Reruns About Running, Booze, Cats, Etc...
This is the 100th post of my blog! If my blog was a television show, it could be syndicated. Actually, while "researching" (googling) that I discovered the syndication threshold has been lowered to 88.
Either way, 100 posts is a milestone and I can start officially having reruns of my posts (which I've already been doing and just calling it "repurposing," a term I learned through work). And I won't hide behind humble bragging, I am honestly impressed by many of my posts and pleasantly surprised when I re-read them. I have no illusions about making a living as a writer, but I think many of posts are pretty well-written and entertaining.
More importantly than a quest for quality, blogging helps me sort through what I'm thinking and feeling and capture moments that are otherwise all too ephemeral. Blogging helps calm me down a bit, at least temporarily, and helps me feel a little more grounded.
My blog premiered with my first post on January 27, 2014. So I've kept this blog going for almost 3 1/2 years, averaging a little over 2 posts a month. That's the end of the math portion of my post, I promise. I'm not really sure what the significance of these stats are, except that I'm also feeling a sense of accomplishment that I've stuck with something, and without getting in trouble with any of my work supervisors or obviously offending anyone. Yes, that may have more to do with the visibility, rather than the content or quality of my blog, but a win is a win.
The hardest thing about blogging is find time to do it and things to write about. Okay, that might be technically two things but there are very intertwined. Sometimes I'll have a great idea, or at least what seems like a great idea, but it's tied to a specific event or date and by the time I actually get around to writing about it, the moment has past.
It's more challenging, though, to find things to blog about. Sure, there are things that I want to write about, but I don't want to get too repetitive or be too much of a hater or downer. Some repetition makes sense and is fine. I'm me, after all, and I'm going to blog about thing things that I experience and understand. I totally am onboard with the advice to "write what you know."
I made a very unscientific word cloud to capture what I blog about, or at least what I feel I blog about. All things in the Amyverse. I'm not likely to blog about politics or current events, not because I don't have opinions, but I feel like such topics would require way too much research and I don't have much that's unique to offer to the conversation.
So I don't try to avoid repeating topics but I do try and avoid writing about them in the same way. It's also interesting, and even helpful, for me to see how my feelings on something have changed.
My upcoming posts are likely to delve into running as I'm training for my first marathon in October. Somewhat surprisingly, I haven't written that much about acting and theater. I think when I'm in a show I'm just too busy, and after and between shows, writing about it makes me a little sad because I'm not sure I'll get to be involved in another show again.
Which is a pretty good segue into my efforts to avoid writing too much about my insecurities. I want to be honest, but I also don't think anyone benefits if I get too stuck in writing about my fears and failings. And yeah, I don't want to come across as a totally annoying weirdo. (If you think I've already crossed that line, just imagine what is really going on in my head!) Dr. Brene Brown (in a popular TED Talk) makes many insightful comments about the value of vulnerability and the willingness to share our flaws, but I also think it's good to strike a balance and not be all "ooh look at me, look at me, I'm such an interesting mess don't you want to watch and tell me how great I am?"
Or maybe that's just my repressed Germanic Luther upbringing talking...anyway, in that spirit, I'm NOT going to tell you that my lack of self control is so severe that I just have to go to bed in order to stop drinking more and eating more chips.
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| This shirt is so old it's survived a couple of blogs |
More importantly than a quest for quality, blogging helps me sort through what I'm thinking and feeling and capture moments that are otherwise all too ephemeral. Blogging helps calm me down a bit, at least temporarily, and helps me feel a little more grounded.
My blog premiered with my first post on January 27, 2014. So I've kept this blog going for almost 3 1/2 years, averaging a little over 2 posts a month. That's the end of the math portion of my post, I promise. I'm not really sure what the significance of these stats are, except that I'm also feeling a sense of accomplishment that I've stuck with something, and without getting in trouble with any of my work supervisors or obviously offending anyone. Yes, that may have more to do with the visibility, rather than the content or quality of my blog, but a win is a win.
The hardest thing about blogging is find time to do it and things to write about. Okay, that might be technically two things but there are very intertwined. Sometimes I'll have a great idea, or at least what seems like a great idea, but it's tied to a specific event or date and by the time I actually get around to writing about it, the moment has past.
 |
| Not likely to find "gardening" in this cloud |
I made a very unscientific word cloud to capture what I blog about, or at least what I feel I blog about. All things in the Amyverse. I'm not likely to blog about politics or current events, not because I don't have opinions, but I feel like such topics would require way too much research and I don't have much that's unique to offer to the conversation.
So I don't try to avoid repeating topics but I do try and avoid writing about them in the same way. It's also interesting, and even helpful, for me to see how my feelings on something have changed.
My upcoming posts are likely to delve into running as I'm training for my first marathon in October. Somewhat surprisingly, I haven't written that much about acting and theater. I think when I'm in a show I'm just too busy, and after and between shows, writing about it makes me a little sad because I'm not sure I'll get to be involved in another show again.
Which is a pretty good segue into my efforts to avoid writing too much about my insecurities. I want to be honest, but I also don't think anyone benefits if I get too stuck in writing about my fears and failings. And yeah, I don't want to come across as a totally annoying weirdo. (If you think I've already crossed that line, just imagine what is really going on in my head!) Dr. Brene Brown (in a popular TED Talk) makes many insightful comments about the value of vulnerability and the willingness to share our flaws, but I also think it's good to strike a balance and not be all "ooh look at me, look at me, I'm such an interesting mess don't you want to watch and tell me how great I am?"
Or maybe that's just my repressed Germanic Luther upbringing talking...anyway, in that spirit, I'm NOT going to tell you that my lack of self control is so severe that I just have to go to bed in order to stop drinking more and eating more chips.
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