On blogging and damp laundry

So, this is the end of November.  I did my best to blog every day this month . . . and I think I’ll continue my efforts even though some of my attempts are pathetic.  (I participated in NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month.)

When I started this blog ten years ago, it was just to share my daily life with a few friends.  For awhile, a lot of people I didn’t know were reading here and leaving comments (those were the days!) but now, we’re back down to just a few of us.  I am so glad that I’ve been blogging here for ten years, though.  I could never remember all the stories and thoughts I’ve recorded here.

In the past ten years, blogging has become more about marketing and branding and advertising.  Bloggers promote themselves and their books and their projects.  They jostle for attention and compete for sponsorships and free stuff to review.  People know what a “blog” is.  (When I started blogging, most people had no idea what that even meant.)

I was in the crowd at one point, even blogging professionally for awhile for a company.  Companies sent me products to review and I even got hate mail (a true sign of success, right?).

But now, it’s just me and my keyboard and my life.  So many topics are off-limits.  It’s not like I can discuss my 15-year old son’s exploits or my 20-year old twins’ jobs or my 11-year old’s moods.  I am aware of their need for privacy.  I know it’s inappropriate for me to tell the stories that don’t belong fully to me.

Blogging is crowded now with some thirty-one million bloggers in the U.S. (according to some statistics).  I am a quiet voice in a sea of shouters.  I’m not the kind of person to shove to the front of the crowd.  I don’t like to draw attention to myself.

I do like to be heard, though.  I love to tell stories.  I like to recount situations that made me laugh or cry.  And I’m devoted to remembering these days, even if I have to edit myself before clicking “Publish.”  (I wish I didn’t have to edit myself at all, ever, but I’m a realist.)  I am writing for an audience of one, really:  myself.  (Clearly, I am no marketing genius and I have no interest in building my “platform.”)

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In other news, I realized last night that my clothes dryer was not doing its job.  The broken clothes dryer joins the broken dishwasher in refusing to work.  The appliance repair-guy should be here on Tuesday.

In the meantime, my house is covered in damp but clean clothing.  It looks like we’re building crazy cat-sized forts out of clean shirts and pants and bath towels.

And with that, I bid November 2013 farewell.  Seems like you just got here!