- how much I LOVE editing for our friend Todd at Assured Leadership,
- how happy I am to still have a foot in the Tech Writing world,
- how much I want to learn to design websites, but feel overwhelmed by the tools, or
- how much I want to use up the cute fabric piling up in my office, and
- how much I want to sell the things I make with my cute fabric so I can buy more cute fabric?
I read some blog posts by friends of mine who are so freakin' funny (don't visit if you get offended easily) or so stinkin' creative or so dramatically descriptive that you want to go back day after day and read everything they post. And then I feel like a total slacker for falling back on videos and the boring recounting of my days with T-man. Sometimes I feel sorry for you, my readers, that I'm not more interesting, creative, or descriptive.But then I remind myself that my writing style is different, and that's not always a bad thing. I can be inspired by others, but I need to embrace my own strengths and find peace in my writing. One of the reasons I started this blog was to embrace a new style of writing, so this is kind of a growing thing.
My 3 followers read this because there's something here they enjoy (OK, well, one of my followers is me), and the rest of you read this because I actually send it to you whether you want to receive it or not. I assume you would tell me if you didn't want to be one of the chosen 10. :)Though sometimes I wonder if you read my posts, I feel compelled to continue writing. I guess because something that God is teaching me is that I have to put myself out there. To be truly great, you have to practice, you have to try, and you have to fail (if that's what it takes). I am a master at staying within my comfort zone...in fact, the very idea of publishing this particular post scares me because it reveals more about me than I'm used to sharing with others, even those I love. But more than share pictures of my cutie, I want to inspire you, to connect with you, to share stories that make you laugh or cry, to share my struggles and triumphs and encourage you to share yours, to reveal the glory of God and how He prods me to be a better person and to lean on Him.
So, keep reading. I will continue to share photos and videos of T-man, but along the way, I will also share pieces of myself, and just maybe, you will read something that makes you laugh out loud, or smile throughout your day, or makes you think a little bit about life and the wonderful journey we travel together.Feel free to share with me; I want to know what you think. Maybe we can swap some recipes.
2 comments:
I had been blogging for about 6 months when I wrote a post called "It's Just a Blog." It was all about how hard I'd been trying to get noticed as a blogger, to no avail. I linked to a number of bloggers I'd discovered and admired, and talked about how I felt like they were all the "cool kids" and I was just the high school geek who always tried just a little too hard. It was balls-out honest and candid, and very heartfelt.
Publishing that post scared me to death, but I did it anyway, for the same reasons you describe.
Within 24 hours, that post had been read, shared, tweeted, and emailed, with nearly 400 views in one day and more than 100 comments when it was all said and done. It was the post that got me noticed. For more than a year I kept that momentum, maintaining an audience that was easily ten times the audience I'd had before. It was all because I'd been honest, and something I'd said had resonated with other bloggers in the same boat.
I didn't expect any of that to happen when I published it. I figured it would either go unnoticed (like all of my previous posts) or it might make someone mad. (And in fact, it DID get some negative feedback, but that's a different story.)
What I'm trying to say is, you never know what people will relate to or find of value in your writing -- that's why it's so important to write for YOURSELF. Keep the blog about YOU, tell the stories that YOU want to tell, and eventually people who are of like minds will find you and share you and keep coming back. There are plenty of things you can do to help that process along, but in the end it's all about being yourself and enjoying the creative process.
I think you're doing a pretty great job!
B.
P.S. My blog started out as a pure, unadulterated "mommy blog," with few "f" bombs. And look at it now! Blogs have a way of evolving with you...
Thanks, beej, I really appreciate your comment. I think it's really hard in the beginning because you don't (or I don't) really know what I want. Part of me just wants a place where family can go to watch T grow up, and part of me wants something more...but I don't know what that is.
That is awesome about your post--you are truly funny, and I love the way your blog has evolved into more than just a "mommy blog."
Thanks for the encouragement.
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