Monday, September 27, 2010

Why Blog?

Or more accurately- why should I blog?

When I started blogging, I really didn't know why I was doing it. Worse still, I didn't know what direction I wanted the blog to go. I though it would just fall together and produce lots of readers (!) and lots of money (!!!). Dream on!

What happened instead was a mis-mash of posts that didn't connect and didn't reflect me as person. I was trying to be a copy cat of other successful blogs but without taking into consideration who I was and more importantly, what stage of life I was in.

After Christmas last year, I took a break and got a glimpse of what might be off. My other blog Use What You Have, was an attempt to remedy the situation. But by then my life had changed and I wasn't able to keep up with regular posts. My baby was older and needing more of my time. My hubby was going though a rough patch at school. I was barely able to get dinner on the table, besides trying to make freezer meals, and blog about it. It was a hard place. It was very discouraging.

By the summer I had (mostly) made peace with not regularly blogging. It was an increadibly busy summer. Lots of visits and visitors. Quite a few stressful situations that needed to be resolved. My husband worked at an internship. By the time I felt like I was able to breathe again, it was time to start school.

A couple weeks ago, Pioneer Woman wrote a list of what she's learned about blogging that resonated with me, especially #1- "Be Your self. Write in your voice. Write as if you're talking to your sister."

That's what I wanted to do but frankly was too nervous to do it. You see, I'm actually a very private person in real life. If you were to meet me, I'm pretty shy and don't like to talk about myself. I like to hide at home and watch movies, cook lots of dessert, drink coffee and hang with my husband.

So what on earth am I doing blogging?!

I ask myself that all the time.

I've come to the conclusion that what I really want for this blog is to be a record of the victories and special moments that we have while going through "the three most difficult years of your life". I want it to be a kind of scrapbook of what I've learned from all the wonderful, talented women in the bloggingsphere. I really want to "bless the Lord with my efforts". I want to be authentic here.

So I'm going to be doing things a bit differently. On the surface it might not look terribly different but the motivation and attitude are and in the end that's all that matters.

P.S. Another great article on the "how" and "why" of blogging was posted on Simple Mom. Check it out!

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