I had the chance to attend BlogHer this weekend in sunny, cool San Jose, Calif. I was there for work, but to my surprise, there were lots of crafty bloggers there ready to meet other female writers and discuss some of their favorite things besides RSS feeds and permalinks. I sat in a great “birds of a feather” group on knitting and crafting and got some great new links and blogs to introduce in upcoming posts.

One session was really interesting: “Is the Next Martha Stewart a Blogger?” Don’t laugh at the title because I think the possibility is there. Blogs and Web sites are wonderful breeding grounds for not-yet-noticed creativity today. The forum featured Gayla Trail (“You Grow Girl”), Maggie Mason (Mighty Girl, Mighty Goods), Marnie MacLean, Chez Pim!, and Andrea Scher (Superhero Jewelry). The ladies talked about running successful businessses online, becoming “famous” bloggers and making sure you’re properly compensated for your work, whether it’s a story for a major magazine or even a guest column on a blog. I learned a lot and have some good info to share.

And in a super-geek moment, I got to meet Gayla after the session. She signed my book and gave me faith that I might be able to keep a fern alive one of these days…

I’m really glad I was able to check out the session because I found out about some great new sites to check out, like Marnie’s. She sells her own handmade goods on her site, but also offers free knitting patterns. If you ask me, she embraces the heart of the DIY community.

Check back for more posts on the great new blogs and gals I met last weekend.