It has been a long time since I blogged with any regularity. When I eventually did start to miss it after the better part of 18 months away, I kept trying to fit in with the accepted notion of a successful blogger in whatever niche struck me as exciting at the time. Pffft - I was an idiot. I could kick myself now for not working through the writer's block and disinterest - I'd be clocking up four years in keyboard servitude by now.
Writing feels like a best friend I haven't seen in years, someone who I might run into at a coffee shop, a stack of unread books under one arm, rushing out the door to her fourth appointment of the day. "Hi!" We might exclaim to one another. "Let's get together soon - I'll bring the wine and you bring the inspiration!" We'd exchange numbers, promising to call when life calms the heck down and we're ourselves again. And then ten minutes pass, another edition of daily minutiae crops up, and the conversation would be forgotten entirely. Eventually, we'd lose each other's numbers and move on, too busy to regret the effort we chose not to put into our relationship.
Writing was always my 'go to' when I'd had a bad day. Words flowed naturally, and sometimes excessively (in the early days I was known for my long, winding posts!) but they were there, non-judging. Words were magical, powerful things that could transport you anywhere. Who hasn't read a blog post or article and been moved to tears at one point? Who hasn't become enamored with a favourite blog, written by someone you've never met but somehow still feel a personal connection with, because the writing was so engaging, so hilarious, so skilled?
To be a writer, you need to read, and again, this is something I have virtually ignored for a good year now. Reading for pleasure gets pushed aside with every vomiting child or school sports carnival, over and over again, until you're quite sure you've forgotten how to do it altogether. Our local library / community centre has been busy being completely rebuilt from the ground up over the past twelve months, which has severely impacted my access to good reading material (libraries spoil every budget-conscious reader - I couldn't bring myself to pay retail for a book, and other libraries in the district were too inconvenient to get to). But - *squeee!* - at last update, the doors were due to open today. I miss books.
And as for blogging - I may have been the friend who disappeared for a while, but this week I've moved back to town :)
Showing posts with label about. Show all posts
Showing posts with label about. Show all posts
Positive & Transparent
After having my new persona almost fly off the page at me yesterday, I thought I'd dig around the dictionary some more. Yup, I live life on the wild side. This is what I found:
I like that last one. Positive and transparent. When you blog, it's hard to know where to draw the line. Privacy vs Community? Omissions vs Authenticity? Some of my very favourite bloggers ever have gone the road of authenticity over personal embarrassment, opening up about family struggles instead of hiding behind a "Little Suzie HomeBlogger" character. They might cuss like a sailor (I'm looking at you, Magneto Bold Too!), they might have walked down roads I can't even begin to imagine (Moosh In Indy) and they may even do strange things to certain parts of their body (*coughRedneckMommycough*), but we love them dearly because they are raw, honest souls, and that's a rare commodity in the world these days. We triumph and commiserate with these lovely ladies because we can see something of who we want to be on their pages.
So. Real and authentic. Are you guys ready for this?
Chroma
The purity of a colour, or it's freedom from white or gray (as mentioned yesterday).
The intensity of a distinctive hue, ie the saturation of a colour.
Chrome
(In photography) A positive colour transparency.
I like that last one. Positive and transparent. When you blog, it's hard to know where to draw the line. Privacy vs Community? Omissions vs Authenticity? Some of my very favourite bloggers ever have gone the road of authenticity over personal embarrassment, opening up about family struggles instead of hiding behind a "Little Suzie HomeBlogger" character. They might cuss like a sailor (I'm looking at you, Magneto Bold Too!), they might have walked down roads I can't even begin to imagine (Moosh In Indy) and they may even do strange things to certain parts of their body (*coughRedneckMommycough*), but we love them dearly because they are raw, honest souls, and that's a rare commodity in the world these days. We triumph and commiserate with these lovely ladies because we can see something of who we want to be on their pages.
So. Real and authentic. Are you guys ready for this?
When The Words Just "Fit"
March 27, 2011
I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to naming things.
When our second son, Middle, was in-utero, I was determined to name him Willoughby (Will for short) after that dastardly character in Austen's Sense & Sensibility. I came to my senses when I realised such a horrible character was hardly the strong, formidable sort I wanted my son to have as a namesake, despite my love of the name itself. There are just some things that stay forever meshed in your mind, and this fictional Willoughly just wouldn't do. So I set myself to thinking - which other character from literature could I exploit to name my offspring? Let's just say Sense & Sensibility came through in the end and provided us with a new, solid, dependable name. And one far less prone to run after the first rich girl he sees!
But sure, I do spend an inordinate amount of time in the pursuit of a good name. I write, so character names, town names, names of streets, it all gets the somewhat-obsessive treatment. And blogs are no different. For the past year or so, I have toyed with a dozen different names as I've searched for 'just the right fit', a persona that was short, sharp and sweet yet still showed that I was more than a mama, more than a crafter, more than an Aussie, more than anything that could possibly be contained in a few words floating about in the Blogosphere.
Chromama is what I came up with. Let me break it down for you.
Chroma is Greek for 'colour' and it's defined as the purity of a colour, or its freedom from white or gray.
Freedom from white or grey, huh? I don't know about you, but for me, it's really easy to get bogged down by 'all things wife and mother'. The days seem to meld together, a kid - usually the same one - is perpetually ill, the working spouse is absent for a lot of the 'hands on' stuff, there are meals to plan, shopping to do, cleaning to avoid, not to mention you're exhausted....well, life can get decidedly grey. And it's not that you don't love or even enjoy doing these things for the people in your life.
It's just that everyone needs the chance to find their colour again. To explode with creativity or excitement or drive or determination or love. To make the days count. To live with purpose.
To enjoy life!
When our second son, Middle, was in-utero, I was determined to name him Willoughby (Will for short) after that dastardly character in Austen's Sense & Sensibility. I came to my senses when I realised such a horrible character was hardly the strong, formidable sort I wanted my son to have as a namesake, despite my love of the name itself. There are just some things that stay forever meshed in your mind, and this fictional Willoughly just wouldn't do. So I set myself to thinking - which other character from literature could I exploit to name my offspring? Let's just say Sense & Sensibility came through in the end and provided us with a new, solid, dependable name. And one far less prone to run after the first rich girl he sees!
But sure, I do spend an inordinate amount of time in the pursuit of a good name. I write, so character names, town names, names of streets, it all gets the somewhat-obsessive treatment. And blogs are no different. For the past year or so, I have toyed with a dozen different names as I've searched for 'just the right fit', a persona that was short, sharp and sweet yet still showed that I was more than a mama, more than a crafter, more than an Aussie, more than anything that could possibly be contained in a few words floating about in the Blogosphere.
Chromama is what I came up with. Let me break it down for you.
Chroma is Greek for 'colour' and it's defined as the purity of a colour, or its freedom from white or gray.
Freedom from white or grey, huh? I don't know about you, but for me, it's really easy to get bogged down by 'all things wife and mother'. The days seem to meld together, a kid - usually the same one - is perpetually ill, the working spouse is absent for a lot of the 'hands on' stuff, there are meals to plan, shopping to do, cleaning to avoid, not to mention you're exhausted....well, life can get decidedly grey. And it's not that you don't love or even enjoy doing these things for the people in your life.
It's just that everyone needs the chance to find their colour again. To explode with creativity or excitement or drive or determination or love. To make the days count. To live with purpose.
To enjoy life!
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