Wednesday 4 May 2011

Why I love this bloggy caper!

Found here
Oh, my! What trouble I've been having with Feedburner and Google Reader deciding they didn't want to play together! You may have missed my giveaway post and Sunday Splendour so have a peek if you did. I'm hoping I've fixed the problem - I'll find out once I've published this ☺. Thanks for all your patience and understanding, you gorgeous souls. 

I also notice that quite a few of you have hopped aboard this planet recently (a warm welcome to you) so I think it’s timely to share a little bit about me and why I blog. I've interviewed myself (it felt a bit odd but I'll try anything once!). For the older Planetarians, some of this will be familiar but there are some newer thoughts, too. Okay, now settle down into a comfy chair with a glass of something yummy (mine’s some chilled riesling, of course!) and let’s start.

Why did I start blogging?
This is the photo from my first post – Alice stepping through the portal into another world

By July 2010, as a SAHM with 3 children under 5, Facebook had assumed an important role in my daily life, like a portal to connect with the ‘outside world’ of adults. However, it lacked the deeper level of connection with like-minded souls I was secretly yearning for. Catching up with old acquaintances was fine but I wanted more. I wanted to make new friends. I was also worried that I was forgetting so many precious childhood moments with the pixies. After seeing a blog mentioned on Facebook, I stumbled onto Blogger and hit ‘Create blog’. When prompted to name it, the title appeared to me in a flash. It was an expression I had been using for ages to describe the *completely parallel universe* I often felt I lived in as a mother. I was staggered no one else had nabbed it! My first post completely captured my feelings at the time. Oh, how glad I am that I clicked on those two magic words that day!

What makes me keep blogging?
I can’t imagine my life without blogging. Really, I can’t. It’s assumed a place and status in my life I could never have even dreamt of only 9 months ago. I think I was always destined to be a blogger, somehow. At school, I’d harboured aspirations of becoming a foreign correspondent but a week of work experience at the ABC in Grade 10 soon shattered those illusions! However, I still wanted an outlet to express my passionate love of words. I ‘fell into’ studying Arts/Law and practised as a solicitor for 10 years before Joshua was born. Words were my tools of trade and my weapons, even, in a courtroom.

With my arrival on Planet Baby, suddenly my hands became my tools of trade, with my words relegated to the spare room, lying there, unloved. 

But once I started blogging, once again I had an outlet to use my words. And they came a-tumbling, pouring out of my head in a torrent. What a blessed release!

Found here

What I hadn’t reckoned with was the extraordinary friendships I would soon form with gorgeous souls all over the globe. Merely through our exchange of words. Just extraordinary. Some of my blogging buddies know more about me than my closest friends. In fact, some of them now are amongst my closest friends. Even although we’ve never met in person. I think only bloggers really *get* me on this point. I’m sure you Planetarians know what I mean. My connecting with my bloggy friends regularly is essential for the smooth running of life on Planet Baby!
How do I find the inspiration to blog?
Oh, gosh, I am one of those bloggers who suffers from a surfeit of ideas! When I read my dear friend Bron’s post about losing her ‘blark’ (blogging spark!), I was just *fascinated* at how differently I felt about blogging. I sometimes wish I could lose my blark! As a busy Mum, I never have the time to write down all the posts in my head. I am constantly composing posts in my head. I’m no longer racing around scribbling down ideas on post-it notes like I was in the height of my *blogoholic days*.  But I still am in perpetual bloggy rehab! I have to keep an eye on myself, ensuring that my everyday life has precedence over Blogland. It’s a real balancing act for me as I *adore* the close connections I have with so many dear bloggy friends and it is so easy to while away hours blogging before noticing I have. I also find it quite therapeutic to get my thoughts in order by focusing on writing my posts. I think in that sense, blogging is helping me recover from my PND. I’m finding *Jane-the-person* again. I quite like her!

How do I overcome blogger's block?

Well, I just haven’t experienced it. I have 115 draft post titles just waiting to be written up. I kid you not. Most of them were written in my first few days of blogging, so pent-up were all those words! As many of you know, I also recently delighted in taking Holly Becker’s brilliant Blogging Your Way e-course and now have ideas coming out my ears ☺. I really can’t wait to find the time and the headspace to put all the ideas the course stimulated in me into action.

What's been my best blogging experience to date?

Now this one’s *so* tricky to answer. Really. I can’t choose. It’s a toss-up between these three:

*  Discovering the joy and the freedom of essentially publishing my own online magazine for free, at a time of my choosing, and then having kind-hearted souls the world over actually want to read what I have to say and even take the time and effort to comment on my little ponderings. It still astounds me daily;

* Developing an incredible kinship and deep and admiring friendship with sweet Felicity of Gifts of Serendipity. Finding her in the vast expanses of Blogland has been an incredible blessing for me; and

* Discovering my latent *creative side*. Encouraged by the beautiful inventiveness of gorgeous bloggers such as Tina of Rubies’ Place, I have been astounded to discover a wellspring of creativity inside me. Yes, little old me! This post about my Blogging Your Way mood board captures some of the emotions and experiences blogging has evoked for me. And this post showing how I created some Liberty loveliness the other day shows how far I’ve come since I started blogging – never in my wildest dreams would I have come up with this idea before blogging. I didn’t copy someone else’s idea – it was mine alone. And now I can’t wait to make some more!

So, lovely Planetarians, there you have it – some reasons why I love this bloggy caper so much. There are plenty more. Do any of them ring bells with you? Or have you found blogging an entirely different experience altogether? Jump in and share your thoughts so we can share some gorgeous blog love around!
Photobucket
PS Don't forget to enter my giveaway!
This post was rewound at Life in a Pink Fibro's Weekend Rewind on 14 May 2011.

24 comments:

  1. I could have written this post, Jane. We are so the same. My blark still leaves me from time to time, but the inspiration never. I also have posts spilling out of me, but sometimes I just don't feel like playing, you know?

    I think the friendships we gave made (hello lovely you!) are the highlight of blogging and the surge in 'me'ness is the embossing. x

    PS - you're back in my reader!!! Woot!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The way your words flow it is rather obvious how addicted you are to them. You write with such ease and are very readable. I believe the best two parts of blogging are the words and the people/relationships. They make it all worth while :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. i am so, so happy you decided to blog, and we could connect in this crazy sphere:) yours is such a pleasure to read. i love how you said the words just came tumbling out of you. so true, jane! i never knew how much i had to say until i had a venue like blogging though which to say it:) beautiful post, dear!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love the photo of Alice that you used in your first blog. I'm so glad you started blogging.

    Kirstyx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Jane, I so much enjoyed getting to know you more and how you came to blogging. For me it's still a long way to go, since I just started, but it feels so great to have met such wonderful bloggy friends along the way, like you.
    Sending you sweet thoughts from Germany!
    Liebe Grüße
    x. Tesca

    ReplyDelete
  6. Welcome back Jane. Glad all your important bits are talking to each other again! I too am very fond of Felicity and I love that she is so deep! You do have a wonderful blog and it is lovely sharing it with you as only the female of the species can... Have a grand day. Hope your Daddy is hanging in there...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hip Hip Hooray for you sparkling Jane!

    It has been the greatest gift to 'meet' and grow with you and I look forward to all that we have to share together on PB, Serendipity & beyond [sounds a bit Buzz Lightyear'ish!].

    Fingers crossed for a huge Lotto win so that we can share in an adventure of a lifetime - being foreign correspondents from atop the Eiffel Tower! xxx F

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yay, you're back in my reader!!!
    I loved this post, and so true with my blogging journey too.And I could so see you being a journalist but as I always say I think you need to write a book :)
    Jxx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jane this is a wonderful post...you definitely capture me with your words everytime I visit :)

    I too love that through blogging I have connected with many people who I ordinarily would never have crossed paths with.

    Have a wonderful day dear friend.
    x

    ReplyDelete
  10. I've been a 'planetarian' for a while now and have so enjoyed getting to know you. You've taught me much of what I know about blogging - thank you for the great tips. We will all continue to learn and grow through blogging and like you I'm amazed at the geniune 'niceness' of the blogging world. Off now to catch up with your posts as they didn't show up anywhere for me either.
    x

    ReplyDelete
  11. Just discovering your Planetary blog and totally relate to how motherhood expands one's perspective about possibilities. To appreciate every moment where you are, blog, write books, even start a home business (like oznappies.com), the world is your oyster. Great to connect with kindred spirits who love something about everything.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Couldn't have said it better myself Jane. I feel like blogging has brought the 'me' back into my life! And just like you, if only there was more time to allocate to blogging! I have many ideas and posts that haven't yet seen the light of day (not as many as you though - goodness!!). You have such a lovely friendly blog that I always enjoy my time over on planet baby:)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I enjoy just sharing a part of myself..I used to be scared of doing that online..and sharing something about the day..in the moment. There is a freshness to blogging. There are glimpses into somebody's real life at the moment the post is written..that encourage and affirm my own life journey and relationships with people I wouldn't meet any other way! I have also developed a real relationship with little ....s and !!!!s..lol!

    ReplyDelete
  14. This post is great Jane. I can relate to it very well. I only started blogging late last year. Commencing like a shot out of a gun... then nothing... for 2 months! In that time, I missed blogging. I let other things get in the way of spending a little 'me' time writing down my thoughts. But I vowed not to let that happen again. I'm a little like you, I've always got ideas swimming around in my head and experiences I have every day, are the ones I quite often like to record... for the future... because I KNOW I'll forget them otherwise.
    Then, the people! I agree so wholeheartedly about the wonderful world of bloggers out there, they're amazing and to think I would never have known they existed if I hadn't started blogging myself. It's addictive and I'm thoroughly addicted! :o)

    ReplyDelete
  15. It is so great getting to know you better, Jane! That's why I love blogging too... so many wonderful, talented, supportive friends out there!!! I don't have much time, but when I do I love to catch up on everyone... so much inspriration, great discoveries and lovely heartwarming stories to share too. X

    ReplyDelete
  16. hello lovely girl...my house is quiet {the gorgeous aussies have gone home} & i'm not feeling great, so i am snuggled on the couch, cursing my sinuses and catching up on your gorgeous posts...

    i love you blogging..
    i'm delighted you pushed that *create* button...
    &
    i'm inspired by your *take* on the whole blogging caper...

    i think Bron's word..."blark" is brilliant- i've not had a moment like that, but likewise i have not got a hundred odd posts waiting in the wings as you do...
    i can so see how this *blogging* would assist your road away from PND- especially as you approach it in such an all-encompassing passionate way...we bloggy friends are blessed by you...

    for me...it's more a *moment* in my daily life to record & share a side of my life with like minded lovely souls...
    i adore *blogging* more than i have ever thought possible, but i also need to live in my real day-to-day life to make my blogging almost count- does this make sense?

    i love the ritual of sharing each day...but i also need the space to sink into my daily life away from the computer...

    i love that you see your blog as an "online magazine"...i'm going to think about this a little more...how does this fit into my thoughts on blogging?

    i've never needed to *tick* any boxes to feel a true wonderful sense of myself- and blogging is included here...i don't count numbers...or visitors or followers...i don't feel the need to blog each day if i'm busy & happily creating something else at home....
    but perhaps if i changed my thinking a little....hmmmm?

    anyhoo...i'm just glad that there is a you, doing it your way...with all the love, friendship & passion you are made of...

    melissa xxx

    ReplyDelete
  17. I loved reading this, Jane. It's always nice to get to know a little more about the blogger. I would have to agree with you on friendships. It's something so special and only a blogger *gets* it. Your positivity & enthusiasm is contagious!!!

    Thanks for always taking a minute to encourage me, Jane!

    xoxo,
    Jami

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thank you Jane. Such a lovely easy blog to read. I think those wh do not blog just don't get it.

    I think I am still finding my voice and way of blogging. I have not had the huge connection as yet, but more of late had a bit more which has been lovely.

    One lovely lady emails me regularly and is very caring in her thoughts.

    Being a bit isolated from family and friends due to frequent moving I really think reading other people's blogs has really helped me get out the ordinary. Likewise I found facebook very underwhelming.

    Looking forward to reading more
    xo jill

    ReplyDelete
  19. Nice to read so much about you. I didn't know you had only been blogging for nine months (a pregnancy!). These questions look strangely familiar.... x

    ReplyDelete
  20. I have been out of blog World for the past couple of weeks with a bad back, so a great post to come back to. I will now read on and look into your giveaway. Hope you have a wonderful Mother's day tomorrow. Gx

    ReplyDelete
  21. Gee, what insightful and thoughtful comments you've all come up with here! Thanks for all your kind encouragement about my blog - darling souls like you make it the incredible and fulfilling experience for me.

    Yes, Bron, I agree - blogging is the background to family life, not the foreground. Living a life has to take top priority!

    Janette, you gorgeous girl. You've been one of my very very first and most encouraging supporters - thankyou. Who knows where this caper will lead - maybe a book one day - we'll see!

    I'm delighted to hear you're enjoying the experience so much, Julie. Beware of blogger burnout - see my bloggy rehab posts if you dare!

    Ah, Melissa. Lapping up every word of yours, as usual, Lovely. Finding people like you has been such a blessing for me.

    Jami, you are such an incredible inspiration to so many. I'm so pleased we found each other.

    Ah, Jill, keep going! It's amazing how your readership can grow - the more encouragement you get, the better you write, I find.

    Ah, yes, MM. Have sent you a PM about that...

    And Georgy, I hope you're hale and hearty again, Sweetie. J x

    ReplyDelete
  22. I found I lost my blark in the early days of my blog, but now I've been at it for longer, my problem is not having the time for all the posts in my head!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I can feel your passion all the way over here. It's why your blog is such a joy to visit.

    Thanks for Rewinding at the Fibro!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thanks, HMR - I so totally relate!

    And thanks, Al - you're such a gem for hosting the Rewind. J x

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, you gorgeous soul. You've just made my day! J x

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...