The Write Spot, LLC

I make the Denver Post and move TO ANOTHER TOWN

This week several mommy bloggers (well me and Michelle Lamar of White Trash Mom) were called by the mainstream media to give their two cents on Sarah Palin:

Women debate Palin's choice
Denver Post, CO - Sep 4, 2008

Anne-Marie Nichols, a Democratic in Fort Collins who writes a blog called A Mama's Rant, supports the Republican's decision. "She's the luckiest woman in the world if she gets that job," Nichols said. "She'll have babysitters, chefs, maids, chauffeurs, health care."

I got mentioned before Dr. Laura. Sweet! But I don’t live in Ft. Collins. No matter, it gives me a little anonymity in my local community, which is fine by me.

I was able to get the writer, Colleen O'Connor, in touch with my managers at CafeMom, the largest social networking site for mothers. If you ever want to see what moms are thinking, check it out.

Forty-three percent said it's sexist to even ask whether Palin can handle the job. Forty-six percent said it's fair to ask, but she's the only one who can make the decision.

The controversy around Palin is the latest salvo in the mommy wars. It’s a shame because we should be talking about health care, the Iraq war, and the economy instead.

Newspapers Blog (and a Mention in the Denver Post)

Kristen Browning-Blas, the Food Editor at the Denver Post mentioned two of my blogs today in her article Join me as I jump into the blog about her new blog, On Tucker's Plate (with Tucker Shaw).

Here's what she writes:

Delving into the food-blogging community in Colorado and nationally has turned up some addictive sites:

Mamarant.blogs.com/mamacooks: Anne-Marie Nichols is a transplanted New Yorker and copywriter who started blogging in 2004. I love the tagline for her main site (mamarant.blogs.com), "Writing about motherhood, complaining about everything else." The cooking portion of her site has become a diary of sorts as she tries to lose weight on the "Extreme Fat Smash Diet," an actual book by Ian K. Smith.

I'm thrilled even if she didn't get the names of the blogs right. But the URLs are out there, so all is fine.

This Mama Gets Written Up

Charlie Kondek at Hass MS&L public relations wrote up a pst about my blogging work and being on both sides of the marketing fence over at BlogWorks. Charlie was one of the first publicists to email me about products to review and contests and companies he was promoting. We've worked on everything from Heineken and BestBuy.com to the Swifter and Reynold's Baking Cups.

I've always said that the toughest part about blogging is not the writing, but deciding what to write about. It's coming up with content that takes up most of my time. So when Charlie sends me a product to try out or a press release to blog on, I'm usually happy to oblige. I don't have a problem promoting his clients since there's never any pressure to write about things I don't want to, or to be positive about something I don't like.

I just wish he'd send me more chocolate and booze.

A Mama's Rant Says Hello Oregon

My personal blog, A Mama's Rant, has been picked up by Oregon's KPTV Fox12's website in the Surfing with Steph section.

So I've now got both coasts and Texas. What next, the world?

A Mama's Rant syndicated by the Austin-American Statesman

A Mama's Rant has been syndicated by the Austin-American Statesman. I've been listed under the BlogHer: A Collection of Blogs By Women, For Women thanks to signing up with BlogBurst.

BlogBurst is a syndication service that places your blog content on top-tier online destinations. Bloggers get visibility, audience reach and increased traffic, while publishers get a wide range of new coverage to broaden their reach and increase page views.

Brain, Child magazine - Fall 2005

The blog I do for MOTHERS, the MOTHERS Book Bag, was mentioned in "Why the Mothers' Revolution Hasn't Happened...Yet" by Stephanie Wilkinson in the Fall 2005 issue of Brain, Child magazine.

It's a terrific article featuring interviews with Ann Crittenden and Linda Juergens, both of whom I work with at MOTHERS. There's also a quote from Miriam Peskowitz, who was one of the featured authors at MOTHERS Book Bag.

Mothers of the world, unite!

I want to welcome everyone who found "A Mama's Rant" via today's Denver Post article, "Mothers of the world, unite!" or the companion article, "Blogs connect the moms."

For those of you who didn't see Colleen O'Connor's article, here's my part in it:

"The Feminine Mystique" jump-started the women's movement more than 40 years ago with its exposé on the discontent among American women over the tyranny of domesticity.

These days, many Gen-X and Gen-Y mothers are experiencing that same discontent.

"You become so absorbed in 'attachment parenting,' you put so much effort into it that you're lucky to get a shower," says Anne-Marie Nichols of Firestone, 40, who writes the newsletter for the national organization MOTHERS (Mothers Ought to Have Equal Rights.)

A former marketing copywriter, she's now full-time mom to two toddlers, and president of the board of directors of a charter school. She believes that her generation, unlike the one that came of age in the 1960s and '70s, has failed to create social change for women through political action.

"After a certain point you think, 'Who cares how people voted?' Your husband is yelling at you, there's no clean underwear, you didn't get to the store, and there are piles of laundry all over."

DotMoms makes the New York Times

DotMoms, along with many other parenting blogs, was featured in today's New York Times article, Mommy (and Me) by David Hochman. It's an interesting take on the parenting blog phenomena.