Blogger Stories: Nettie Hartsock

Nettie Hartsock has been in the business of telling stories for most of her life. She went from reporting stories for a major television network to reading stories to her children. When her little ones went off to school she began to tell stories (interviews with authors) on blogs. Nettie quickly learned what all good bloggers, personal or business, discover .. that blog writing allows you to reveal a piece of your heart.

Blogger Story Teller: Nettie Hartsock,Allbusiness ProfessionalPR blog, Business Books Blog, NettieHartsock.com
 

On Being the Mom who Typed Late At Night To Becoming the Mom who Blogs Late at Night OR You Can Teach an Old Mom New Tricks

Twelve years ago at 29, I had my daughter Emma and left my job at the NBC – affiliate station in Austin. I went from interviewing Willie Nelson and the glitterati, to sitting Indian style, in a storytime semi-circle trying to get the words to Itsy Bitsy Spider right and keep up with the latest Brighton jewelry the other moms in the circle said I must “just have.” 

All the while, late at night and early in the morning, before my family arose, I typed fervent queries to online and offline editors in the hopes of still being an employed writer. I went from the Mom in the Blue Suit, to the Mom in Pajamas interviewing CEO’s around the world in short phoners, with Emma and then later, our son Gibson, on the floor with a plate of bananas, dried Cheerios and a jumble of Legos™.

Between storytime, naptime, dinner time and twilight, I sent off my stories and interviews of notable tech CEOs and the occasional fiction author like Salman Rushdie or Michael Chabon.

In May, my son six year old Gibson graduated from Pre-K. That also meant for the first time in my amazing life as a Mom, both my kids would be at school full-time.

It was time to go on the blogosphere! I aimed to grow my own PR business where I wanted to represent best-selling business authors and I also aimed to learn the blogs! I sent a short online query to allbusiness.com’s call for bloggers and a very specific pitch on how I could blog about press relations and public relations because I’d been on both sides of the dime in my work as a journalist and media rep.

I’ve been an official blogger going on almost four months now and am thrilled you can teach an old "Mom" (41) new tricks. Not satisfied with one blog, I pitched my editor a new blog idea.

I realized that allbusiness.com did not have a blog soley dedicated to Must Read Business Books, so I pitched and promised I would get the brightest and best authors (the Willie Nelsons of the Biz World) on the blog. (And hey, if I get all these free business books to boot, what a great bonus!) I’ve already interviewed Guy Kawasaki, Bob Prosen, Susan Harrow and upcoming are interviews with Polly LeBarre and Debbie Weil on their books.

Blogging has given me the best of all worlds. I’m officially a crazed blogger, have met more genuine and authentic folks in the world than I ever thought possible! And I use my heart in my blog, so for the first time ever I can pass on good knowledge with heart and insight that was never possible in the world of strict journalism or tech driven pubs.

My most heart-driven post yet was when I sat wrote about an inspiring Mom,  Susan Kutcher  and her death. It turned out to have the best response of any that I had posted up to that time. 

People want heart, customers want heart and businesses have heart. Blogs let us reveal the heart behind everything we all do. And doing these blogs has filled a lonely piece of my heart that my kids took with them when they entered school full-time.