Why I’m Not Blogging

February 18th 2011 / 2 minutes to read

It’s difficult for me to blog.

I don’t feel the need to TAKE A STAND for everything I believe in. I am not an activist by any means. I also don’t feel the need for every single post to turn into a debate BECAUSE of what I believe in. So it limits my topics quite a bit because I am not a good day-to-day blogger. I also don’t want every post to be about my hating our house and needing a bigger house but unable to do so because that requires money. Even though that’s pretty much all I think about / talk about around here.

I feel secluded online most of the time too (won’t even go into my seclusion offline). Which isn’t fun. Momma bloggers tend to have little ones, like I have with Tristan, or bigger ones, like Danny, but rarely both at the same time. Turns out, it’s really hard for me to find blogs with OLDER unschoolers / homeschoolers that were screwed up by public school.

Plus, we are stuck at home ALL THE TIME. The joy of a tiny neighborhood without any parks you can walk to that are safe and no sidewalks. We are a one car family (as of today, a PAID OFF one car family, snaps!) and DH works 8-14 hour days. Hard to get the kids up at 7am to drive him to work so we just don’t do it.

So that’s why I don’t really blog much. It’s not because I don’t want to, generally I sit for 20 minutes a day staring at my blank WP dashboard, which taunts me. It’s because I don’t like sharing my pessimistic thoughts ALL THE TIME. I also realized that my flower photos… well… not fancy enough to call this a photoblog by any means.

So instead, I just… don’t blog anymore.

This post is over a year old which means the content may be outdated or no longer accurate.

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Likes I doubled-down on RSS by Eric Bailey.

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Jams

Album Art for Shiver

Shawn Desman

Shiver

Album Art for Lay Your Hands

Simon Webbe

Lay Your Hands

I would be happy to hear whatever it is you do want to say. You’re in my reader, frequent posts or not. xoxo

Thank you so much! I think part of it is I see what Gina goes through (as her webmistress if you will) and I get terrified of that kind of… negative attention towards ME. If that makes sense?

Oh I hear you! I think something quite similar, even though I do consider myself an activist, and while I do do some activism on my blog, I don’t do it all the time, as that isn’t the sole purpose of my blog. I too, have older children, almost 14 and 12 (who have always been unschooled) and only two, so in my on-line and local community, I’m actually an oddity. I often feel like no one wants to talk to me because I either *not* practicing activism everyday, or because I’m all done with cloth diapers and breastfeeding (though I have lots of experience with both). What I try to understand, for me, is that thinking just makes me feel icky and it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy because, hey, look, I don’t write or talk, why isn’t anyone talking to me???? I get it. I do. And I think it’s entirely okay to feel and act that way. But I know I have to make myself participate sometimes, because not participating just feeds those insecure, probably unwarranted thoughts and feelings. ((hugs))

YES YES YES! I feel like if I talk about cloth diapering, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, etc it means I am excluding discussion about my older son (even though I did all of that with him too!) and if I discuss anything about my older DS, I am excluding my little one.

I have mommy guilt hardcore. Extreme. To the point of where I struggle to even buy toys or anything for my little one because I wasn’t able to buy my older one much of anything until he was older (I was a single momma for most of his life).

When it comes to blogging, I feel out of the loop because I don’t have the urge to monetize or get a sponsor to a blogging conference and I feel like I don’t know how to participate in this “new” blogging world.

Jennifer

Okay, that made me a little sad… You sound so discouraged. Please don’t stop blogging or posting your pics. Do what you love, love what you do! You have many followers. I mean c’mon, I have 12 FB fans, 12! You have a unique life, it’s yours, it’s special.. embrace it.

Reply to Jennifer

Aww thank you! I totally have that problem, the grass is always greener issue. Everyone has a better house, more money, more family, more friends, MOREEEE. HGTV doesn’t help either lol.

Couldn’t have said it better. Don’t let ANY naysayers drag you down. Write what you want to write.

Jill

I may not have a blog about my son, but he is 12, and he’s being homeschooled because public school messed him up good. If you ever want to commiserate about it, I’m available.

Reply to Jill

OH what happened?

Jill

He thrived at Tyrone School, but when we all moved out to Hardesty, his teachers were deliberately hurtful to him. There is a long story behind it, that I’d be happy to tell you via email, if you’re interested. Anyway, he’d come home saying, “I’m too stupid to do this (homework),” or, “No, I can’t do (whatever), everyone’s going to laugh at me.” It took over a year to get him back to his confident self, but he still remembers.

Reply to Jill

I would LOVE for you to email me about this. People automatically assume that because we unschool that it’s because he NEVER went to school which isn’t the case.

Dan went through kindergarten and 1st grade (in 3 schools no less) and ALL of them focused on the SOCIAL aspect. ZERO on academics. He didn’t learn A SINGLE THING in school except how to mimic the “trouble” kids.

Sigh.

Jenny

I really do feel your pain. I don’t wanna be the one to complain and other people see it. Plus life is so hectic and boring there’s nothing TO talk about. So I just don’t do it…

I hope you get your mojo back soon though :D I love seeing your photos.

Reply to Jenny

YES exactly!

Aww thank you so much!

Lynda

Have you thought about picking a couple of topics of focus to blog about? Like photography, meta blogging (you blog about blogging, especially the technical aspects, so well!) or maybe just finding stuff for the kids to do with the limitations you’re presented.

I have a friend with the blog Smrt Lernins who has a 4th grader, a preschooler and a nearly two year old who homeschools. Although she doesn’t blog about it much there, she’s also a HUGE birth rights activist, intactivist and lactivist. If you’re not reading her, you may enjoy her blog. She rocks.

I feel your pain so much though. If you WANT to blog more, try sitting down and brainstorming blog topics you could write in the future. I’ve found this really works well for me, though I only get 2-3 usable topics out of every 10 or so ideas.

Reply to Lynda

I really should. I would love to continue to blog about blogging (lol!) however I feel like I’ve said everything over and over. I tend to have an easier time with a specific question or process than me going “what haven’t I thought of yet”.

Whenever I get time I am going to check out your friends blog!

Lynda

Why not take people’s questions and turn them into blog posts though?

Reply to Lynda

Oh I’ve tried! For awhile Joni and I had Q&A Thursday going on, however I never got any questions LOL.

I hope you know that I enjoy when you blog.

You’ve been around long enough to know that there is an ebb and a flow in blogging. Allow yourself an ebb if you need one. But don’t be discouraged about it or about yourself. You lend a beautiful voice to the blogosphere in many ways.

Thank you! I have bloggers guilt for sure a lot of the time, partly because I’ve been around so long. I feel like because I’ve been mostly active at the same domain for practically a decade, I should be getting more than 80 visits a day lol. I take numbers far too seriously, probably because I spend so much time helping OTHERS get their numbers up in a short period of time.

Simon

Completely understandable, for a multitude of reasons I have been the same with my blog. Its only today I have got things together enough to actually work on mine. I do hope you continue to post in the future, I have enjoyed keeping in touch via your blog for more years than I can remember :)

Reply to Simon

Aww thank you Simon!

Through the Lens of Kimberly Gauthier, Kimberly Gauthier Photography

I love it when people write about what they’re going through, but I get what you mean about not wanting to be pessimistic; when I’m having a bad day, I want to write about it and find that I have to self edit, because I don’t want to put that out there either. Have a wonderful break and I look forward to what you write when you return.

Reply to Through the Lens of Kimberly Gauthier, Kimberly Gauthier Photography

Oh yes, it’s hard for ME to read OTHER’S writing about life sucking ALL THE TIME, I can’t imagine being such an unhappy blog lol.

nimil

in a way i know how you feel. i don’t get to leave the house much and sitting around at home with nothing to do save playing video games or twiddle my thumbs gets old, and its not really amazing blog content.

i think your photos are awesome though :p

just remember, blogging is for you first and foremost. and for your readers secondary. at least that’s how i feel about it. don’t freak out if you can’t come up with something to blog. its better to just let it come when it comes. and never apologize for not having something to say.

Reply to nimil

Thank you about my photography!

See I think of blogging in reverse, I blog for interaction and feedback, if I wanted a personal diary, it wouldn’t be online.

The issue I face is I am very thin-skinned, I take everything super personally, even when it’s not intended to be hurtful. So it limits what I feel comfortable talking about, especially after seeing a lot of friends of mine go through awful things because they do blog about issues that are more controversial.

Amy

I somehow missed this post. My reader has been a bit wonky. I, for one, miss your photographs. And your recipes. And your wordpress tutorials. I miss refer people every week to your one on the RSS footer. That said, you need to do what is best for you.

And as for how to exist in the “new blogging” world, as someone who has read blogs for a very long time. A lot of the older ones just ignore it. You don’t need to montetize or go to a conference or get a sponsor. And honestly, most readers do not care. If you want to write, write.

Most of all, know that you are loved and respected online.

Reply to Amy
Kayla

Oh, Sarah. I’m a semi-lurker and I’m coming out of the shell to tell you — YOU ROCK. I am dabbling in a few things myself, like…

Sovereigntyempire.com (monetizing blog on owning yourself)
PorchGoblin.net (non-monetizing blog on poetry and prose, and wacky thoughts I have in general)

These are brand-new websites in their infancy and I had all these ideas. Now, I’m stuck.

And I gave up on my old one — happyfacesunite.blogspot.com

Struggling to focus here! So, I am with you. BLOGGER’S GUILT! We need to start a Blogger Guilt Anonymous or something. Facebook group, mayhaps? I’m thinking about starting one and making you admin. ;)

Also, I’m adding this rambly bit to the rambly whole: You really seem far more focused than I could achieve. I enjoy everything you write. So, keep ‘er up, baby!

Reply to Kayla
Caity

I just wanted to tell you that I often feel like I shouldn’t write about a certain something because it might be boring or unrelateable but these blog posts, when I do write them, wind up being my most popular posts because people DO relate to them.

You should just blog about whatever it is that is on your mind. You will be surprised at the outcome, I bet.

I mean, look at the response you get just by talking about the fact that you feel like you don’t have much to blog about! People are here and they care about what you have to say. So say it!

Reply to Caity
Michele

Sarah I enjoy looking at your blog from time to time and your photos are beautiful!!! I know this is gonna be a weird request given I couldn’t find a way to email you but I like the font you used in your blog and wondered what it was, especially the “I” on this post. It’s lovely. Well I hope you have a great Friday. :)

Reply to Michele

I figure that once blogging starts to be an obligation or a chore, it’s time to call a halt. I know some people do it to make lots of money, but I’m not one of them.

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