What to do, what to do

Oh, blog, I have no idea what to do with you.

I wanted to have a fun, quilty, cute blog that people would read, where I could show my quilts and crafty things that I make.  I wanted to share recipes once in a while.  I wanted to write stuff people wanted to read.  Maybe make a friend or two.  But life certainly gets in the way of what I want waaayyy too frequently.  And that has never been more true than recently.

I love to read blogs.  You can check out the ones I follow.  They're mostly about quilting and crafting and homelife.  In my very wildest dreams, I even thought I could maybe do some quilt designing and share patterns like Judy Laquidara or Shelly Pagliai.

A big issue for me in blogging has been where to draw the "share" line.  I could never quite figure out exactly how personal I wanted to get.  Most of the blogs I read are by writers who share all the fun and happy stuff they are doing, the joys their families are experiencing, their fun vacations and jobs they love and that's great.  But all of life is not fun and happy, at least not for me.  And I know everyone has their "issues," trials and tribulations.  I don't blame them for not feeling the need to share those bumps in the road with the world of people they don't even know.  In fact, I sort of thank them for not sharing their problems!  But at the same time it does seem sort of false that all we read is the good stuff and it even gets me down sometimes.  I hate that jealous, wish-I-had-her-life feeling.  Plus, there's the privacy issue.  I'm a pretty private person.

For me, the most basic block to writing the blog has been the "time" issue.  I started the blog when I was working full-time and then some.  Trying to create creativity in my time away from work was tough!  I'm currently working something between part and full-time.  Meaning, I have one actual part-time fund raising job, but also do freelance grant writing and fund raising work "on the side" with a consultant friend.  So that suggests I should have a little more time available for writing, and I guess maybe I might.

So I'm not sure I'm ready to give up completely on blogging.  I'm thinking I might try one more time.  I have some goals for this next stage of my life, and one of them is to be the "me" I really want to be.   My daughter is grown and has left the nest, (with frequent return flights to Mom's kitchen and laundry room).  I do have a bit more time, given my somewhat reduced workload.  I love to write.  I love to share creative ventures. (but not too many personal details).  And I think it would do me some good to concentrate on my own "fun and happy stuff" instead of my "issues, trials and tribulations."

So, good luck to me.  I hope this works.  I have no idea who might read this!  Does anyone know My Quilted Nest even exists?  I wonder.