TypeAParent Conference was less than two months ago. No review post from me until now. No tidy, neat as a pin wrap up post in the days after the conference. I even missed adding my wrap up post to the wrap up linky post. Why??
The answer to the “Why” is the reason I don’t write regularly on this blog. Summer! Yes, summer is the reason.
I left for #typeacon the morning of my children’s last day of school. As I packed lunches, wrote the thank you notes to accompany the teachers’ gifts, and put the children on the school bus for the last time, I was itching to get on the road to Asheville.
You see TypeA was my first blogging conference. I’m in my 3rd year of attending. I feel a kinship to the bloggers at this conference. I wrote about my experience at TypeA in 2010 here. And here too! Here’s my wrapup post for TypeA 2009, as well.
TypeAMom…uh…TypeAParent has become kind of a tradition for me.
The first time I journeyed to TypeA was the fall of ’09. I truly did not know what I was doing. I had a blog and that was it. I was persuaded by a local blogging friend to go to a conference. The idea of traveling hundreds of miles seemed nonsensical. The fact that I managed to get two sponsors is nothing short of amazing. But, get sponsors I did. I bought a sort of smartphone-ish type of phone that would do twitter, Facebook, and let me check email.
I found a roomie — the same local blogging friend. My roomie and I found another driving buddy. And off we set to a sort of girls’ weekend-learning conference-adventure. I certainly had no idea what I was getting myself in to. No idea.
TypeA — 2009 — was truly an eye opener to me. I arrived knowing I had a blog and could write a review. When I left, I had the smallest inkling that I could one day make money off my blog and blogging. Two years later I am making the whole monetization happen…in my own way. It’s not easy that is for sure. It’s not a particularly lucrative business either, but it allows me to be a writer even if I am playing a writer on the internet as I like to say.
Attending a 3rd year in a row was like returning to a comfy spot on the couch. The friends I met and got to know at ’09 are my friends for life. We may not see each often, or even see each other again, but I know I can call on them for advice or friendship. Online friends rock.
In case you were wondering about my “playing a writer on the internet” gigs, here’s where you can find me:
- TypeAParent — You can find me writing about this and that. I even liveblogged a few sessions from TypeA 2011.
- I blog hyperlocally at the Ellicott City Patch.
- I write about raising tweens and teens in Baltimore on the Examiner.com.
- I do travel updates on Washington, D.C., sights on Oyster Locals Blog.
Now that I FINALLY have my TypeA wrapup post up I need to get cracking on my BlogHer 11 post now while I have everything fresh in my mind!
I was given a free ticket to TypeAParent Conference 2009 and 2011 as I am a TypeAParent writer.
