Trying something new….

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My cat.

So, you know how everyone has their “thing” that they do to remain sane when things are chaotic around them? For some it’s running, for other’s it’s meditation, still others it may be a bath and a glass of wine.

Well, I actually was starting to like running, but I can’t currently run because of my shoulder.  I do like meditation, but it’s generally coupled with yoga, and I’m currently limited there as well. Wine is nice…. but baths aren’t my thing, and they get cold too fast anyway.

But WRITING.  Writing is, and always has been, my never-fail go-to.  A half hour of writing – anything – is better than therapy as far as I’m concerned.  So I decided, at least until I get bored with it, that I’m going to take some time every morning before the girl gets up (time I ordinarily would have spent wasting time by getting annoyed with people on Facebook mentally preparing for the day) and post a new blog post.

Now, this is a 99% selfish act on my part, because beside the fact that it just makes me feel better, I miss writing when I don’t do it.   And I’m mainly announcing it here for accountability sake.  But here’s what it means for you:

(In a list form, because you know I love lists)

1.  More stream-of-consciousness writing.  My brain is a strange and crowded place.  The more I can get some of those random thoughts actually out, the better for everyone.  For example, I just learned that you’re not supposed to leave two spaces after a period anymore. What kind of craziness is this?  Apparently it was an old rule, and only applied when people were typing on manual typewriters.  The writing world has since evolved, but I didn’t evolve with it.  I’ve been doing it for over 30 years now, and it’s highly unlikely that I will stop.  Deal with it.

2.  More stuff about my kids and my family and our adventures.  When I first started this blog, it was about my life.  My kids.  Our unschooling adventures.  I had about 12 faithful readers, and I wrote about our day-to-day happenings, from the funny to the unexpected to the mundane.  I miss that sometimes.  No one ever made any nasty comments.  I never made any conscious decisions to stop writing in that fashion and start writing about “issues”, but somewhere along the way, it just organically happened.   And don’t get me wrong…. I’ll still write about issues.  I just feel like I freed up a whole lot of writing time to return to some of that older stuff too.  But, it also means:

3.  More stuff about parenting and unschooling and responses to the current mainstream thought that’s out there.    I’ve written about my love affair with sticky notes before.  Well one of the things that my sticky notes are often covered with is notes about things I want to write about.  Or articles I read that I wanted to respond to.  Or questions I want to ask.  Because of life, I barely got to half of them.  But if I’m giving myself the gift of five to seven whole posts a WEEK (seriously, I’m like giddy about this) I’ll have that many more opportunities to get to them.

And,

4.  More stuff FOR, and BY YOU.  You know what my favorite day on my FB page is? Thursday.  Because for the past 3 or 4 Thursdays, I’ve been asking you all to share a picture from your phone.  I can’t explain how much I love this!  I love seeing what you all share.  I love answering your questions.  I love getting your feedback. Posting more often will allow me to bring some more of that to my blog, instead of just keeping it on Facebook.  I would love to do a weekly FAQ, and I would love to do a regular post about your take on some of the parenting issues that come up again and again.  I get a lot of messages, and I respond to as many as I can, but I like the idea of posting and answering them publicly even more… because lots of other people share the same questions.

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At the same time I’m writing more, I’m going to be doing almost the opposite on my Facebook page.  It’s not that I’m not going to keep posting, because I am.  But I am going to guard the conversations much more closely.  I feel like things have been on a steady downward spiral lately, and I don’t like it.  I don’t like it that there is name calling.  I don’t like it that people can’t be kind when they disagree.  I don’t like it that some of my loyal, faithful readers who contribute SO MUCH to these conversations are getting attacked by others.  I don’t like it that new people who are asking genuine questions are getting attacked by others.

I may be naive, but I like to think that people can still behave like grown-ups, even on the internet.

So the rule (the ONLY rule) is:  You have to play nice.  Agree, disagree, think I’m crazy, think what I post is crazy…. but BE NICE.  If you think someone’s being an idiot, great!  If you actually CALL them an idiot… you’ll be removed; not the idiot.    Deal?

Love you all, and as always, thanks for coming along for the ride.

 

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3 Comments

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3 Responses to Trying something new….

  1. T Serenity McCloskey

    Sounds good to me – all of it! And you feeling giddy makes me so happy. Can’t wait to see what interesting little tidbits you will reveal.

  2. Lisa from Iroquois

    Welcome back. I’ve missed your unique point of view. oh and a small point – you say you’re writing was about you … and it morphed into issues – those issues are still you – coz they are your take on the thing. And I am looking forward to reading more of that. 🙂 Hope that came across the right way.

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