Blog Spotlight: Dana Loesch's Mamalogues

Dana Loesch, the author of the popular blog, Mamalogues, is a self-described "twenty-something journalist on a permanent sabbatical from regular work." Working from home as a freelance writer while raising two young boys and blogging daily at http://www.mamalogues.com/, she admits that this balancing act is the most challenging job she has ever undertaken. Dana describes Mamalogues as an "online soliloquy about my experiences in motherhood and life."

What started as a simple family journal soon developed into a compelling look into the fascinating life of a devoted wife and mother. Her husband and children and others color her blog, and together they present a vivid modern-day family portrait.

What attracted me to Mamalogues was Dana's description of her relationship with her husband, Chris. She describes Chris, who is in his thirties, as her "absolute best friend," and together they decided "to live our dreams instead of working as peons in jobs we hated..." I immediately said to myself, "Chris sounds a lot like me." And if that wasn't enough, he too is "devastatingly handsome" and "has a killer backside."

Complete with uncles, aunts, mothers and mothers-in-law, Dana's Mamalogues truly has something for everyone. What's more, Dana Loesch is a phenomenal writer. Her blog reads like polished prose, and just a few doses are as satisfying as any award-winning short story. Her content is fresh and the site itself is attractive, easy-to-navigate, and well-maintained. While many twenty-somethings are anxious to throw online their rants about the single life, Dana eloquently shows us another side: family life. It is all at once endearing, challenging, and fascinating.

On October 11, 2006, Dana graciously granted me an interview for Associated Content. As in her blog, she was both eloquent and blunt. After reading this interview, be sure to check out her blog, and have a glimpse at her interesting world. Here is what the author of Mamalogues had to say:

Jack: Thanks for taking the time to chat with me. Let me start by asking, what sets your blog apart from other blogs?

Dana: It's hard to answer this without sounding like an unintentional snot. I think my written voice sets me apart. It's like a fingerprint. Every blogger has one and they're all individual. My voice, the way I interpret my experiences, things like hitting your own car while it's in your driveway.

Jack: When did you start your blog and why?

Dana: Mamalogues actually began as the "Loesch Family Blog" in 2003. At first I just used it to stay connected with family and friends around the country and I kept a separate journal. I've written since I was a kid. I studied journalism in college, won writing scholarships. My first "publication" was a goofy little self-published book on dragons. I wrote it with a pencil on torn sheets of notebook paper, stapled it all together, and included a writer's bio because apparently I was that self-absorbed even at eight-years-old.

I combined my journal and family blog and began Mamalogues. I have to write everyday, even if I never post what I've written. It keeps me writing and every writer knows that if you don't write your head explodes. Even if no one read it, I'd still write.

Jack: What do you do when you are not blogging?

Dana: I usually play with my kids or do family stuff. My family gets first dibs on my free time; after that I like to spend time with friends, read, and try to keep my house from disappearing under a thick layer of dust.

Jack: What are your favorite and/or least favorite things about blogging?

Dana: You can fill a private journal with whatever you want and don't have to worry about how it looks when it comes back to you via feedback. No one reads a private journal. You have total freedom, no restraints. It's different with blogging, because you have to be careful with what you put out there. In some ways you have to compromise: You can't say some of the things you really want to say sometimes, but the upside is that it forces you to be more creative. I don't look at that issue as if I'm compromising, because I always somehow say what I want; I look at it as a challenge.

I really like the community that blogging brings. On more than one occasion I've vented and dozens of armchair therapists wrote to offer advice or a shoulder. Free therapy! I've also connected with other moms and writers by blogging. It's become more than just a way to keep writing for me, in many instances it's a support system.

Obviously the money is nice. I went from scraping freelance assignments to blogging professionally and earning enough cash to help with my family's expenses.

Jack: What do you feel is the key to a successful blog?

Dana: Content is king. Good content will attract and keep readers, as will regular posts. Just from what I've observed, not like I'm an expert or anything, people come back if they feel they can depend on regular updates. Design plays a part, too, though I've seen cookie-cutter blogs with great traffic because their content draws it.

I'm not big on the politics of the blogosphere; I figure that if you're writing solely to get readers and you're spending more time kissing up to bigger bloggers as a way to siphon some of their traffic, you shouldn't be writing. The best advice I ever heard was from Mark Winegardner who said that no writer has a "right" to be heard. It's a privilege.