Saturday, October 1, 2011

a question of content

have you ever asked yourself WHY you blog? i generally refrain from asking myself too many deep questions, but now and then, one arrives in my brain and i feel the need to look it straight in the face and come up with an answer.

when i first started blogging, i wrote an average of 10 posts a month. then it picked up to maybe 15 a month but then over this past summer, it plummeted down to about 4 per month. i was thinking about that a few days ago and thinking about the content of my writing as well and i realized that not only has the regularity changed, so has the content. (al, i can feel that poop thought forming in your head as i type this)

when i first started writing, i wrote about brooke a lot. about being the mom of an aspie child and the challenges of homeschooling. i wrote a bunch of childhood memories and tried to cram tons of information into each post as if i thought that if i didn't put out enough, no one would come read me.

as brooke has gotten older, i've felt like it was time to taper off on writing about her. sure, i still talk about her, but i don't want to share as many of her challenging or embarrassing moments. she's a whole human all her own & she might not appreciate being laughed at by my blogging buddies. so now i mostly just write about her with her permission. and i only add pics that i know she'd approve if she were looking over my shoulder. like this one of her holding a teeny tiny bunny that was rescued over the summer.

my day to day life isn't particularly interesting most of the time. we only have one car & my husband works full-time, so i spend pretty much every day in this house, living with my in-laws & homeschooling my recalcitrant daughter. that does lead to some amusing or bizarre events, but most of the time, those events aren't things i can write about because i don't ever want to embarrass my family members or make them worry that the things they say or do will end up in my blog. i want them to like me & that's more important than sharing a great story.

so where does that leave my blog? what is the purpose of it? i think that it has evolved into a place where i can remember who i am. most of my time and brain are taken up with being a wife and mom. i love being that person, but it's not all of me. i still existed before i was married or had brooke. i had a personality and opinions. i went places and did things. i had friends and we shared adventures. i don't get to spend as much time as i'd like existing as me, outside of the framework of wife and motherhood, but my blog is kind of my place to remember that i do exist. it's my place to remind myself that even if something horrible happened that took my family from me, i wouldn't just shrivel up and disappear due to a lack of practical application.

wow, this turned kind of dark in that last sentence, but at least i answered my question of why do i blog now. i guess that means that if you stick around, you'll have to keep reading stories of my youthful escapades, my IBS dilemmas and my boobs.

16 comments:

  1. I'm glad you are here my friend! Even if you write about poop or your boring day. :)

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  2. You know me, you really know me! Just before I saw your note "al", I was forming a response for here which had to do with raisin bran.
    I, too, had the same epiphany (It's Not Just For Christmas!) that I'm a person, all on my little, gray-haired, wrinkled self. So, keep on writing. I'll always enjoy reading of your adventures.
    And you can toss in a boobs post every so often, too.

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  3. al, i also thought about doing some of your little "NOTE"s in here to entertain you. thanks for permission to write about my boobs. and you also have permission to write about your moobs.

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  4. Well...boob stories can be interesting...

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  5. I love reading your blog. You make me laugh. Keep blogging!

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  6. Good post, Sherilin. I wonder if most of us question why we blog? I feel like it's my own private corner away from all the people I have to deal with every day. That may sound harsh, but try to go to the bathroom by yourself when the kids are busting in on you all the time, and you'll understand.

    I have no problem with you blogging about IBS, escapades and boobs, if you have no problem listening to me rant about my LADY TSUNAMI :) Besides, we wuv each other.

    super cute pic of Brooke, btw.

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  7. i'm pretty partial to boob stories myself, eva. i've actually got a little list going of some other things i want to say about boobs, but i'm trying not to make it too close to the last one. got to drag the fun out a bit.
    karen, i will always read about your lady tsunami. but i'll also tell you that you must enjoy the drama of pads & tampons since you are resisting THE CUP! come on over to the green side.(i thought you were mrs green! you with your scratchy toilet paper) join the revolution! and i totally get the thing about people busting in on you while you're in the bathroom. the other day brooke followed me in because there was something she just HAD to tell me & i couldn't hold it anymore. she was standing right up next to me sharing some story about an idea she has for her youtube account & i told her that i really don't like her to be in my personal space when i'm tending to bathroom business. so she took 2 steps away, turned her back to me & sat down on the floor where she kept up her monologue. she also sometimes will hug me when i'm on the toilet (this from a child who isn't very affectionate) and whisper in my ear, "it's funny when i hug you while you poop." yeah, i get the need to be away from the fam in blogland.

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  8. Suits me fine. You're interesting no matter what you write about, and such a funny lady. Life changes, and if we write about it, so does our writing.

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  9. I love reading about your boobs, and your farts! ha...you did actually answer your question. Well done!

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  10. You know, I think that is why I blog too. I haven't had much time as of late because I've been really busy. But, I don't get out much either. It's nice to get things out and know that people think you're funny or when you're sad people understand how you feel. When I'm here I am not just a stay at home mom/wife.
    By the way, I read your honeymooning post and plan on writing a post about mine, hopefully this week. When I have it up I will leave a comment on your post.

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  11. funny, Sherilin. Ah the great loss of privacy! We know it well :) Yeah, I'm trying to go green. I'm also lazy and ridiculously cheap (even if the cup is more economical in the long run) :)

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  12. Well I certainly do not mind hearing about your boobs, IBS, or anything.....cuz it just takes me to another place where I can forget about all the drama that my own life consists off....and thanks for that.

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  13. Your blog is great because it's yours, boobs, poop and all...

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  14. Like I've said before, it's a race to see which will reach my shoes first: testicles or moobs. I won't tell you which part is winning, but let me put it this way: I get a real bad kick-in-the-gut feeling whenever I don't take my time putting sneakers on.

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  15. I recently asked myself that very question:

    http://bumbumgerms.blogspot.com/2011/09/why-i-share-my-dirty-little-secrets.html

    I'm just afraid of running out of things to talk about, since I've blogged almost every day for three months.

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don't let me be the only one doing the talking around here. spill your guts!