Can someone forget how to blog? If so, I’m pretty sure that’s where I am. Holidays always have this ability to mess with my schedule. I kept meaning to come here and say I’m on a break, but then I figured it wasn’t necessary since I was planning on returning shortly after I would have posted about it.
Obviously, that didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. I’ve been suffering from a strange type of writer’s block that occurs whenever I turn on the computer and try to write anything. It’s like I have all these ideas for things to write about until my fingers find the keyboard. Then, all those ideas evaporate, and I’m left with nothing.
It’s frustrating and not something limited to only my blogging.
My creative writing has suffered from it as well. I’ve found writing things in a notebook help me embrace the thoughts rather than chasing them away, which is progress at least.
I go through this phase of not enjoying technology for writing here and there. I’m not entirely sure what triggers it, but I’m thinking this one may have started because my carpal tunnel syndrome started to flare up in November.
Regardless, here I am.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the purpose of this blog too. I want to use it as a positive place since so much of our world seems negative. I want it to serve as a reminder that adults can embrace creativity and not let go of that joyful spirit we all have as children. Yet all those things make me nervous because who am I to think that I can do it? You know?
It makes me wonder how the blogs I enjoy reading found their purpose and their voice. I wonder if they too struggled in the beginning to figure out what the point was or if they always knew.
So, that brings us to our topic for today.
Your Turn
How did you decide what to blog about? Did you always know or did you discover it on the way? Did you have your doubts? if so, what did you do about them?
Can’t comment here? Feel free to continue the conversation on Twitter or Facebook with me!
Featured Image courtesy of Geralt at Pixabay under CC0 Public Domain.
I felt the same way. I feel as if the holidays messed up my writing flow. There was definitely a sort of writer’s block (more like unwillingness) on my side during Dec./Jan.
So sorry about your carpal tunnel syndrome. That is awful! Chronic pain can take joy away sometimes.
Glad you want to make your blog about positive matters and creativity. That’s where things are at, I think!
Take care, and have a lovely 2016!
Glad to know I wasn’t the only one who had the holidays throw off my schedule. I think I pushed myself too hard during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and that’s what caused the flare up of my carpal tunnel syndrome. Sadly, I’ve had it already for well over ten years, and it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.
It’s frustrating that I have to deal with that when I want to write SO MUCH stuff. Err, well, I do when I’m not having this weird writer’s block that seems to stem not from lack of ideas but disliking a type of medium. I suppose that’s the better type of writer’s block, though because there’s a relatively easy work around. 🙂
I’m hoping I can do the topics justice, but I deal with a lot of self doubt it seems.
I hope you have a lovely 2016 as well!
And I write in a sort of meandering way — there’s no real purpose to my blog, except that I love writing, and want to keep doing it. If people come along and like it, I am gladdened, but I really write in order to write and share with whomsoever feels like reading my odd pieces.
What made you decide to make a blog then instead of just journaling in a notebook? Do you ever worry that no one will show up to read what you wrote or does it not matter since you are your intended audience?
I like typing, and I like the format. I began to hate writing in a notebook, because of years of writing comments on students’ work. I like having people of like mind with whom I can share my writing. I imagine an ideal reader out there, someone who loves language and stories and expression, but I also like unexpected visitors who turn out to like what I do, just as I like what they write. I like the mystery of wondering who out there might find these floating scraps in the wind. I like having an invisible audience, but I also refrain from seeking them too aggressively, I guess. I used to worry at first that nobody read my stuff, but then, it was clear that these things take on their own life and momentum. I will probably never really be a blogging phenomenon, but then, I don’t want to be, because that’s not why I write.
Does that make sense?
That makes total sense. I hope to find like minded people as well. I’ve already found some. 🙂 I do hope to publish one day though, which they always say you need followers and all that nonsense so you’ll have readers and find a niche but all that stresses me out. So I think I’m just gonna blog about what I want and hope people are interested. 🙂
Hi Kristina. I don’t think you forget how to blog. I think you become fearful of putting words to paper. I so relate to your dilemma– tons of blog ideas only to freeze when the fingers touch the keyboard. I don’t know if you remember the poll I carried out. I was going to blog about my trip to Canada. My fur baby, fourteen-year-old Bella, died in my arms and I couldn’t think let alone write. Lots of material. Too much going on. No Blogging. Panic. Self-doubt, etc., etc. On Christmas Eve I said goodbye to another one of my fur babies, fifteen-year-old Pedro. (We now nurture fourteen-year-old Jorgi who lost his brother and sister in seven months.) I retreated from blogging and putting myself out there. I needed to get out of my head so I focused on a goal. Finish my e-book and self-publish by my birthday January 31 and blog about my book launch experience. I’m happy to report I did meet my goal. My hope is people will enjoy my e-books and I continue to blog with the support
of my internet family .
It’s always so hard to lose our pets. I can’t imagine losing them so close together. I’m sorry for your losses.
I’m glad you managed to reach you goal! That is amazing and I hope you celebrated all week afterward!!
I was just coming to terms with losing Bella when I lost Pedro. The euphoria I felt for accomplishing my goal and celebrating my birthday was fleeting. I’m having a really difficult time accepting my Pedro is gone.
(((Hugs))) he wouldn’t want you to be sad. Easier said than done I know.
I wrote a 100-word story. If you’re interested in reading here’s the linkhttps://onrvingtime.wordpress.com/2016/02/05/i-miss-you-pedro/. I cried all day
I will check it out. Thanks for sharing
PS sorry I missed it earlier!
I’m so sorry to hear about your pets: that sounds devastating. It can be so hard to lose a pet, and it’s often not even socially appropriate to grieve for them. I found out my 17 year-old dog, whom I had grown up with since 3rd grade, passed away literally the night before I had to give an important presentation for work. Needless to say the presentation was a disaster.
You are so right in that it usually isn’t socially appropriate to grieve for them. Some people just don’t understand how much of a bond you can create with an animal.
Thank you Josh. No time is a good time to lose a special family member..
Now this reply is for Kristina. You didn’t ask for any advice, but they best way I’ve found to deal with writer’s block is to do all my pre-writing by hand. I find that when I start any sort of report/blog post by outlining it on paper, the ideas flow much more smoothly than when I attempt to start the writing process on a computer. It might have something to do with the fact that looking at a screen is actually very tiring for our brains.
As for how I decided what to blog about, for me the answer seemed obvious. I desperately wanted to do more to contribute to big cat conservation while I sorted out the grad school stuff. To me blogging seemed like the best answer. It plays to my strengths and is something I can do without quitting my day job or spending money that I’ll need for school to travel to areas with wild felids.
Instead of having doubts I’d say I was overconfident. I knew I was a good writer, but I had unrealistic expectations of how quickly my blog would take off. But I did start to have doubts once I started writing about sciencey topics that I have little to no experience in. I feared that by writing about such topics people might start to view me as an expert, which I most certainly am not. But I chose to write about them anyway because I felt physically compelled to.
I’ve been doing some pre-writing by hand as well because it seems to be the one method of writing that doesn’t get me stuck at the moment.
That sounds like a great reason to start your blog, and it is for such a great cause. I would be afraid of appearing to be an expert too, which I think is partially the dilemma I am having as well with what I want to blog about. However, I suppose the more you research and talk about it, the more of an expert you become, right?
Well I’m still light years away from being an expert, but the rate at which I acquire new knowledge has increased exponentially since I started this blog. Knowing that anyone can see what I write has motivated me to learn as much as I can and fact check everything I post. I suspect the same would apply to whatever you’re thinking about blogging about.
Yes I imagine it does give you more pressure to fact check, which is good. 🙂