Monday 6 April 2009

Pilot's wife blogging

It's amazing how the small community of pilot's wife/partner bloggers has grown. When I first googled "I'm a pilot's wife" a few years ago, only one blog came up - Someday's excellent Oh the Life of Pilot's Wife. Now there are so many I don't have room for them all on my blog list!

On that note, I find internet etiquette interesting. Some bloggers get very offended if, despite leaving comments on my blog, I don't link to their blog, too. This doesn't really bother me in reverse; there are several blogs I link to who don't link to me back. Still, everyone is different. My list keeps changing, and I try to get it to reflect my own blog reading habits as much as possible.

Equally, everyone's approach to blogging is different. I started this blog primarily to share a part of my life that my friends and family don't really understand. I wanted to reach out to other women in my position. But over time, it's taken in more aspects of my life which I hadn't planned - my husband's airline's collapse, my infertility, our move abroad. It feels good to write about these things, but having said that, there are lots of parts of my life that never make it onto the blog - quite deliberately so. I've never felt comfortable sharing absolutely all my thoughts with my readers, anonymous blog or no. I admire those who do feel comfortable doing it. I know for many, blogs (particularly anonymous ones) are a perfect way of venting, a friend to talk to when you're down who listens patiently. (Actually, I also find the latter to be true!) I read several blogs which fall into this category, and they are a refreshing read.

There are also many pilot's wife bloggers for whom being married to a pilot is not at the forefront of their blog, and I really respect that, too. After all, we are much more than the man we are married to! It's lovely to read about their children, their animals, their jobs and their homes, especially from my home in the desert many miles away from where they live.

I know there's a school of thought that blogs like mine are too focused on our husband's job, and a suggestion perhaps that by doing so we're forgetting ourselves. I refute this - just because I choose to write about this aspect of my life, it doesn't make me a one dimensional person. I do think, however, that our lifestyle is one that not many people understand - but many want to know about. And that's why I write my blog. And judging by how many people read it every day, I must be doing something right!

I'd like to end by drawing your eye to my Blog List on the left hand side. There are some great blogs on there. Worth checking out for many other angles on the crazy lives we all lead!

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for the link up. I enjoy your blog very much. I began long before I met my husband, before he became a pilot. His career does dictate a lot of how I spend my time (such as working full time to pay on his loans, which affects how I am a parent) I think it's up to the individual bloggers' preferences. I've enjoyed learning more about you than just the pilot wifestyle, and I can't wait to hear more about your adventures in the middle east! We've looked at career opportunities there, and I look forward to getting an accurate picture of life there.

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  2. Thanks for the shout out. I started my blog because I couldn't find any others out there to learn what to expect and also as a way to share what exactly it is like to be the wife of a pilot. Because moreso than most jobs, it infiltrates into every aspect of one's life.

    I always find it so interesting to see the twists and turns that our lives have taken throughout the course of our blogs.

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  3. I'm interested to know what comments or thoughts inspired you to write this?

    Like you, I write about the aspects of my life that niche into this blogosphere of pilot wife life, or pilot wifestyle as I coined it.

    I do talk candidly and brutally openly about the anxiety and emotions that I experience and about my family and to some degree my work, but choose not to get 'too' specific on these in my partnerofapilot blog.

    I do write a different blog entirely within my work niche blogosphere, and I will shortly become an author for my company's corporate blog. I do not discuss my personal life at all in any of my work related ones.

    It's your blog, and nobody has the right to accuse you of being too much of anything or not enough of it for that matter!

    When I started writing my blog, it was an evolution from a diary. I never for one second anticipated that so many people would be interested in what I had to say. In fact, I was so daunted by the hit counter's rate of increase that I considered closing it to the public for a time.

    Here I still am, and I write whatever I like. Screw anyone who wants to criticise the way I write or what I chose to post-I never asked them to read my blog in the first place!

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  4. Such a funny and true blog. "Blogging ettiquete" is a funny thing isn't it. I've never thought about it before. I've never minded if people don't link to me (you can't link everyone). I often link to people just because I like their blog. But then I do start to feel like if people link to me, I should link to them too!

    With all that said... thanks for the link :) hah


    I don't write much about my life with my pilot. Only because for now- I don't have much to say. He's not gone a lot, he's got a good schedule, he's not getting laid off... life is pretty good. For me, I seem to have much more to say about being an ex-pat. I'm sure once my BF starts flying long haul... I'll be write there with all the other pilot partners writing about it :)

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  5. Interesting! I am very glad that one day I clicked on a link that somehow or other, led me to the world of pilot wives, both forums & blogs (and that first blog would be Someday's blog). I've been a pilot's wife for almost 8 years, but never realized that was a "category," probably since I'm not an airline pilot's wife. I write a blog, but I hardly ever write about being a wife. Sometimes I write about working in a flight school. Maybe when (or as it's looking these days IF) my husband joins an airline I think pilot wifestyle, as Nicole and Partner put it, will become much more relevant to my daily life and a greater focus in my blog.

    Whether I write about it or not, I love reading pilot wifestyle blogs!

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  6. Partner,

    Nothing in particular spurred me on to write this entry. Just I suppose that I was reading so new blogs! And more the merrier, I say.

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