Have you ever written your own bio? It's bloody hard work. I write them weekly for the He Did What!? Wednesday guest posters but I can't make my own. I'm meant to be writing TWO at the moment for separate projects (that I can't officially tell you about yet... do I seem mysterious and aloof?) that are so different from each other and anything else I've done before that I can't just copy paste.
All I used to have was "I blog because it's cheaper than therapy and just as effective" but I realized other than painting me (accurately) as a scary crazy lady it didn't say anything of a biographical nature. So I added "I'm pushing the envelope, pushing 30, pushing limits and pushing my luck".
OK so that doesn't really say much more about me at all, does it?
You need to have confidence in yourself to write a good bio. The amazing Mama Grace tells me I should "embrace my awesomeness" so I was hoping I could just write "I'm totally awesome" and be done with it but Allison Tait has reminded me that it should really be written in the third person so that just won't do.
But you see I also don't want anyone reading it to think I'm conceited so I've decided, after weeks and weeks of deliberations on the following:
Glowless is awesome and not at all stuck up. No, seriously.
Short and sharp, baby.
Do you have a bio? Did you find it hard to write? Do you sound like a stuck up attention whore when you try to write one or is that just me?
___ . . . ___ . . . ___
EDIT: My blog crush Parental Parody has just emailed me an amazing bio. I loves you PP!!!
Glowless is a mother to one, mentor to
many. She has impossibly awesome hair. Always. She also has amazing eyebrows. When not excelling at the parenting thing
(seriously…she even uses cloth nappies), she blogs. Her blog is enjoyed by trillions, as gauged
in a recent poll (she is officially more popular than Bieber, but she’s modest
and doesn’t like to brag).
She has a sincere affection for Toblerone
cocktails, and it should be noted that her main Rock Star demand for attending
functions and events, be the availability of said Toblerone cocktails. She also travels with an entourage, but I’m
totally not fussy about what I drink, as long as it’s not beer or tequila.
Ha Glowless is awesome and not at all stuck up! LOVE IT! go with that bahaha! good luck x
ReplyDeleteWhen I started writing a bio I began writing my life story. So I stopped at about age 5.
ReplyDeleteThen I tried again, and again, and again. It gets easier every time.... I'm still working on min...
Oh I hate the attention whore!
ReplyDeleteWhen I arrived here from the USofA I was so up myself because that's kinda what you do over there. You tell people how great you are all the time so that you get better jobs (must admit I've never removed anyone else's hair before) and more opportunities. But since being down here for over a decade now (geez time flies) I'm very quiet and hesitant to mention my abilities. I've been bit by the Tall Poppy syndrome. It is rather boring after all to go to a cocktail party and have to listen to someone tell you how fabulous they are.
But I sort of miss the old me sometimes. I think it's important for women to find a happy medium when discussing what you can do. I mean we all know we can do everything. And you Glowless, well you are so multi-talanted it's mind boggling. So do not feel ashamed about stating the facts. "I can bring home the bacon and I can fry it up in the pan!"
So the point of my comment is...a bio is a place to promote yourself, so do it. That's professional. When having a cocktail with fellow bloggers is not the time to promote yourself in quite the same way. That's being a show pony. Although you do put on a good show Glowless...
Glow, you crazy cat ! I am laughing my arse off over here !!! :D
ReplyDeleteMy resume makes me sound like a total show pony.
But hey, that's the sales in me :)
We should make t-shirts "Embrace The Awesomeness"
Nike would go nuts :)
G, just ask someone to write it for you. Your blogging buddies would JUMP at the chance. Actually, we should write them for each other!
ReplyDeleteI HATE writing mine!
OMG. You totally should've let me at this one.
ReplyDeletePage 5 and you stopped? I need one that is 70 words and one that is 100 words.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I'll have it put on my business cards.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely harder on women, even from just talking to my closest circle of friends the guys are able to rattle off their achievements and the women are afraid to look like show ponies. Happy medium would be nice :)
ReplyDeleteAnd you are totally Aussie now, you even have an Emu, you can't get more Aussie than that!
Do you sound like a stuck up attention whore when you try to write one or is that just me?Love it! I hate writing about myself, or any self promotion - does feel a bit naff!
ReplyDeleteGRACE! OMG! We neeeed to do this. I'll wear it to the next conference :P
ReplyDeleteI've got the lovely @shortn_tweet:twitter looking it over for me :)
ReplyDeleteIf you wrote it about me it would be full of drinking stories!!!
ReplyDeleteI hate writing bios. I don't want to sound stuck up or like a loser. I love that bio. Short, sweet and to the point. Perfect!
ReplyDeleteI suck at writing bio's or anything to do with myself.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I need a good friend to do it for me? *bats eyelashes*
I am so having trouble with the same except I can blame you as I'm writing my media kit and I sound completely like for the sake of society I should be locked in a padded room immediately. I can't imagine that will compel big brands to give me money but like you I have trouble saying I am awesome although obviously.... The closest I got to that was above my bio on my site...but then I couldn't help but make a joke of it. I reckon do the Joe Hildebrand thing - go so extreme about how awesome you are that it becomes funny ... or not because YOU ARE!
ReplyDeleteNicole x
I love your twitter bio. Mine used to be just 'wife, mother movie-lover'. Then I added 'Editor, writer, lover, non-fighter' to be a bit more descriptive while still satisfying my need for it to rhyme. Although by putting editor, it makes me mega-paranoid about not making typos, spelling errors or grammatical errors in my tweets. My about me page on my blog uses the 'awesome' word at least four times, it is one of of my favourite words. I have not had to do a 'proper' bio yet, but the idea makes me cringe a little on the inside because an exercise like that is sure to bring out the 'I'm not good enough' demons. The bastards.
ReplyDeleteTotally putting on my blogger's resume that I have guest posted on Where's my Glow.
ReplyDeleteGlowless finds self promotion very hard unless she can write in in her usual sarcastic tone. She also finds talking in the third person to be rather weird.
ReplyDeleteYou already have, you dufus! You were the first He Did What!? Wednesday guest :P http://www.wheresmyglow.com/2011/03/he-did-whatwednesday-parental-parody.html
ReplyDeleteI highly suggest contacting @ParentalParody:disqus :)
ReplyDeleteI've never been famous or important enough for a bio......all the best with yours! It should definitely have the word awesome in it though!
ReplyDeleteI feel like a tool making a media kit too! You can do it :)
ReplyDeleteI want to pay someone to write mine, much easier to write them for others and not yourself. I just pretend no one reads mine, so bad, but I just can't get it right.
ReplyDeleteYes but this is sooo much more serious, in depth, and worthy of true literary merit, right?
ReplyDeleteNot good enough demons are a pain in the ass!
ReplyDeleteI ranted about poor spelling and grammar once in a post and purposely left in a mistake... but it was assumed I'd just done it wrong and I got a bit of flack for it :P
Anything that mentions Toblerone cocktails is worthy of merit.
ReplyDeleteYou're gonna have to write one for our new site... :P
ReplyDeleteI have paid @ParentalParody:disqus in cocktails for her efforts.
ReplyDeletethe last time I had to write my bio it sounded so wanky even I disliked myself hahahaha. I think its a very tricky proposition to talk yourself up enough without sounding like a twat. I did like your one line effort but Im guessing that probably won't do :)
ReplyDeleteLove the post script!!!!
ReplyDeleteCan you add video to your bio? Then you could add a clip of you singing Tina Turner's "Simply the Best", which would basically just sum it all up for everyone.
Also love the t-shirt idea and so hope you do wear that to the next conference.
I still need that bio :)
ReplyDeleteI am in the process but only 25 000 words in. Long way to go. I have Much more to say that I thought i did
ReplyDelete... which would have worked if I had've actually done it within your timeframe! Still bellyaching over my own. But glad yours is sorted!
ReplyDeleteOh I know.
ReplyDeleteI have had to do a few and they were pathetic.
Chuck any spares my way will ya?
Yep, I know exactly what you mean - I hate it. I had to do my real worl CV recently and absolutely could not find a starting point - naturally i talked about blogging - naturally, i didn'tget the job...
ReplyDeleteOooh I like your thinking!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm trying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *sits in the corner and rocks*
ReplyDeleteWowzers, 25 000 words?! You must do a lot of stuff :)
ReplyDeleteYou can take the original, add a "fucking" in there and it's ideal.
ReplyDeleteHa! I've started saying writer not blogger because of all the strange looks I was getting. Called it an online magazine and people were quite impressed... just gotta hope they don't go looking for it and find this tripe.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the mention of cocktails will be appreciated in the ones I'm meant to be working on!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your hair got a mention. You really do have good hair.
ReplyDeleteOff topic here but how fucking awesome are Toblerones? Dang, I want one now!
ReplyDeleteIt's the height of wankeriness. That's totally a word.
ReplyDeleteMy absolute faves, Hols x
ReplyDeleteIt runs in my family... Dad's side. PMSL.
ReplyDeleteIt took me an inordinate amount of time to complete the Twitter one liner that accompanies your profile pic. Argh! SIMPLE is always best, I think!
ReplyDeleteThis post really resonated with me. When I first put up the "About me" section I looked at it spewed everything about my life onto it. It ended up 5 pages long. Insert SNORE. Goddamn. Then I did it AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN and I still hate it. I can hear "I love myself" being chanted in the background. Not by me of course. But I hate that it has that. Sort of. Um. Feeling to it. And now that PP is totally my friend I hope that she will write me one too. hehe. Great work PP ;) x
ReplyDeleteLove it :) Sums you up perfectly! hmm, must do my own...How bout " I'm totally awesome, my best quality is my modesty..."
ReplyDeleteIt is tough to write a bio. I like your one liner, but I LOVE the one Parental Parody wrote for you :) My one for No Limits is this: "Carly Findlay is not just a red face. Nor has she been irresponsible out
ReplyDeletein the sun. She is a blogger and freelance writer. Her writing is
sometimes frivolous, sometimes serious, always from the heart and
telling it like it is. Carly was awarded the 2010 Yooralla Media Award
for the online media category. She keeps a blog (http://carlyfindlay.blogspot.com)
and has been published on DiVine and Mia Freedman's website. Carly
enjoys writing, cooking, seeing live music, fashion and long walks
through shopping centres.
Carly is open to marriage proposals from No Limits viewers. Or at
least a first date." - I wrote this one and it was quite fun. But writing a professional bio is a whole 'nother matter.