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‘The Mummy Bloggers’ is a page turning chick lit kind of read centred on the lives of three mothers who blog.  I’m sure you’ve read the blogs of the kinds of women who’ve inspired the three central characters. Elle presents a highly curated take on motherhood.  She has a dream kitchen and everything about her looks just as perfect.  Abi is the non-conformist who celebrates all women as Queens.  Leisel is a working mum who blogs about the sometimes grim reality of being the breadwinning mother of three young children.  She works in the glamour industry of magazines which sees her work life contrast almost painfully with the time stretched tedium that greets her each day when she returns home to her stay at home dad husband and her brood of three little ones.  The women become finalists in a blogging award competition which paves the way for a plot of lies, deception and back stabbing.

I’m really enjoying ‘The Mummy Bloggers’ so far.  As a blog reader and casual follower of some pretty infamous mummy blogger confrontations, Wainwright’s novel is both a topical and ‘behind the scenes’ examination of these dramas as well as how mummy blogs are run.  Because mummy blogging isn’t just about taking photos, captioning them and writing.  They’re big business headed by women who are using their blogs (and families) to go places.  Nothing is spontaneous, unintentional or thought about ten steps ahead in terms of clicks, affiliate links and potential sponsorship.

On a more personal level, reading ‘The Mummy Bloggers’ got me thinking about where I fit in on the mummy blogger continuum.  I’m one of those people who blogs but who also happens to be a mum.  I’m not aware that I push any particular parenting agenda beyond doing whatever works (a very loose term in itself) and mostly keeps the peace.

I write about what’s been happening in my life.  Sometimes it lends itself to pretty pictures and sometimes it doesn’t.

But it mostly does taste good despite appearances.

My life has its ups and downs.  It’s been pretty, it’s been ugly.  There’s been travel and then there’s been long periods of the same old same old.  Writing about it brings me joy and a sense of purpose.  I enjoy the creative process of putting my life into words and pictures.

The issues of influencing and manipulation of the truth are ones I’ve never really thought about as I’ve written and photographed.  This blog is primarily a creative outlet for me.  There are aspects of my life that I don’t write about for reasons of privacy and out of respect for others in my life.  There are things that just don’t translate into the kind of posts I tend to write.  So yes, my blog is a manipulation of the wider truth but hopefully what I do write about is not perceived as manipulation itself.

Are you a blogger yourself?  Do you follow blogging dramas?  Have you read ‘The Mummy Bloggers’?