Dusting Off My Blog

As I was wandering around my house today doing random chores of a completely uninteresting nature, I decided it was time to stop in and visit an old friend…my blog. I wanted to see what my blog had been up to in my absence. Well, what do you know? It’s been up to absolutely nothing. If my blog were a knick knack on my bookshelf, it would be covered with dust right about now. Neglected and ignored for a few months, I’m surprised my blog even bothered to let me log in. Fortunately, it’s fairly forgiving that way. Is it really possible that my last entry was on October 8? My last post was last year! So I sat for a moment and thought about an explanation for my absence.

Ahh, yes. There was the matter of that little novel I decided to write during the month of November. I took the plunge and decided to participate in National Novel Writing Month, an event in which thousands of insane eager people all over the world commit to writing at least a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. Yes, I love to write, but I had never taken on a project of that magnitude and as I started typing at midnight on November 1st, I figured I would have a difficult time seeing it to completion. Imagine my surprise on November 30 when I completed my first draft with 53,794 words! I started the month with a very basic plot idea and a few characters rattling around in my head and somehow the ideas kept forming and the characters kept talking to me and the words kept going onto the page. It was definitely an exhilirating feeling to see it through to the end. Of the over 167,000 people who signed up to participate this year, 19% reached the 50,000 word goal and I was among them! However, after that marathon of writing in November, my desire to write so much as a grocery list in December was pretty much non-existent. I barely worked up the enthusiasm to do our annual family Christmas letter. I was all written out. Thus, I completely ignored my blog. (Blog? What blog?) Combine that lack of writing enthusiasm with the holidays, the kids (and husband) home for two weeks and our adoption of a new puppy (meet JJ, our newest family member, pictured below) and December blogging just wasn’t in the cards.

Now January is another story. The holidays were over, the kids went back to school and we were adjusting to life with our new puppy and yet I wasn’t writing. I think I went into a bit of a “new year coma”. The promise of the new year and the clean slate left me feeling a little overwhelmed. Should I focus on my health and fitness goals? My writing goals? My photography goals? What actions should I take to make sure 2010 was a year of satisfaction and fulfillment? The multitude of ideas swirling around in my head made it difficult for me to find a focus. It’s the old “stacking the books” problem again. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, so forgive me if I have. When I was in college, I used to get very stressed and overwhelmed prior to exams. I would stack the books up in front of me and try to figure out where to begin. Which subject needed the most attention? Which exam was likely to be most difficult? Inevitably, I would pick up the phone and call my mom in a panic. She would calmly tell me the same thing every time. “Stop stacking up the books, Kelly. Just open one and get started.” Of course, she was right. Now that I’m an adult and exams are a thing of the past, I tend to “stack the books” at a couple key points every year. January. September, when the kids go back to school. I put the pressure on myself to set big goals and make something happen and instead I often end up hitting a brick wall instead. Talk about setting myself up for failure.

In an effort not to hit that brick wall this year, I took a couple key steps at the beginning of the new year. First, I sat down with Annie and Caroline and we each made a vision board of what we’d like to focus on for the coming year. We had a good time making them and mine is filled with all kinds of inspirational quotes and pictures that emphasize the areas where I want to focus my energy this year. (Here’s a great article I found that explains vision boards if you’re interested in more information.)

Once the kids went back to school, I went to work on getting some of my physical surroundings in an order that made me happy. Our house is by no means messy, but there were some underlying issues that bothered me. I cleaned out our file cabinets. I sorted through a bunch of random paper and shredded, filed and recycled it. I re-organized some frequently used cupboards. I re-organized my desk space and my writing notebooks. I got these most commonly used areas of our home into a better system that is working for me now instead of against me. These spaces are much more conducive to working and I don’t feel like they’re mocking me all the time while I’m trying to write. (What? Paper piles don’t mock you?)

I feel like the efforts I’ve made have already started to pay off as I get that inspiration to begin writing full force again. I’ve printed out my NaNo novel and started the editing process. I’m working on some article ideas for my position as Milwaukee Family and Parenting Examiner on examiner.com. I’m brainstorming ideas for some magazine articles I’d like to try submitting for publication. And, of course, I’m working on several ideas for my blog. I would like nothing more than to make 2010 the year that I start making writing a business rather than simply a hobby.

Another plan I have this year is to set smaller, more achievable goals for myself rather than these big grandiose ideas that have the potential to set me up for failure. I’ll include some of those goals in a follow-up post this week. I’m all about accountability this year and posting my goals on this blog helps to hold me accountable. It gives anyone reading this blog permission to ask me, “Hey, how’s that going?” Don’t be afraid to do that. Really. And if you’re working toward a particular goal(s) this year, please feel free to share it with me here or via email so we can encourage each other. I think it makes the journey so much more enjoyable and tolerable when we know we’re not in it alone.