...about whether to continue pretending to be a blogger or call it quits altogether.
I'm wondering if I'm really cut out for this. I don't seem to be able to find time for blogging in a balanced way. Like so many other areas of my life, it's either feast or famine. And I'm not entirely comfortable with that.
Yet I have a hard time walking away and letting it go forever. I know it doesn't have to be forever...but I don't like having it just hanging there.
This is a question that has been asked ad nauseam and I know that each person must ultimately find her own answer, but still I'll ask....how do you discipline yourself to blog in a way that is both consistent and responsible with so many endless demands on your time?
I do miss it.
Pondering...
I'm blessed to be married to my own Mr. Knightley and to be the mother of five fair lasses and one bonny prince (aged 8-18). We are firm believers in the merciful love of God and the boundless riches of the Catholic Faith, an openness to life through both conception and adoption, home education lived and breathed throughout all of our days, and pizza and ice cream on Saturday nights.
10 comments:
Finding that discipline is hard, and I don't know if I actually have an answer for you, only sympathy. Blogland can be like Fairyland, so alluring.
I wonder if you could leave your weblog open and only post sporadically, once every month or every two months or every day, whatever suits you, so that you still feel connected but don't feel compelled. You are on my Reader and its always like sudden treasure when a post from you appears. But I hate to think of anyone feeling obliged to post, and speaking for myself I don't expect regularity - don't expect anything really - from any blogger, I just gratefully take whatever is shared.
I hope you find an answer that brings you peace.
I second Sarah's second paragraph. Live your life and your vocation, as you already do. Blog when you're inspired and have a moment to do so.
In being away, I discovered I misssed having a "journal" of our family life. Even if I post only once a month, that post will mean something to me later on, shedding light on God's continual grace in our lives.
Hope that helps a little.
Although I don't know you, nor have I ever met you, I am a fan of yours. I feel as if I know you and your family. I feel as if we've worshipped together. I've teared up from your honest and tender writings. I've giggled and marveled at your humor.
I prefer to look at your blogging almost as if you're writing a journal to God, albeit electronically. You are openly sharing your life with us, and you are recording the daily happenings in your life. Your children will someday be able to read these postings and see the unconditional love you hold for them. Your husband can read the unending adoration and appreciation you hold for him. What a tribute you are giving to your family, as well as me, a stranger. You are keeping history by posting about the daily blessings, the hardships, the friendships, the joy, the humor, the "real things" of life. All of these things are treasured gifts from our Heavenly Father.
Life is a constant balancing game. I really don't believe we'll ever totally get it all balanced. (And if you do, PLEASE SHARE IT WITH ME!!) If you enjoy the blogging, then continue. If it is too consuming...then back off for a short while. As you know, "All things in moderation". I know you'll make a decision that's best for you. Until then, know that you are a blessing, regardless if you blog hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or bi-annually. And I appreciate you sharing your faith with me.
You are in my prayers...
Peace be with you
Jacki
Well, Sweetie, I'll tell you what's made the decision for me: I love blogging more than almost anything else.
Which, given that I'm a wife & a mother & a teacher & an aspiring saint...well, you can see that I must struggle to keep the writing thing in check.
Plus there's that tossing out of one's choicest thoughts into the blogosphere (with a Gollum-like growl, My Precious!) and the emotional equilibrium that is all-too-often hinged upon the "world's" response.
Ahem.
Anyway. Do you love to blog? That's the question. You certainly are an amazing writer with a beautiful heart, an awesome family, and a searing sense of humor. You are everything I like to read in a blogger...
but do you want it?
Because if you do you will make time for it, and you will be happy that you did because you'll make more friends, you'll bless more lives, and--as Kristen so BEAUTIFULLY puts it--you will join us in shedding light on God's continual grace in our lives.
I love you. The dishes can wait twenty minutes while you put your post up...but not much longer than that.
All things in balance.
Keeping one's life in check.
PS. And having gotten all philosophical on you, (who, me?) I realize I didn't even answer your question, which is: How do you discipline yourself to blog in a way that is both consistent and responsible with so many endless demands on your time?
I write in the morning before the kids get up. That's my quiet time. I have to be careful, though, to not get distracted by the computer later in the day...by the comments, the other blogs, that post-in-progress...and I think that I am like you in this arena.
Do you know what, though? When I'm not blogging I still struggle with keeping my life in balance. I still spend too much time on the computer looking for comfort and consolation.
This is my unique problem. I look for a quick fix when the housework & homeschooling are more than I want to deal with...rather than turning to prayer for strength.
I blog about this problem all the time. :)
Is the problem carving out the time that it takes you to write the post, or is the problem the other computer-related habits? Perhaps that's the real question.
I'm signing off now to go spend time in prayer...
Diane, these words reminded me of you and Sarah this morning on the way to work...
this house is a good mess
it’s the proof of life
no way would I trade jobs
but it don’t pay overtime
I’ll get to the laundry
I don’t know when
I’m saying a prayer tonight
cause tomorrow it starts again
could it be that everything is sacred?
and all this time
everything I’ve dreamed of
has been right before my eyes
the children are sleeping
but they’re running through my mind
the sun makes them happy
and the music makes them unwind
my cup runneth over
and I worry about the stain
teach me to run to You
like they run to me for every little thing
when I forget to drink from you
I can feel the banks harden
Lord, make me like a stream
to feed the garden
wake up, little sleeper
the Lord, God Almighty
made your Mama keeper
so rise and shine,rise and shine
rise and shine cause
everything is sacred
and all this time
everything I’ve dreamed of
has been right before my eyes
(Sacred, Caedmon's Call)
I'll offer an hour of work for you today.
Abide in Him, Sister!
I have loved reading your blog for a very long time. I agree with Sarah- it's a "treasure" to see your posts on my reader.
I try to limit my computer time to 4 days a week, and only after my morning prayers are finished, lunchtime, or at night in bed when the kids have gone to bed. To me. blogging is like a journal, although I don't write, but do post lots of pictures.
I hope this helps. You are a gift to us!
Diane,
For those of us who "love da Yukes!" from afar, your blogs are a peak into the life of the friends we miss so dearly...
And I agree with the other commenters who have said that we will always find some way to distract ourselves from the vocation that we are called to.
I find that my own nature is sort of famine or feast...and I am hoping to find the happy mean of moderation in all things.
I will pray for you!
Peace,
Sara B.
Blog when you can Diane!
Just catching up with others to add...I love your posts whenever they happen and they make we wish I had gotten to know you better in VA and I "miss" you now being in another state.
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