Where The Heck Have I Been? A Story In Graphs
By now, you’ve noticed I haven’t been blogging as much. Lately, once a week is about all I can manage. Why, you ask? Well, I have a convenient chart ready that explains where my time has gone and simultaneously demonstrates my bomb Excel skills. Where Natalie Spends Her Time Hm. Something’s not right. I didn’t include some of the other stuff, like forgetting important dates, crying about it, and not cleaning my house. So I just made another chart. Other Important Ways Natalie Spends Her Time Okay, this one’s not entirely accurate. There were a few hours on Valentine’s Day when I needed to not work and you know, spend…
Blogiversary: Unexpected Lessons from One Year of Blogging
On August 4th, 2012, this space was born. I was away on vacation last week, so we’re celebrating late. Sorry, sweet little blog. I have thought about what I would say in this post often the past year. Much like an actress practicing her Academy Award speech after her first so-so B-film, I thought about what I’d reveal; how much I’ve learned, how much I’ve grown, who I’d thank, etc., etc. Of course, blogging has been a different experience than I’d expected, so I’ve retooled the speech a few times along the way. I’m not a famous, self-supporting writer; rather, I’m a niche-less blogger, one-among-many. Not that I expected otherwise,…
Being Back
I took an unexpected vacation last week. After BlogHer, a trip I’m still processing because I’m a slow learner when it comes to emotional stuffage, I felt very adrift, clinging to my sense of self with one hand. With no job, and thus no paycheck, to validate my worth as a human being (ESPECIALLY an American); with no one beating down my door to publish my writing and confirm my skill with words; with no husband to at least hug me at the end of the day when I felt like a loser, I fled from my life like a refugee from a war-torn country and joined Mike on his…
Why I Am No Longer Advertising
Last November, I made the decision to advertise this little blog a few places, hoping that I’d gain new readers and wider exposure. Six months was the internal deadline I set for myself when I started, knowing that at that point I’d reevaluate my financial situation, the blog’s statistical data and my ROI. Yeah, I can rock the financial lingo with the best of them. Well, there I was at the six month mark last week. In the weeks leading up to it, I’d been thinking a lot about whether or not to pull the plug, and I went into a tailspin of self-doubt because that is part of my…
Blogging Genesis
This blog started out as a life-preserver I threw myself. Going to school for something much grander than what I ended up doing, I settled for a menial job instead of a mentally stimulating, challenging career; the absolute last scenario I envisioned when planning out my life, but I’ve heard it said that life isn’t all that interested in your plans, nor your Herculean efforts to make them reality. Sometimes the economy crashes and your chosen field of work disappears. Sometimes you end up with strange flesh-eating viruses that cut your life short. Sometimes loved ones die. Sometimes you have to do shit you don’t want to do in order…
Blogging: Wrangling a Strange Beast
I am not the first person to make this observation, but blogging and writing are two distinctive pursuits. I am a trained writer. I know what I’m doing with the word things and the grammar-ness, for the most part, even though there is always room for improvement. Blogging, on the other hand, is an entirely different beast. It is social media – the key word in that descriptor being SOCIAL. I have never been very adept at the art of people skills or marketing myself, so this has been the most difficult, emotionally explosive part of blogging for me. I would rather hide in my office with strong coffee for…
