Getting Back in the Swing of Blogging

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Did I mention that I didn’t mean to take a “blog-cation”? Then why, you may be wondering, has it taken so long for me to get back to blogging?

I’ve been asking myself that very question. In part, it’s because I was waiting for life to slow down enough to get it “right”—you know, write a bunch of blog posts ahead of time, get a schedule in place, and so on. For some reason, that never happened. Perhaps my goal is too lofty. I want a schedule; I want to post regularly and well; I want to engage with others online; and, since I can’t seem to find the time to do all those things, in my all-or-nothing way, I’m not blogging at all.

I think that part of the issue is that I don’t want to give some nice speech about how I’ve been so busy, but NOW I’m back to my old blogging ways–and then fall down on the job.

The simplest answer would be to stop blogging, of course. But I don’t want to. The break was nice, but after a bit, I kept thinking of stories I wanted to tell and noticing posts and articles I wanted to share. I simply don’t have time to blog as much as I was blogging earlier this year, not if I’m also working on creative writing and working on income-generating types of writing.

I don’t have the perfect answer, but then, perfect anythings—especially answers—seem to be rare. I will blog as time and inspiration coincide, and I have no idea, yet, how often that will be. Not very often for a bit, because as I start getting a little time for myself after months of craziness, I’m finding that it’s time to return to my languishing novel.

mrsdkrebs

Photo Courtesy of mrsdkrebs on Flickr Creative Commons

Otherwise, I’ll never get any sleep!

Mindfulness for the Writer

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My post on mindfulness and its applications to the writer’s life is posted on The Wild Writers site this week! Here’s an excerpt:

By Cheryl Reifsnyder

Lately, I’ve begun a practice of mindfulness meditation. I didn’t do it for the sake of writing, either, except in the general sense that when I’m healthier, happier, and less stressed, I’m better able to write. (Yes, it’s sad, but that’s how my mind works: I might not pursue healthy habits for the sake of being healthy, but in the name of writing, now, that’s another story….) I’m not talking about a religious practice here, but the type of meditation taught by the Stress Reduction Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. If you aren’t familiar with mindfulness meditation, I’d encourage you to read more about it, since research shows that the practice helps people combat stress and depression, cope with chronic pain and stressful situations, lower anxiety, and other useful stuff.

But as a writerly-minded person, I was particularly delighted to discover that mindfulness meditation has a number of benefits that apply directly to my writing life:

  1. It helps me to put other stresses aside when I sit down to write, so I can focus on the work at hand.
  2. It provides me with practice observing my physical and emotional reactions, giving me first-hand “research” to help create characters with rich and believable inner lives.

Click here to read more on The Wild Writers!

SUMMER CELEBRATIONS

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I didn’t mean to take a blog-cation.

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I know, I know, summer was starting…I was taking this month-long epic trip to see family who’ve made the unfortunate mistake of living too far away from us…I have two teen boys home from school who wanted to hang with Mom (I know, right?)…PLUS I kinda volunteered to help out with the family business for a week while in PA (largest traditional archery festival in North America, thank you very much)…and, well, I was hitting the job-hunting scene pretty hard because my workload had slowed to a trickle and I need to generate some new revenue streams.

Which meant I had to learn a lot, strike out in new territory, and stress out about all the new skills I was trying to learn.

I have this tendency to think I can do everything. I’m trying to correct that, but for some reason it didn’t occur to me that *maybe* I’d be too busy to blog amidst the travel/work search/work/family/etc. that I’d have going on at the same time, any one of which could have kept me pretty darned busy.David Blackwell

I’m still working on the whole realistic-expectations thing.

So—I’ve decided, in arrears, to take a blog-cation this summer/early fall :~).

Meanwhile, I’m hoping you’ll celebrate with me because this summer has—despite the busy-ness and worries and stress—been a win for me. Here’s what I’m celebrating as summer officially draws to a close*:

  1. I managed to have a GREAT trip with family this summer–no small feat considering that we packed two dogs, two teen boys, two grownups, and enough computer equipment to set up two mobile offices (my husband and I were both working for part of the trip), and were away from home for more than 4 weeks. I’d hoped the trip would bring us closer as a family, and it did. It was also an experiment with the whole working-from-home thing, which both my husband and I do these days. It wasn’t *easy* to move our work spaces from house to house, but it let us see a LOT more of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins than we would have otherwise.
  2. I struck out into new territory in the work arena, bidding on jobs writing about science, medicine, health, and fire fighting–and after a slow start, I now have half a dozen new clients. **Happy dance!** I like not worrying about $$, ya know?
  3. I made–and stuck with–a major dietary change, with the result that I’ve lost 4 lbs in 4 weeks. It’s not a lot, but I’m doing this by changing the way I eat, so it feels like the kind of change that will last.
  4. I’m working on revamping my schedule to better align with my values and priorities. It’s been a loooong process, but I feel like I’m making some headway.

So–those are my "wins" for the summer.

What about you? What do you have to celebrate this season?

* Hey, maybe summer is ending a little later for me than most of the world, but it’s still 70 outside today, so I’m still counting it.