Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Why I Happen to Have a Lot of Time on My Hands

I just noticed that I have a ridiculous number of posts from the past couple of days.

I feel like I need to explain that I'm on April vacation at the moment (one of the amazing perks of being a teacher), that I actually got my grading and planning caught up before vacation started (this would be a first for me ... by a long shot), and that I realized how much I truly love blogging. While I don't have the most exciting life in the world (between spending my days with a fantastic but at times high-maintenance group of high school students then coming home and enjoying the company of Addie and Belle plus Sonja the hyperactive black lab and Charlie the self-mutilating cat and all the dinner-making/dishes/trying to keep the house clean/blah blah blah), I don't often have the luxury of just sitting here blogging, perusing other blogs, and--I'm just going to say it--relaxing.

One of the things that I spent much of yesterday trying to figure out was what exactly the purpose of this blog is supposed to be. I have a personal blog open only to my friends, and that was where the dirt, so to speak, was supposed to hang out. This blog was supposed to be a place for those who love to think, to engage in meaningful discourse, to exchange ideas with many different people.

Clearly it hasn't worked out exactly like that.

First, I seem to be unable to completely separate my personal life from my blog. I don't even write in my personal blog anymore ... it all seems to spill over here, although I'm taking pains to keep it a bit less personal. What I've done instead is give everyone a pseudonym (even "KLo" is a pseudonym, although there are a fair amount of people who've referred to me that way since long before blogs were commonplace) and tried to keep out anything that is really unpleasant and could be misconstrued as talking about someone behind his or her back.

Secondly, I'm incredibly excited that people are actually *gasp* reading my blog. I've wanted to be a writer since I was about three years old, and the idea that people are reading my words, thinking about my ideas ... it's heady, I don't know how else to put it. And I love comments; one of the major pleasures in my life has become reading comments left by people thousands of miles away that can somehow connect with what I've written.

And I guess that's all for right now. I mean, I hope if you're reading this, you'll read other posts, you'll think, you'll comment, and you'll come back. I'm under no illusions that I'm some great blogger or deep thinker, but I guess the bottom line is, I want this blog to make me a better writer and a deeper thinker.

Anyway, when I'm a famous author, you can all be, like, "I knew her back when she was trying to find the words to express why she hopes we read her pitiful little blog." ; )

11 comments:

  1. Thanks for stopping by my blog. Nice to meet you from a long way away. I enjoyed your thoughts on getting people to read our humble little blogs.

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  2. Just wanted to *wave* and say I was here!

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  3. I have three blogs, a facebook, and a twitter. And while they all serve different purposes, I often copy and past my blogs from one to the other, since the audiences are different at each one.

    I'm trying to keep this one more about writing, but daily life is stubborn, wanting its foot in the door, and right now, I'm too tired to slam it on its shiny little toes.

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  4. Do you work in MA?? Becuase my mom is off next week.

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  5. Nope, I work in NH. Most of NH is off next week, too. It makes it kind of hard to make plans, since most of my friends are teachers (many in other districts) : )

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  6. You're already a famous author in my eyes. Just remember to spell my name correctly when you give me props! Lol love u!

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  7. Soak up the sun for me, DONNA : ) (I'm ducking the punch). I miss you terribly, and no worries, there will be your name (spelled correctly, natch :-)) on a dedication page at some point. <3!!!!!!!!

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  8. I'm still waiting for you to post that really great writing you keep talking about (grin). Seriously though KLo, you're a good egg.

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  9. I think it's safe to say that almost all bloggers love getting comments. It's the small sign that something that we have put "out there" will speak to a reader enough that they will spend some energy leaving a comment. Even though I've only been coming here for a short time, I'm pretty sure I will keep commenting.

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  10. Yeah that's happened a couple times, My dad works in Merrimack my mother in Raymond there have been a couple times they had different vacations.

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  11. I'm just grateful that I have the same vacation as my daughters this year ... that's been a problem in the past : )

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