Forgive me while I write an entirely self-serving post to my friend who doesn’t blog.

Given that I’ve had bits and pieces of this conversation with several friends over the past few weeks, I’m hoping my friend won’t recognize herself.

(and if she does, i’m hoping my friend won’t get her feelings hurt. girl – you know that’s not how i roll.)

See, my non-blogging friend thinks my blog is a waste of my time and talents.  She doesn’t even see it as a cute little hobby or an ego-centric online diary.

No.  She sees it as a giant time-suck… a distraction from important things… a total waste of my time.

This goes beyond her criticism that my blog does not make any money (it doesn’t – the rare gift card isn’t enough to cover my expenses).  It’s her assertion that my time could be better spent on activity that actually does make money.

My friend who doesn’t blog has me quite upset.

At one level, I understand what she’s saying.   Blogging is (quite frankly) a giant time-suck.  Writing, creating artwork, marketing my blog, spending time on social media… it can consume as many hours each day as I let it.  Even after all of that is done, there’s still back-end maintenance, the total redesign of how the blog looks, networking with potential sponsors… the list is endless.

So yeah, I get it.  On the surface, it looks like I’m wasting a LOT of time on something that offers very little return on investment.

I understand her point about there being only so many hours each day.  Trying to run more than one home based business (blogging and direct sales) demands more hours than exist in a week.  I get that.

Trust me.  I get that.  The juggling act lately has been insane.  Crazy.

I get it.

But….

There’s no way I’m giving up blogging.  Not now.  Not when it meets so many of my needs and makes my heart sing.  Not when it seems that every part of my life weaves together and makes sense because it all ties back to one little spot on the web.

The direct marketing thing?  I can give it up.  I have fun with it. I love being a bit more sociable.  I love how it lets me encourage other women and invest in their lives.   I love how it gives me more interesting things to blog about.  I love how it stretches and challenges me to turn weaknesses into strengths.

And…

Here’s the deal.  I know the juggling act is a bit much.  I understand that there is a limit to how effective I can be at anything because I just don’t have time for everything.

So I quit.

Yeah.   Just like that.

I quit.

You know what I’m going to quit?  I’m going to quit trying to survive without maid service.  I’m going to quit watching that vapid show on television.  I’m giving up pretending that I can do it all.

So there.

Problem solved.

One last thing?

Just for my friend who doesn’t blog.

How in the name of all that is rational and logical can you spend twenty minutes berating me for my giant time-suck of a blog and then turn around not an hour later and ask for my help starting your very own blog… because you’ll use it to make money?

How?

Seriously.

Did you not even appreciate the irony of my response when I referred to helping non-writers start a blog as a giant time-suck that didn’t seem like it would make me any money.

I really was taken aback when my response hurt your feelings.

After all, I was just quoting you.