Wednesday, March 7, 2012

What is my purpose?

What is my purpose for blogging?  Obviously this isn't a question for you to answer...I'm just thinking out loud here. 

Originally, my purpose for blogging was to journal about my breast cancer experience.  I wanted it to be a chronicle of events and feelings so that my children had something tangible that they could hold onto in case I didn't make it.  Later, after treatment, it became a place to journal about family life and raising kids in this crazy world.  At times it was a personal diary where I wrote about personal struggles, failures and fears.  And for a very short period of time, it became a place to keep track of our homeschooling experience.

Over the past several months, I've been really struggling with this blog.  I never know what to write.  I've lost several subscribers.  Heck, I don't blame them....I rarely update the blog and when I do, it's usually pretty negative.  I wouldn't want to follow that either.  Even though losing readers did sting a little, I've tried to keep in mind that I wasn't writing for them anyway.  If I were to be brutally honest, I've always been shocked that anyone other than family would be interested in reading my blog.  Here's a shocker....my very best friend in the entire world doesn't read my blog!  She knows I have one, but she's just not interested. 

Although I will never totally let this blog go, I need to begin to really search my heart about the direction I want it to go.  I've been brainstorming.  I have some ideas.  For instance....

Diary:  Just a place to write about random thoughts and happenings in my life that have no real relevance or purpose other than to me.

Themed:  I could make this a theme oriented blog...like breast cancer, cooking, my Italian heritage or how to live a Catholic life in the chaos of this world.  The thing is, there's thousands of those blogs out there.  I can think of nothing that would set my blog apart from any of the others.  My time (in this case) would probably be better served visiting all of the EXISTING blogs out there with these subjects as their primary focus.  All you have to do is to take a look at my side bar if you want to read some really great  blogs!

Political:  I'm not sure I could even pull this one off.  I'm so tired of politics and the talking heads of the world that I really DON'T CARE anymore about who said what, when & where about whom.  Everybody has an opinion and the only one that would really matter here...well....would be mine.  I don't love having political or religious conversations/debates anymore.  They bore me.  In most cases...I'm not going to change my mind and you're not going to change yours.  I think we can all just agree to disagree with some people and call it a day.

Weightloss:  In truth, I have another blog about weight loss.  Not many know about it...and that's how I wanted it.  Although I am losing weight right now (AGAIN), I just don't feel motivated or led to talk about this publicly.  The bottom line here is..."Do you really care if I've lost a pound or gained a few ounces?  Do you really want to know what I had for dinner or how I satisfied a craving"?  I didn't think so.  Boring!

Tutorial:  Absolutely not!  About the only thing I'm really, really good at is complaining and I'm sure no one needs to be "taught" how to do that!  Besides....it's LENT!


So as you can see, I'm not sure what to do.  I'm not sure where I'm heading.  All I know is that, I want to go somewhere new and I want all of you guys to come with me.  If you have any bright ideas, I'm open.

I'll let you know what I come up with.

5 comments:

Jessica of Faustina Farm said...

I'll go with you or stay if you choose to. :)

Michelle said...

I like reading about another Catholic family nearby with kids older than mine. It's kind of a peek into the future. :)

Frizzy said...

I struggle with this too. I began my blog for our family during our first adoption journey. I wanted to share pics of our daughter when she finally arrived. Obviously I still do this.

Like you, I struggle on what to say. I am frustrated beyond belief at how long we've been waiting for our second child to come but who wants to hear me cry about it all the time? I try very hard not to do that. At the same time, I'm not sure why people began following me to begin with. Was it because of our adoption? Was it because of the pictures and stories of our family? I honestly have no idea. Maybe that is what you and I need to ask our remaining readers. Maybe that would give us a direction or focus. Then again, who are we writing for? Our readers or ourselves?

Barb Szyszkiewicz said...

I don't think you need a "theme." Write what's in your heart, when you're moved to write. I don't always comment, but I always read.

Lori said...

Ditto on Barb's comment!! I LOVE your random thoughts and that someone who I love and admire also struggles with being a Mom. Your random thoughts/journaling incorporate all those themes you mentioned because it's what makes up YOU!!