Today

I set up my blogger account about a year ago.  Since then, I planned many posts but haven’t actually blogged.  Should I really spend time blogging or should I focus on projects for publication, I wondered.  During that year, a few of my essays were published and I participated in National Novel Writing Month (http://nanowrimo.org/).  But I’ve also done an impressive amount of procrastinating when it comes to both writing projects and blogging.

As a recovering (still) perfectionist, here are some reasons I procrastinated on blogging:  

1)  Finding the perfect blog address.  Would you believe that every variation on the nursery rhyme title “Mary, Mary Quite Contrary” was already taken?  And I thought that was such a clever and original idea!  All of the other clever and original ideas were also taken.  I decided to just use my name, regardless of its abundance of consonants. 

2)  Finding the perfect time to start blogging.  Here’s a peek at my mental gymnastics on that.  Summer’s good because we’re less scheduled and not busy with school and activities.  Fall is better because I can work around the school routine.  My November birthday would be a good time to start, a celebration of sorts.  But that’s right around Thanksgiving, and then there’s the bustle of the winter holidays.  The New Year is a good time– a fresh start and all those cold, dark winter days perfect for writing.  Winter was too depressing …  Lent?  First day of spring?  Mother’s Day?  Apparently not.  And now we’re back to the summer again.  

There is no magical day or perfect time to start blogging.  There will always be other things to do or other ways to keep busy.  I just have to start.  Today.

3)  Writing the perfect blog post.  My main reason for procrastinating is in thinking that each and every post needs to be carefully-edited and fully-polished.  That’s a lot of pressure.  Recently, I read the book Show Your Work:  10 ways to share your creativity and get discovered by Austin Kleon.  It’s a really inspiring little book.  One of the 10 ways to share is: “Think process, not product.”  I’m trying to be braver about sharing my writing, whether it’s a finished "product” or not. 

*****

My writing has often taken a back seat to life - school, work, family and other commitments.  There are people who write despite all that.  The novelist who writes a book while caring for several young children.  The author who comes home and writes in her little closet office all night after working at a demanding career all day.  I wasn’t those people.  I’ve wasted more time than some and less than others.  Maybe I didn’t have to spend quite as much time watching episodes of Law & Order after exhausting days with small children.  Why was that show so prolific and addicting!?  Maybe I didn’t have to reread each Jane Austen novel or the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy so very often.  But I did.

Now I choose to focus on my writing despite the continual busyness and distractions of life.  My children are older, and committing to my own interests and goals has come through my desire to help them discover theirs.  As an educator and a homeschooling mom, I read a lot of books and blogs about education and homeschooling.  Along the way, I found Lori Pickert, her blog, and her book, Project-Based Homeschoolers:  Mentoring Self-Directed Learners.  Lori’s blog series PBH for Grown-ups inspired and motivated me to focus more on my writing life, starting about 18 months ago.  This blog is *my* project and the next step on my path as a writer.