On Keeping Up The Pace

conniefitzgerald205

This is my thirteenth blog post in a row.  That's pretty good for me, but I am tired.  How do people do it?  It doesn't help that I've had a headache for four days and a migraine for two and a half of them. At this moment it hurts to think, so I'm going to take it easy and just ramble a little bit.

I've thought about writing a few blog posts in advance to have on hand for days like this, or when I have to work late, or whatever.  But part of the reason for me blogging every day is to practice the craft of writing, and doing it every day to develop the habit.  If I write advance posts and give myself permission to skip a day, well that's defeating the purpose.  So I'm going to trudge forward with blogging every day.  Just know that some of them will be boring.  Like this one.

On a happy note, we have freezing rain in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow morning.  Just a little bit, and knowing the way our weather rolls, it will probably fizzle out and do nothing, but at least it's in the forecast.  I'm ready for wintry weather.  I'd prefer it be in the form of fluffy snow instead of ice, but I'll take what I can get.  Incidentally, we had thunder ten days ago.  You know the old wives tale: If there's thunder in the winter, that means snow will follow in ten days.  Well, we're not going to have snow tomorrow, but it's trying!

For those of you who don't know, I'm a winter weather fanatic.  I love snow so much!  Mostly because we hardly ever get it in my neck of the woods.  I'm sure if I lived in Buffalo or Minnesota I'd be sick of it,  So if we do happen to have any of the frozen precipitation grace us with its presence, you can expect for me to write about it here!

I know this is short and sweet, but I'm going to end today's post here.  I hope you are well and warm wherever you are!

2015 Goals Series: Daily Blogging

This post is part of the 2015 Goals Series, where I'll share my goals for the year, why they are important to me, and how I plan to accomplish them. You can follow along here.

Kristina B

Hi there!  Thanks for joining me as we continue with my 2015 Goals Series.  

Yesterday we started with my reasons for setting goals for 2015 in the first place, and shared a little bit about what hasn't worked for me in the past.  For the next several days, we'll explore each goal individually.  

Today we'll delve into my goal to publish a daily blog post.

I've had this blog for a long time -- since April 17, 2010.  There have been several attempts like this one to jump start the blog, but over the past four years I have published only 89 posts.  I immediately start to chastise myself for that, but no more.  This is a new beginning, and you know I love new beginnings!

In order to really solidify this goal, I took some time to really think about why it is important to me. Why do I feel the need to publish a blog post every single day?  The answers to that are pretty clear to me now.  

I want to develop the habit of writing every day.  

I want my Muse to know that when I sit down with my laptop and cup of something hot, I mean business and am ready to work.  If I leave a day or more in between writings, then that just leaves the door open for skipping another day, and then another day, and then before I know it a month has gone by.  They say that it takes 21 days two to eight months to develop a habit.  If I'm able to keep the daily writing thing going for twelve months, I should be set!

I want to practice the craft of writing.  

As you saw in yesterday's summary, another one of my goals is to finish writing my novel.  These days I can't even pretend to put together any kind of coherent story, because I'm so dreadfully out of practice.  Writing every day, even if it's not related to my novel, will eventually prepare me for getting back to my novel.  Practice makes perfect!

I want to share my knowledge with others.

I have learned a little about a lot of things in my forty-plus years on this Earth.  A lot of what I have learned has come from the internet.  I really love to share what I know, and if the information I have to offer can help just one person, I will be a very happy girl!

Finally, I want to build a community.

I'm not the only one who has learned a little about a lot of things.  We all have, and we all have information to share and contributions to make.  I would love to build an online community of friends who are interested in similar things.  It will be hard to resist all of the growing and sharing!

My plan for accomplishing this goal is pretty simple.  I'm going to write here every day.  Don't worry, I'll work hard to provide interesting content, although I hope you'll forgive me for the occasional meaningless ramble thrown into the mix.  I do have an extensive list of posts and topics under my belt, which is great news!  I will try to develop a bit of a schedule so you'll know what to expect and when, but that won't be written in stone.  I believe it's good to shake things up once in a while!

So, there you have it.  I'm really excited about starting out fresh, and I'm feeling really motivated. And this is post number three under my belt.  Only 362 to go!

How many of you have a blog?  Do you have any tips for keeping up the momentum?

Thanks for reading. :)

Catching Up

According to the most popular blog tutorials, you're not supposed to apologize for a delay in posting on your blog.  But c'mon, it's been six months!  So, I do apologize.  I have no excuse other than blogging was just not my priority.  But I hope that will change for 2014, because one of my goals is to post here more regularly.  I'm not promising anything.  We're almost three months into the year -- and you guys obviously know my record.

So, I thought I would use this post to update you on where I am at this present moment in my life.  There's nothing spectacular, really, but one man's mundane life is another's life of excitement.  So here goes.

My work life is ever evolving.  One day I will be working on expense reports, and the next day I will be traveling by air to a northern state who has SNOW, and the next day I will be tasked with preparing training materials for five different training sessions that I will need to deliver over a five-week period.  But that's how I like to roll.  I get bored very easily, and the unpredictable nature of my job is what keeps me going.

My home life is ever evolving as well.  One of the affirmations I have in my planner is "I want my house to be full of order and happiness."  Do you know how hard that is with two girls who are preteen and teen?  And who are on a shared custody schedule (meaning we have them half of the week and their mother has them the other half)?  But I'm adapting.  The whole experience has been one massive growth experience for me, and I feel like at the end of each lesson I come out with an A.  Or maybe a B.  But that's still honor roll status, right?!

My personal life -- you know, where I'm supposed to focus on ME -- is pretty lacking.  And I'm starting to suffer the consequences.  Honestly, when I'm faced with a to-do list that includes work items, household items, and family items, the "Me" items just seem to fall to the bottom of the list.  And there are only so many hours in the day I have to spend before I conk out in a state of exhaustion at 9:30pm.  As a result, I'm falling behind in my writing, and everything else I want to accomplish.

I haven't even written out my goals for 2014.  Let me say that again.  I HAVE NOT WRITTEN OUT MY GOALS FOR 2014.  I'm sorry to yell, but you have to understand that this is very, very wrong.  And so out of character for me.  Usually that part of my planning for the coming year is complete by mid-December.  I just haven't been motivated this year.  Most of my goals for 2013 were unfinished for 2014, and that makes me feel sad, and is probably the reason for my stalling.  But never fear.  They are mulling around up there in my head, and I plan to get them down and into action before too long.

My perimenopausal self has been rearing its very, very ugly head lately.  My Facebook friends have endured that wrath a couple of times (I'm really, really sorry about that!).  I'm working hard to get that under control, for the benefit of myself, and my family and friends.  :)

So, I think that's it, really.  That's where I am in life as of this moment.  And I'm hoping that this post is a jumping off point to a long sprint of regular, entertaining content on this blog.  Let's all pray for the planets to align appropriately. 

Hope you all are well.  What's going on in your world?

A Review of My Week #3

Hi there!

So I set out this year to share "A Week in My Filofax," where I share a photo of my week on two pages from my Filofax.

Well, last week I ran into a challenge.

I switched to 2-page-per-day pages.  (You can watch a YouTube video here of my planner setup.  Yes, I'm on YouTube!  You can see all my videos here.  Totally out of my comfort zone, but I'm going to give it a go and see what happens.)

So I don't think it would be very interesting to share seven photographs of each day.  Because, quite frankly, my pages have become less art and more utilitarian, as can be seen in the photo of Wednesday, January 16, below.

(My apologies for the poor photo quality.  I'm working really hard to improve my photography skills!)

I'm not doing much artwork in my planner now, which is a little bit sad, and may change.  But I've been trying to figure out how I'm going to use my planner to the fullest to help me achieve the goals I've set for the year.  That doesn't leave much room (or time) for stickers or drawings.  Don't worry, I'll work hard to fit that in too going forward.

I do have a bit of doodling to share with you, which occurred on Thursday, January 17.

(My apologies again for the poor photo quality.)

We actually had a dusting of snow!  I was beside myself.  We only got a dusting, and although I'm still praying for the 20-inch snow like we got in January 2000, I'm happy with what we do get.

So, I do want to continue with a recap of my week.  Here we go.

• Monday:  Big temporary project started at work.  Should last for the next three weeks or so.  Not that hard for me to manage, but I was instrumental in setting it up, so I'm proud of that.  I also worked out at the YMCA, doing a weight routine for my lower body.  I'm especially proud of that because I hate exercise.  (No offense to exercise.)  But since my gastric bypass surgery, I've reached a plateau in my weight loss, and at this point exercise is the only thing that will help me to reach my goal.
• Tuesday:  Nothing of significance to report.  My exercise yesterday (I am assuming) helped to stir up a health-related flare up that made me quite miserable, so I didn't get to do my upper body workout.  Not cool.
• Wednesday:  Very busy day at work (related to the big temporary project that started on Monday).  Also, a WINTER STORM WATCH was issued for Central NC for tomorrow night.  You know I had a hard time containing my excitement.  Also looking into Yin Yoga.  A blogger friend of mine is doing it, and I think it fits right it with my "personal well being" goal that I have.
• Thursday:  WE HAD SNOW!  It was only a dusting, but that didn't matter to me, or to our two daughters.  They were outside with their winter coats at 9:00PM as the snow fell (and didn't stick) because they "wanted to experience the snow."  They are definitely girls after my own heart.  Aside from that, I spent the day home from work because of the health-related flare up that occurred on Tuesday.  Not cool.
• Friday:  Nothing really of significance.  Just a regular old day.
• Saturday:  We were going to take a friend out for dinner for his birthday, but he was under the weather so we rescheduled.  John and I still went out.  It was lovely, and I really enjoyed spending time with him (outside of our home where electronics are a huge distraction!).  We spent a lot of money, but were really not happy with the food.  The restaurant was lovely, and we'd go there again for cocktails and appetizers, but not again for a meal.  
• Sunday:  This was an uber productive day for me.  John went with his friend to watch football, and the girls were at their mother's, so I had the whole house to myself.  I got a lot done and am proud of that.  (Although a part of me was disappointed that I didn't get *everything* done.  I think I schedule too many things for myself sometimes.)

So that's basically it for my week.  I hope you guys had a good week, and have a good week to come.  I'll see you again in a couple of days.

Day 2 BBBC - Write a List Post

Follow along as I take ProBlogger's 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge!

The exercise for Day 2 of the Build a Better Blog challenge was to write a list post.  You can find my list post here.  This was a simple exercise for me, because I love making lists!  And the list I made was of famous journals -- one of my favorite topics!

I can definitely see the advantage to list posts.  Being a heavy blog reader myself, I find that lists posts are very easy to read.  They are neat, and they are very easy to scan to get the information that is most meaningful to me.

I am sure that there will be other list posts published at The Journal Keeper.

Why Blogging Hasn't Worked For Me In The Past

Martin Neuhof

First, I'd like to send a shout-out (HI!) and a big thank you (THANK YOU!) to the recent subscribers to The Journal Keeper.  I appreciate you!

Now, in light of the fact that it's been six days since my last blog post (Bless me, Father, for I have sinned...), I think now would be a good time to write about why blogging hasn't worked for me in the past, and why I still struggle with it today.

As I've mentioned before, I've made several attempts at blogging.  And shortly after starting, I lose my motivation.  And I think that is largely because... 

I crave instant gratification.  And when I don't get it, I take my ball and bat and go home.  It's as simple as that, yet I also recognize that it's unreasonable.  What I really want is to have perfectly written and very witty posts flow magically from my fingers.  I want readers who are sitting at their computers dutifully waiting for my next brilliant words.  And I want comments from my adoring fans to overflow my inbox.

Ok, you can stop laughing now.  That's just mean.  

I get hung up on how my blog looks.  I focus first on the theme and the colors and the cool widgets before I have even published the first posts.  I've even jumped from platform to platform, changing the address of my blogs over and over so that even if I did have any readers they wouldn't be able to find me! 

I didn't want to start a blog until I could start it "perfectly."  I am a perfectionist by nature.  The bad kind.  I get so hung up on every aspect of what I do being absolutely, positively perfect that it becomes debilitating.  I either get frustrated, or discouraged, or burned out.  In the end, the task I was trying so hard to get right doesn't get done at all.  This goes for many aspects of my life, and not just blogging.

What I've come to realize is that while there is nothing wrong with trying to do perfect work, in a lot of cases it's more important to just get the work done.  And in many cases, there's no such thing as perfect.

Lately I've been educating myself on the blogging culture.  There are some really awesome resources out there.  And I've come to realize that I need to build up my blog.  Give it some time.  Darren Rowse at ProBlogger reminds me that even the big names in the blogosphere started out small -- most with zero readers for a while.  They key is to keep at it.  Keep writing quality content.  Focus on quality and not quantity, but try to keep posting on a regular schedule.

So I am going to focus on creating content and getting the word out.  I'm not going to worry about having an eye-pleasing design.  Yet.  I'm also going to try to stick to a more regular posting schedule.  This is all a learning process, and an exercise in self-discipline.  I hope you'll stick with me on the journey!

Day 1 BBBC - Write An Elevator Pitch

h.koppdelaney

Follow along as I take ProBlogger's 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge!

The exercise for Day 1 of the Build a Better Blog challenge was to write an elevator pitch.  This was a good exercise for me, because it helped me to sit down and really decide what I wanted for this blog.

An elevator pitch is an overview or summary of a product or service or person that can be given in about 30 seconds -- the time it takes to ride an elevator.  The idea is that if someone asks you to tell them about yourself (or your blog,or what you do, or what you're selling, etc.), you'll be ready with a short pitch instead of "Uhhh, well, umm..."

To write my elevator pitch, I asked myself a few questions:  What is my blog about?  What information do I want to share?  Who will be reading my blog?

This is what I came up with:


"The Journal Keeper is a place for me to share my personal thoughts on things as I see them."

It's as simple as that.  Nothing fancy or flashy.   You can read the extended version on my About page.

Now, on to Day 2!

A New Direction for The Journal Keeper

I am sure you have noticed that my attempts at this blogging thing have been a bit random and haphazard.  I had great intentions when I created The Journal Keeper.  I wanted it to be a place to share what I knew about the craft of journaling, and how I used journal writing in my daily life.

I immediately had two problems:  1) It turned out that I didn't know as much about journaling as I thought.  I had been writing in my diary/journal on and off for as long as I could remember, and had learned many things along the way, but found that I didn't really have enough knowledge to keep the blog going for an indefinite period of time.  2) As much as I love the act of journaling and what I know it can do to improve my well-being, I had not been doing it as faithfully as I should.  In fact, my journal writing had long since taken a nose dive over the past several years, so much so that I had trouble calling myself a journal writer at all without feeling like a fraud.

I've had a dream for a long time of facilitating others in journaling for empowerment, whether it be through workshops or a newsletter or a blog.  I really loved the idea of blogging -- I would love to say that was because it would be a great way to practice my writing.  In reality, though, I think I loved the idea because I wanted the attention.  I wanted to gain a loyal following of readers who hung on my every word and left adoring comments on every entry.  I wanted to make friends that would last a lifetime.  After all, I read several blogs written my people who have done just that.

But it's just not working for me.  I've put way too much pressure on myself (in way too many areas of my life -- not just the journal blog area) and lately I have felt way too overwhelmed.  So I'm cutting things back.  And that includes the Blog About Journaling.

Instead, though, I will keep this blog as my personal journal.  I'm making every effort to "go electronic" in that area.  It's not going well (that's for another entry), but I think I have to give it a fair try.

So here's to a new direction for The Journal Keeper.