why I blog. More Fresh Horses.

I first started blogging back in .... ohhhhh a long time ago. 2008.

I was living in a horrible place, far away from my sisters, and I kept forgetting who I'd told about that cute thing the kids said and my sisters were getting all up in my face about it.

So I started the blog just so I could keep everyone up to date with mummy milestones and photos.

Somehow I stumbled across a few bloggers who actually wrote, and it was like a light went on. I could CONNECT! with PEOPLE!! who THOUGHT!!! and didn't need their dinner cut up for them!!!!

Let me tell ya, for a lonely woman living in Dreary Town in the desert, the Internet was like manna from Heaven. (Whatever manna is.)

I found Sleepless Nights, and Wanderlust, and Maxabella, and suddenly I had a community at my fingertips.
I had ideas and perspectives presented to me, some of which changed my attitudes. Through those few starter blogs, I found more and more women, some just like me, some very different, all of us living and learning and looking to connect.

On my own blog, I had to consider seriously how I would present myself, what I would talk about and where I would draw the line. I still mess that up from time to time, but I try to keep things as real as possible under some fairly serious constraints. Because of exes and other assorted crap, a lot of what goes on in my life has to stay under the radar. Some of it would hurt others, some of it would probably cause us endless drama.
I came up with my tagline -- the stuff I would tell you over coffee -- and I try to keep that as my guideline. I don't know you very well. If I wouldn't tell you this face-to-face, maybe I shouldn't broadcast it over the net?

Right now, there's a lot going on that involves my kids and step-kids. I can't talk about that here, and for some reason, that keeps me from faffing on about other stuff. I feel blocked. The words I can't say are damming the words I could.

Many, many times I've thought about shutting the blog down. Usually after I read some stellar post by one of my favourites, and I think, FUCK I am NEVER going to be able to write like that.

And always, someone I never knew was there will say, OH! I read your blog every day, and I love it. Don't stop.

I'm stunned and humbled, every time. (also amazed)

I think women are community builders by nature. We support and encourage one another, to build stronger and better places.
I know there's a lot of bitching that goes on elsewhere on the net, but I never see it. I purposefully avoid the sites that promote that behaviour, and try not to get caught up in controversy.
Because I want to see the best in the people I read. I want to hear how they're growing, what they're learning, I want to be stunned by their truth and be cheering for them as they move on.
I want to be inspired and awed and welcomed.

And I get that, every day.

If you want to join this meme, call over to Eden's place, and link up. You'll find some good reading if you follow the comments through, as well.
And here are my latest loves...
Gappy Tales sarcasm served smokin' hot
Writing Without Pay Jayne should be paid. Lots.
Mum On The Run Shar is gorgeous, even if she does make me feel like a complete sloth.