I would love to be rich.
Like, really, really rich.
Rich enough that the day-to-day of stress of paying mortgages and bills would be a thing of the past for me and the people I love. Rich enough to travel the world with Graham and teach him first-hand about politics and culture.
Rich enough to start a foundation to provide seed money for poor women who want to start small businesses. Rich enough to buy a penthouse in New York, a beach house in the Caribbean and a farm with lots of horses and dogs north of Toronto.
Rich enough to....umm, okay you get the point.
The point is, like 99% of the population, I can always find ways to spend extra money. And that means, straight up, if my writing here at Don Mills Diva allows me to earn extra money, I will accept it gratefully and with no sense of shame for having somehow sullied myself.
But I do have a few rules:
1. My ads will be found in my sidebars only. I am not interested in pay-per-post and I will not slip product reviews and pitches into this middle column.
2. I am thrilled to accept money and/or free stuff in exchange for writing on my review blog: that's what it's there for. I will write a teaser here on my main blog and readers may or may not choose to click over and read the product review.
3. I will always try to express my opinions freely and not be influenced by how people might react to my words. I freely admit this is a constant struggle, in life and on my blog.
(Note: I don't curse here. Not because I'm afraid to offend potential advertisers but because I endeavor not to curse in real life. Also, I don't reveal gory details about my family life here because, well, some things are private, thank you very much.)
It's pretty simple. I don’t think it’s terribly controversial. I write to the very best of my ability. I work my butt off. I endeavor to entertain and enlighten and perhaps even incite and if I do it well enough, for long enough, I could make some money. If that happens, I think I will deserve it. If it doesn't, well, I probably deserve that too.
Neat how that works, huh?
So why do we, and by we I mean women, make it so complicated?
Monetizing your blog or blogging for bucks was a popular seminar at the recent BlogHer conference and the notion that women should dare earn money from - GASP! - writing about family life was a hot topic of discussion.
Yawn.
To steal a line from Scarbie Doll - This is why we don't rule the world.
Can you honestly picture thousands of men wringing their hands and clucking their tongues over whether accepting payment for something they do well is tantamount to defiling themselves?
I didn't think so.
I learned at BlogHer that there are 36 million people in the blogosphere every week: that translates into an awesome economic opportunity for people like me, whose fondest dream is to earn money from their writing.
I would do this for free. Hell, I practically do do this for free.
But if one day, by writing on my own terms in my own space, I manage to earn enough readers to actually make me rich, I'll be damned if I'll demure and giggle nervously like some modest, 19th century maiden.
I will stand proud. I will accept my due. And I will cash the check.
Just like a man would.
