Thursday, September 27, 2012

Blogging Is Harder Than It Seems

Hmmm...what excuse do I use now about not having been blogging lately???  Work? Illness? Natural disaster?

When I started this blog I thought it would be easy to keep up.  After all, I am writing amazing blog posts in my head all the time. How hard could it be to get them from my head to paper, to the computer, edited, and published?  

Turns out, really hard.

While not always "amazing" (that was sarcasm) I am truly always writing blog posts in my head.  I don't remember a day in the last 10 or so years when I haven't thought "that would make a great story!" at least five times and continued to write it all out in my head. This odd, OCD-like behavior is actually the reason I started blogging.  "Now I can actually get those story ideas out of my head. This is the perfect outlet for me - hooray!"  Of course, when I made this glorious revelation I didn't think about the time it would actually take to get my crazy thought process in to something others might understand, let alone the whole sitting down and doing it thing.  

Still, I thought I could do it because, thanks to another OCD-like behavior of mine. I am an incredibly fast typer.  How have I mastered such a skill you may wonder?  Simple,  I am always - and I mean ALWAYS typing. Or at least my fingers are. If you've ever held hands with me this would come as no surprise to you, but those of you who are not my children, my husband or one of a handful of lucky suitors from my youth, are probably wondering what the hell I'm talking about.

It's simple.  When I was in 7th grade we were required to take "Keyboarding" (yep, I'm old enough to remember electric typewriters!). The teacher - Mr. Solem -  sat us in alphabetical order by last name which placed me the back of the room with Reed Walhof - the perfect spot for slacking off in what I deemed to be an unimportant class (recall that at this point in my life I was going to be scientist, so I didn't need 'silly' skills like typing!).  It didn't take long for Mr. Solem to realize that Reed and I weren't taking his class quite as seriously as he did. One day he proclaimed that everyone in the class would get detention if I didn't type to perfection on our next test.  I've never stopped practicing since.

So, if I'm always thinking of stories and always typing, why am I not posting more consistently? I have no freaking idea! 

I read some really amazing blogs and find myself wondering how these women do it. While my life is busy it certainly isn't busier than theirs - some of them have like a hundred kids, after all. So do they sit at their computers all day long and write? (That sitting still thing doesn't work for me!). Do they have keyboards attached to every chair in their house?  (That would totally ruin the feng shui!). Do they write in their cars, on the treadmill, in the shower? (That's the only time I get peace and quiet!). Do they ever sleep? (Oh God, please don't tell me I have to give up sleep!).

What it comes down to is this - I'm not them, I'm me. This journey to "Find Amy" isn't just about eating better and exercising more, it's about figuring out how to balance the things I need to do with the things I want to do.  Thus, "Finding Amy" continues to be an every day struggle.  I wish I could get all of the stories, anecdotes and insanity out of my head and down on paper on a daily basis, but I'm me and, quite frankly, it just ain't going to happen. 

So my solution is to keep typing away, knowing that sometimes my fingers will actually reach the keyboard. And when they do, I hope you will be there to read it.   
 

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