I keep thinking I’m about to write a new post
It’s been obvious that my blog’s winding down – as are so many blogs I read.
For me, it was the emotional work of this past winter. I had my words disappear for awhile while I was dealing with a rough patch. Happily, I seem to be working free of that: please join me in knocking on wood, crossing fingers, warding off the evil eye, and other superstitious juju.
But a barometer of feeling better has been my urge to blog, and I am having blog posts show up in my head recently with some regularity.
I’ve not been writing them, thinking “Oh, that’s silly, your blog is over.” And I don’t seem to want to write a post that leads to another, and then there’s a furious month or two… and then it shuts down because I’m too busy.
Busy is about to start for serious. Tate’s going to start kindergarten: full day. When I’m able to find a job (more superstitious juju, pls)Â I’ll be a working mom, and this time with a novel to revise. Plus, I’m now on a committee for one organization, and a board of directors for another… so there’s all these chores that will get squeezed into my not at work time, and I’m just too lazy for all of that.
I’ve had people suggest I’m not lazy -Â but really it’s just that lazy, for me, often looks like work. It’s just whimsical, self-directed work. When I get going on something, I might as well be asleep for all the outside world matters or is able to intervene; and if there is time, I will find something to learn about/obsess about, etc….
If there isn’t time, and my interests are intriguing, then the dishes will sit in the sink and I will ignore the kids.
“MOM! MY HAIR’S ON FIRE!”
“Mmm. Shhh, okay, I’m trying to work this out…”
“MOOOOOOM!”
“*Please* stop whining!”
….So part of not blogging is because I’m worried that I’ll end up blogging when I should be doing any number of other things. ‘Course, the other side of not blogging is worrying that I’ll start doing it again, and then, just when I get rolling, stop-and-feel-neglectful.
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I hear ya. I have moved MOUNTAINS of stuff that didn’t need doing. Sure, it was interesting/useful once it was done, but it wasn’t always what I was *supposed* to be doing at the time.
I don’t think there’s any “neglectful” for hobbyist/nonprofessional bloggers these days. Come and go as you please, without guilt either way. It’s not a daily or weekly or even regular discipline anymore — it’s just where you go when you have something to say that doesn’t fit anywhere else. Whether that’s once a year or once in a blue moon hardly seems relevant, really.
You’ve captured a lot of my own feelings about blogging (and that’s with a blog that’s had an erratic post-schedule always)….but one of the things I love about feed readers is that they alert me when someone has a post up. That’s convenience paired with Phantom’s smart point: this is your space, to use when and how you want to. I’m glad to share it with you now and again.
Am most amused by the “curative pangram” captcha! Sounds like a 19th century remedy for writer’s block or something.
I’m lazy in just the way you are, only I also have a hard time getting out of my chair in the mornings. But I know about that conflict between work and sparkly, non-timebound, not-work projects. Blogging! It’s not just writing a post; it’s also waiting for the comments to come in, and the infinite possibilities of the clickable universe that open up.
I had an epiphany awhile back that I needed to get my business to succeed before I could put more time into things that weren’t my business. (I’d like to believe that’s paying off, but it’s still a year or so from that point, and if the economy tanks again all bets are off.)
Fine. If it’s just me it’s just me, but I miss everyone! I miss the neighbourhood that blogs used to be. I miss showing up places and seeing who’s been there and gossiping and throwing the ideas around.
Where the fuck is everybody anymore? Facebook seems to have fizzled, at least among the people I originally met through blogging. Twitter? I hate Twitter; Twitter makes me want to kill things. There’s no depth, no space to breathe life into an idea. There isn’t any THERE there, to quote someone but I’m too lazy to look up who.
OK, no, wait, this is going to bug me… ok, it was Gertrude Stein, talking about Oakland. I remembered it was Stein – go me! – but thought she was talking about Iowa. Close enough.
Is there someplace else I don’t know about? Am I supposed to just pull my ass out of the computer and do real things in the real world now? Then WHAT?
Curmudgeonly, always.
Thanks, y’all. When I started blogging (in 2003?!) it was exactly where I went when I had something to say that didn’t fit anywhere else.
But yeah, Rachel, I miss that too – although I think I went a bit too far in, some places. XKCD style: ‘Someone on the internet is wrong!’