So, its been a while. I am an unreliable confidant, as fickle as this spring weather we are enduring. I get on a roll, and then I roll right off again.
I have a touch of the blogging blahs. Normally I solve this by shutting everything down and coming back a year later. I am not enamoured with this blog - the name, the design, the tags - any of it. I love writing but I am not as good as I once was - not so much from lack of practice, but practice in the wrong direction. When I started my first blog 7 years ago I was full of enthusiasm and was gradually uncovering my 'voice' - I know because I've just read through some of my archives on ye olde blogs. I felt a pang of nostalgia for my lack of self consciousness and the enthusiastic belief I had in simpler, greener living as an antidote to all the crap going in in the world.
Somewhere along the way, I decided my voice was not good enough and I stifled it. At the same time I decided my life was just a bit too interesting with all the DIY, self reliance projects and ensuing mess, so I decided to pare everything down to greyness. Who could have foreseen that going badly eh?
So here I am with a very boring blog and a very dull voice, pondering what to do next; regretting roads not taken and wondering if there is the slightest glimmer of hope that I might recover that enthusiasm.
In other news, I found a huge hole in our budget - I remember the threat of poverty was very inspiring back then, so perhaps I've found my most potent muse again?
Ramble over.
Well I was very happy to see your name pop up in my feed yesterday!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about your voice. My blog is just about the most boring thing in the world, because I choose to talk about the things I don't get to talk about otherwise. I always enjoy your honesty, too much perfection is a turn off for me. Whatever you decide to do, have fun with it.
Thank you for your lovely words. I love your blog because you blog about all the things you do (and you have vegan food!). There used to be a lot more frugal/homely/simple living blogs for inspiration, so many of them are gone now sadly.
DeleteVoice is a tricky thing - apparently you are supposed to write how you speak, but I don't think anyone would appreciate my oscillations between reserved telephone voice, sweary Pompey/Cockney estuary and Norfolkian yokel somehow :D xx
I go through phases with blogging. And indeed in the light of this the blog goes through phases too. Over 11 years of it I've learned to let it roll with the punches now - sometimes I blog, sometimes I don't.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes get a bit bored with all the blogs out there depicting a perfect, happy, shiny existence. Is life like that? I rather doubt it, I know mine isn't - sometimes it's amazing, other times it's a bit grey and slow - so I prefer blogs that are a bit of a mix of informative, thoughtful and indeed thought provoking.
There is a lot of lifestyle porn out there. I like my pictures to look nice and I try to write well, because it's sort of a creative outlet for me. But I just cannot maintain a 24/7 lifestyle of beauty and (marketable) poise; and I wouldn't be able to lie about it because I hate that inauthenticty (I hated the creeping feeling of stifling my own voice for so long and that wasn't even for marketing purposes).
DeleteI'm getting over it a bit, I think writing about it cleared the blockage!