How Do You Explain Blogging To Your Family?

Being that I blog for a living, I sometimes find myself in a quandary on how to explain what I do to people who ask. To most people, when I say “I am a professional blogger”, I get a blank stare.

Just ask my wife. As far as she is concerned, I sit in my office and pound on keys all day. Well, actually, now that she has begun doing some light blogging of her own, she has more of a feel for it. But how I make money doing it? Clueless.

The rest of my family is relatively clueless about what I am doing. It is just some techie thing I do and somehow I manage to get paid for it. I have been asked several times by certain members of my family what I do for a living, and even when I try to explain it again I know that I will be asked again later.

Oh, the best one is my wife’s grandmother. My wife is Russian. Early last year, we had her grandmother here at our house from Russia. Of course, her grandmother doesn’t speak a lick of English, making the situation worse. However, she obviously doesn’t even know what the Internet is (simply no clue). She barely even understands what a computer does. And given that she is more familiar with physical work, my wife’s grandmother is practically CONVINCED that I’m in the mob or something. How else could I make money sitting here on that box? I guess it would be drug dealer 2.0.

So, if you’re a blogger or in another similar tech field, how do you explain what you do to your family?

Some alternatives I have called myself are:

• Internet developer (they usually get this one, but they think I program webpages for a living)
• Web Publisher (my personal favorite)
• Run an Online Magazine (magazine, they understand).

Perhaps, some day, professional blogging will be understood. But, actually, it might be better for those of us who do it that it not be!

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