All work and no play makes Oreneta a dull girl

Or at least an uninspired one.

So, I am going to accept the gauntlet laid down by Trish at Coffee House Chatter and do the meme she offered to anyone who wanted...partially because I am short on inspiration, partially because there are topics I could discuss, but it would not be professionally appropriate, and partially because I quite enjoyed reading Trish's responses.

Without any further ado...

1. How long have you been blogging?

I started a half ass*d half hearted blog about three years ago, but to say that I posted infrequently would be a profound understatement. The entries, such as there were, are at the deepest depth of this blog, while we were still sailing. The blog host was also crap so it was hard to find the entries, this coupled with the fact that we were out of e-mail contact for literally months at a time made it tricky. I started this blog in November-ish last year, hmmmm, there may be an anniversary of sorts in there, but I am not really one for that kind of thing. I get confused about which day my wedding anniversary is, the month? That I am good for, the day? hmmmmmmm. The man also so no one gets upset. It doesn't help that we actually got married twice, but that's another post. We like to be thorough.


2. What inspired you to start a blog and who are your mentors?

I first started to blog because we were travelling and it was (and is) so profoundly onerous to try to update someone on the last 6 months of your wildly changing life every single solitary time you go to write an e-mail...those of you who e-mail and ask, that's OK, I won't be rude, because now it is only a few folks who ask, not every-freakin-one. Don't get me wrong, I am happy that people want to know, I just started to hate sending e-mail because it took so long to bring folks up to speed in any kind of meaningful way.
The IT help line guys have an acronym I am told....RTFM, Read The F***ing Manual

Now my motto is: RTFB(log)

This doesn't sound very nice, but it actually makes communicating with friends and family better and easier, which is the whole darned point.


3. Are you trying to make money online or are you doing it for fun?

I tried briefly, because we needed it, but there was almost none to be had, and I hated the ads. Also pimping the blog is a lot of work, and that is not what this is about for me....I am trying to keep in touch with/keep up to date my friends and family. That is my primary goal, so sometimes posts my be a bit dull, or not universally entertaining and interesting, but for folks who know us, that's what they want. I found that when I started writing for $$$ of for comments, it wasn't what I wanted to say. So, for fun I guess if I have to choose. The fact that I have gotten to get to know some cool folks is a great bonus!


4. What three things do you love about blogging?

I like the creative aspect of it. I am not sure creative is the perfect word, but there is an element of distillation and clarification about the process. I am occasionally frustrated by what I feel I cannot post about, for anonymity, for professional reasons, because my Mom reads it (HI MOM, I had to put that in, the only thing I didn't post about was the dog's fleas) (JUST KIDDING. He never had fleas, bet I made you itch and twitch though!)

I like that folks can keep up with what we are doing, and we can maintain some sort of contact, and that when I e-mail them, I can just chat, and I don't have to go over the events of the day/month/year, it keeps it feeling less like a book report and more like a friendship...albeit somewhat one-sided as few of my friends blog.

I love finding all the other blogs out there, some are funny, some are inspiring, some are darned smart. These are the kinds of stories and histories that I find fascinating. It also scratches an itch for me, I'm a pretty social girl here and my language skills, lifestyle here is a little limiting in that way.


5. What three things do you struggle with blogging?

I struggle with what voice I want to put out. Do I write to those who comment? Mostly people I don't know personally? Fall into the trap of writing to increase readership? It is certainly a DRAG if NO ONE reads, but do I want 250 comments a day? No. I don't even want to comment myself on sites with that sort of traffic. To much like a big city high school. I remind myself that this is for me and friends and family.

I struggle with time like so many....to paint, to study, to blog, to read to to to to do the dishes, pick up the kids....etc etc etc work gets done.

I struggle with myself over comments. I love getting them (social girl who is isolated) and I wish more people I know commented (no GUILT or anything out there) But that is not the point either...it is for me to keep communication open, and not for anyone to feel obliged in any way, unlike Christmas letters, or mailed newsletters to peoples inbox....I love the voluntary nature of a blog, they can look when they want and as often as they want...Just say Hi sometimes folks....naaaa, never mind, do whatever the heck you want, m'kay? Thinking of you all.

Hmmm, I thought there were seven questions, but seems there are only three.

Is there anything I missed? What am I going to wish had been asked after I am in bed?

Blogging also forms something of a journal of our lives and what we are doing, which I think is pretty fun...and the feedback, and communal nature of it keeps me going when I sometimes peter out with private journals...that isn't true entirely, my private journals (though not really that private) are a totally different format, multi -dimensional....and stuffed full of treasures too, but very different.....


Anywhooo, hope you enjoyed that, I liked reading Trish's

I am not going to tag anyone, if you'd like to run it, have fun...