I’m bursting with my good news: I’m officially a blogger for the Huffington Post!
Over the last few days, I’ve been gushing to friends about this. They always seem a bit baffled by my excitement. The conversation usually goes something like this:
Q: Weren’t you already a blogger for The Huffington Post?
A: Well, I did publish a few stories in the past, through the MomsRising/Peaceful Revolution column, but I didn’t have my own blogger account. I had to pitch my ideas to the MomsRising editor, and stick to topics that fit their advocacy framework. But now, I have my own account, which means I can post up to two stories a week! In any section! On any topic!
Q: Wow. So the editors discovered your blog and invited you to write for them?
A: Not exactly. I kind of stalked a couple of unsuspecting editors at the BlogHer conference, and badgered the poor women in the hallway until they agreed to let me write a trial story.
Q: Uh…that’s cool. It’s probably good exposure, right?
A: Damn straight! The site is ranked #22 in the most highly traffic web sites for a U.S. audience. More than 30 million people visit the site each month. Dude, that’s more online readers than the New York Times!
Q: That’s great! Are they paying you?
A: Er…no. Of course not. Everyone knows they don’t pay bloggers.
Q: Oh. Well, congrats anyway. So what are you going to write about?
A: I don’t really know.
Here’s the thing: I’m still trying to figure out what I’m allowed to write about. Of course, I plan to continue writing about the mismatch between the workplace and our personal lives, but there are a lot of ways to write about that. I’d also like to do some interviews and book reviews if I can. I think I can also get a HuffPo (ahem, that’s what we insiders call it…) media badge to cover events if I get an editor’s approval.
Any suggestions on specific topics I should write about? People I should try to interview? Books or events I should try to cover? I’m taking requests.
Do you have a story to share? They tend to run a lot of personal stories and opinion pieces. If you have a great story—about a great/terrible work situation, about why you work or why you don’t, about being a parent or choosing not to be one—tell me about it. Maybe I should interview you.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Congratulations Katrina! You’ve got great writing talent and deserve the exposure. I also saw you featured on the “Listen To Your Mother” site.
Have you read the book “The Price of Motherhood” by Ann Crittendon? I think that book needs to get some notice again. It is excellent! I can’t put it down. It would be wonderful if you could review it for Huffington Post and get a new set of mothers talking about it. Thanks for sharing your news!
Funny, I’m reading that right now. Well, I WAS reading it, until I got so depressed I had to put it down. Thanks for reminding me to pick it up again.
Oh, and the “Listen to Your Mother” photo…I look like aliens took over my body. It was fun doing the reading, though. 😉
Hi,
I have a good topic for you. Maternity Leave. We need more of it. When I had my daughter in 2008, I was paid for 6 weeks. Then I added my 3 weeks vacation on to the 6 so I was paid for nine. I did not get paid for the last three. 7 1/2 months later my daughter needed surgery, Craniosynostosis (see above blog) and I was told I couldn’t reapply for it within a 12 month time frame. Meanwhile, there is a man I work with who has an alcohol problem and he has taken FMLA more times than I can count in the last few years. As I understand it, every time he uses it he gets paid for all three months. It’s my choice to have a baby but it’s also his choice to drink. (yes I know it’s a disease but it’s one you can control if you choose to do so) O.k. I will get off my soap box now. Congrats on the position! Really cool!
Thanks, Cathy. That’s one I want to write more about.
I’m curious. How did you get through the surgery period? Did you have to take time off with no pay? I hope everyone is well. Your daughter looks adorable.
(Interesting/upsetting/infuriating factoid: The birth of a baby is one of the biggest contributors to “poverty spells” for families in the U.S. Precisely because we can’t get paid time off.)
Hi Katrina,
Thanks! We like her and think we will keep her. Lol! I had to use my vacation days and then pay a babysitter until she could go back to day care. She was in the hospital for 5 days and then needed to be out of day care for 10. The problem was the my day care at the time was closed for something like 26 days out of the year. (Ridiculous, I know. We no longer go there) I had three weeks vacation at the time but we still didn’t have enough days between the two of us to cover the surgery and the day care time off. In the end I took 1 1/2 weeks off for the surgery and decided that we would figure out the other days as they came.I had no idea how we would cover all of these days. Ultimately, my husband wound up being laid off about 1 1/2 weeks after her surgery so that took care of the question of who was going to watch her when the day care was closed. Yes, you may laugh at the ridiculousness that is my life.
I’ve heard that statistic before and it’s really very aggravating. Other countries have this figured out. Why can’t we? I realize we are much bigger in size and population but where there is a will there is a way. Sigh.
Thanks for sharing that. I can’t imagine how stressful that must have been. You know things are bad when getting laid off almost seems like good news…Ugh! It doesn’t have to be this way.
You’re welcome! I was also going to point out that we had to pay a babysitter and our day care. We had to hold the spot at our day care but I couldn’t be home. Very distressing!!
Yes! Maternity leave! Why it’s needed, why *everyone* benefits, and how we can achieve it. A little more than a year ago I went to a reading with The War on Moms author Sharon Lerner, and she believes that it’s going to have to happen state by state. Also, it seems that in the states that have it, businesses pay for the leave, not the government. Which means that freelancers like me would still be sans maternity leave.
Yes, I agree Rachael. It’s very inconsistent. The laws are different when you work for a company with more than 50 people.
Congrats- this is fabulous news!
I hope to see more of your polls, those are always interesting and if I read any relevent books I’ll let you know.
Any questions or topics in particular that you think are poll-worthy?
Exciting! Congratulations! No ideas for you right now but I’m sure I’ll come up with something…
This is fantastic news! Many congratulations to you!
I was just meeting with work friend. We both work at a university. She is a training program and has to go to classes/lectures. One was on work/family balance. The speaker began her presentation by saying “There’s no such thing.” My friend was outraged. She’s from another country originally, has an “ivy league” education and believes fervently that we have to be able to be successful and not work nights and weekends. She refuses to work during those times, so that she can spend time with her family. I mentioned this conversation to my sister – whose immediately reaction was, “That’s the way they think in Europe.”
Congratulations, I like your blog here and I’m pleased to hear you’re getting wider recognition.
I like your blog, too!
Also — congratulations! Will we be able to subscribe to an RSS feed of just your posts?
Thanks for asking! 😉 You can “fan” my author page or sign up for the RSS feed of my HuffPo posts here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katrina-alcorn
Congrats!! Can’t tell you what to write about but feel free to interview me if it helps 🙂