Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Can anyone hear me?

Hello again! I've been very neglectful of this little blog. While I know I don't have many followers, I do love writing and crafting so it's a shame I've treated it so. Many of the same things consistently go through my mind when thinking about my little slice of the Internet:

  • Should I continue to write when I feel like no one is watching? 
  • Should I even care if people are watching?
  • Is what I write authentic? I like to think it is, but being an avid reader of several popular blogs, I see a lot of inauthentic (from my perspective) content.
  • Speaking of those popular blogs, it'd be great to one day have even half as many followers; but is that possible when it feels like they have such a large piece of the pie and when it feels like blogging is slowly becoming a lost art?
  • Are the projects I do in my home too influenced by Pinterest and the Internet in general? I would really like to focus on finding my style, and that's hard when there's (awesome) inspiration coming from every direction. 
  • Is home decorating what I'm really passionate about? I'm definitely a lover of all things home and all things pretty, but is it what really gets my gears a-movin'? I've toyed with the idea of altering the main content of Walks Like Rain. My main focus right now is work. Work. Work. Work! Because of that, I pour all of my energy into the content that I teach. Should this be a teaching/education blog? Would I be doing myself a disservice to "bring my work home," or would it give me a platform (albeit a small one) on which to stand? 
  • Am I wasting my time? I have a passion for writing, but wouldn't it be more productive and possibly even lucrative to write something else? A short story? A novella? A novel? Articles for a teaching periodical? Heck, maybe even a book for teachers filled with tried-and-true teaching strategies?
At any rate, I have clearly been thinking about the blog. Honestly, it pops into my head at least once a week. Between working full time, finishing my first master's, and now working on completing my second master's, I find it hard to fit it in. I will say, though, it just hasn't been a priority. I tend to grind my teeth when I tell someone about a book I just finished and they retort, "Oh, it's so nice that you read so much. I don't have time for that." I (sometimes) politely tell them that they do have time for it, they just don't make it a priority. The blog is to me as reading is to that person. (I kicked butt at analogies in middle school.) If I really believe in it, I need to make it a priority.

I do realize that there aren't many people who consistently read this blog while it was active, but I'd like to pose the question: Should I keep chugging along? Please let me know what you think. 

Thanks to anyone who's still listening! :)

9 comments:

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    1. Thanks! I've actually got 2 posts ready to go. A fire was lit yesterday. I don't know why!

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  2. Complaceny is the worst possible evil. You are certainly not complacent! It is always a good thing to question yourself--am I doing the right thing? Can I do it better? Only by walking down many avenues, do you eventually find the perfect lane for yourself. Write if it makes you happy. Don't give a hoot if 2 or 2,000,000 people read what you write. Write when you have the time for it-when you have something to say--when it comes easily. Priorities are funny things--you often feel they are not mandated by you. In reality, if you are truly passionate about anything, you can carve out the time to do it. By the way, the most indulgent and self-satisfying thing I did during the holiday season was to sit down, tune everything else out, and read a book.

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    1. You're the best. I suppose you're right...self-improvement comes from self-reflection. And you're WAY right about priorities being set by people other than ourselves. Thanks for the insight. I can always count on you. ;-)

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    2. You seriously are the best. I haven't stopped thinking about your comment all day. Most recently, I thought about the comment you made about reading during the holidays. There's nothing worse than reading a book but not really "listening." I've been reading the same book for months and I could barely tell you what's going on. I'm listening to another one while working out, and I could offer next to nothing in a conversation about it. It's hard to let yourself be in the moment with anything (a book, a movie, a conversation, etc) when your priorities are set by anyone but yourself. Those were some wise words.

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  3. All good questions. But my advice is not to think too much about it. It's your hot body, do whateva you want.

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    1. Thanks. Good advice, as always. Funny how both of us came out of hiding around the same time.

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  4. Don't be hard on yourself. Do what lights you up. Write from your heart and you'll never go wrong! Looking forward to reading your future blog posts. :) ...P.S. I'm hosting a Write your Story workshop this Saturday. Here's the link for more info...http://www.currentinspiration.com/write-your-story-workshop/ If you can't make this one, there will be another one in about 6 months.

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    1. Thanks so much, Pam! I'd really love to come, but I can't this Saturday. When you post the date of the next one, I'll mark my calendar early! I'm going to check out the link now. :)

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