Monday, June 22, 2015

What's up with my blog?

Every now and then when I look at something on my blog I look at the numbers of blog posts I've written.  And it's irrefutable--I am not blogging as much.  Last year I didn't blog as much as the year before, and this year it's really sad.

I'm not even sure what the deal is.  You'd think that with older kids who can take care of themselves more I'd have more time to blog, not less.  For years and years I've been waiting for the day when ________ would happen and I would have more time.  When I wasn't entertaining restless Rachel, when I wasn't wiping noses and bottoms and dressing little people and cooking all of the time and home schooling and all of the things that have consumed my time for so many years.  But here I am now, with relative freedom, and guess what--I still feel like I don't have much time.

I know that part of it is that as I get closer to 50 I have a little less energy than I used to.  And certainly I have much less (MUCH LESS) mental energy.  It used to be that while it was easier to blog when I could feel the words flowing freely, I could also snatch a free minute anytime to pull together pictures and write about them.  Not so much now--there are times when it feels like my brain is a barren wasteland and all I can do in that moment are tasks that require more body than brain.

Another unexpected part of the equation is Facebook.  For all of my initial certainty that Facebook was going to ruin the world, I find that I enjoy the ability to share a picture (usually via instagram), a frustration, an idea, and the format (i.e. short) is fast and easy.  Plus you get feedback on Facebook whereas that's rare for my blog now.  (Not complaining, just stating a fact.)  Recently I made a Facebook "book" which is like a blog book but oh so much easier.  It really turned out fun and I'm surprised at how much I've enjoyed looking through it.






After typing all of this out I think I can say that part of my frustration has to do with my "averse to change" personality.  I liked it when I kept track of my life & thoughts & pictures really well on my blog, and I want it to keep happening like that.  But it's obvious that I'm making different choices in my life right now, and I can't have it both ways.  It will be interesting to see what happens when the triplets are in school full time next year.  Will I devote more mental energy to my blog?  Or will I find other things to fill my time?  

Stay tuned...

PS--just realized one interesting factor.  For years I blogged using Windows Live Writer.  Then in January this year I got a new computer and it's a mac.  I went with the mac because I was excited to try their video program, but I'm questioning that decision now because I miss Live Writer like CRAZY.  I hate the way I have to do pictures now, and I know that also has some impact on my blogging...

7 comments:

  1. I LOVE live writer and how simple it is to do pictures. I learned thanks to you. I always think of posts for my blog but sitting down to do it.. it is much easier to post a sentence from my phone on facebook. I don't get my computer out as much as I used to.

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    1. I'm sure--I can't even imagine how you do things with all of those little people!

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  2. I enjoy your blog entries. For myself, I don't blog but I do monthly newsletters, which I consider part of my family history. Don't give up!

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  3. I go through spurts when I feel as though I have absolutely nothing to say. I decide I'm going to stop blogging and then out of nowhere I get the desire to do a blog post. So weird. I've enjoyed getting to know you better through your blog.

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    1. I understand what you mean about having nothing to say, though I feel like I always have pictures I want to get on. It was interesting--writing this made me realize how much I'm really missing Live Writer--it's just amazingly convenient to do pictures with it. I'm actually considering trying to sell my mac and switch back to windows...we shall see!

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  4. I enjoy reading along. I've been working on a family yearbook through Blurb.com and I take a lot of the written content straight from my blog. It's been so helpful. I just got a Mac and I'm having problems figuring out HOW to upload photos on blogger. I promise I'm pretty tech savvy but this is just stumping me. When I click on "Photos" folder it just spins. Any advice?

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    1. Jaime, Blurb is awesome. Esp that you can change the pages to be how you want them. I can't imagine why you can't even get to your photos, that's strange. You should do what I'm doing--try the free 3 week trial on Blogo. (getblogo.com) I just watched a tutorial on it and you're supposed to be able to drag & drop photos, crop them, and also import stuff from Evernote. I haven't had a chance to try it yet but it's next on my list!

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