About the blogging process.
I don’t like being scolded.
Like most people, I feel uncomfortable, even threatened, when someone wags a finger in my face.
I certainly don’t like feeling stupid or defective or manipulated, which is exactly how I feel when a hyperconfident spinmeister tells me how to fix my presumably lacking life in five easy steps.
(Shall I tell you how I really feel?!) 😛
Oh my. Where did that rant come from?
Continue reading My Finger Wag is Busted
When I made my return to blogging a few weeks ago, I mentioned that “Joanie Tales” was my new blog’s default title only because I couldn’t think of anything better. I also needed something I could come up with quickly before I lost my courage to start blogging again.
“Joanie Tales” seemed like a fitting spin-off from “LabTails” (my blog from years ago for which I was known best), a name that could be easily remembered by those who know me, and one that suited my wear-my-hair-back-in-a-ponytail style.
It worked as a starter name. But only as a starter name.
I don’t, however, think “Joanie Tales” fits. It isn’t accurate.
Continue reading Dirt Road Ramblings (formerly Joanie Tales)
As you know, I’ve only just started blogging again after several years away.
Quite frankly, I’d forgotten how much goes into creating and maintaining an active site, let alone how much it takes for my creative process to dump itself onto a page.
I am also, admittedly, out of writing shape; I become winded quite easily these days (*she pants after writing the first three sentences*). 😉
But I’m committed.
So, to make blogging easier, especially since I’m out of shape and not as fast as I used to be (oh boy, is that ever a topic for another day!), I got to thinking about assigning themes or categories to specific days of the week (like many already do on FaceBook, other social media, and in blogs).
Continue reading Wigglebutt Wednesdays and The Friday Funny
Taking 12 years off from blogging has given me over a decade’s worth of subject matter from which I can develop fresh stories: a decade’s worth of digital pictures with quirky captions, of change and milestones and silliness and tears, of personal growth (I hope) and seasoned insight (maybe) and, perhaps, a few laugh-out-loud blunders along the way.
You’d think I’d be excited to jump right in.
But as I stared at my computer screen this morning trying to figure out where to begin,
unexpected feelings surfaced: a tightening in my chest, a knot in my stomach, a flush in my face as my heart rate rose.
I felt anxious. Maybe even a little agitated (that’s probably too strong a word, but I can’t come up with another for now). In any case, I felt decidely uncomfortable.
And I *like* to write!
I don’t know what happened during my hiatus, but this one-time-professional, seasoned freelancer, multi-published writer with a bunch of books and countless articles to her credit, was nervous.
About a blog entry.
A blog entry that would likely be read by, at max, maybe ten people.
Good heavens! What was I anxious about?
Continue reading You Have to Start Somewhere
It’s been twelve years.
Roughly 4,380 days, give or take a few leap years.
Nearly one fifth of my lifetime so far.
That’s how much time has elapsed since I blogged regularly.
I exited the blog-o-sphere in 2007, just about the time blogs and blogging grew exponentially in popularity. Leave it to me to pull out when things were finally getting good for bloggers. Ai yi yi.
But life changed for me back then. A loved one’s world collapsed, and my heart with it. The world changed. How I viewed the world changed.
I changed.
And I had nothing left to say.
Continue reading Back into Blog Land Again
Dirt Road Ramblings 