divine."
After the panel I got to go up and talk to CJane. I was prepared for her to be kind of hoity toity and rude. I was ready for my blogging idol to totally let me down. I don't know why. I have heard stories of people meeting bloggers who were bratty in real life, and I guess I just prepared myself to be disappointed. No one can actually be as nice and cool as they seem through their blogs, can they?
But CJane totally was. She asked tons of questions about me, was genuinely interested in my blog, and let me snap all the pictures my little heart desired. She has a quality about her that I would give anything to have, and that is that she is one hundred percent comfortable with herself. You can tell by the way she speaks and the way she carries herself and the way she interacts with others. She loves herself and understands herself and is so comfortable with who she is. Because of that, she is able to show that same level of understanding and love to those around her. I was so surprised when I was talking to her how comfortable I felt. Normally I'm a hot bag of nerves in situations like these, but not that night. I started cracking jokes and being myself and somehow in a manner of seconds I felt like I was chatting it up with my best friend.
Isn't that such a great quality to have? To be totally comfortable and to make others feel comfortable as well? I'm a gonna start working on it!
Unfortunately I am not as busty as CJane. One day. One day.
(P.S. Who is your blogging idol? And have you met her yet?!?)
