Thoughts About Blogging

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I have decided this week to take a break from the Weekend Top Five, at least for this week, and maybe for awhile. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that this blog was becoming very "ordinary". I was sticking with a few memes, and not really posting a ton of interesting material.

At the beginning of last week, I made a conscious decision. I need to return to my original blog focus. Fun stories about the kids that hopefully have some kind of actual "ending" to them. SO last week, instead of a Tackle It Tuesday, I posted a story about Noah baking a cake. Instead of a Thursday Thirteen, I posted a story about a kitchen utensil that had a family connection.

You know what I found?

All of a sudden my posts were fun to write again. I discovered a little of the spark that made me excited about blogging in the first place. I no longer focused on what I can get free through blogging or random writing about what was going on. Instead of flipping through my google reader for contests, I started flipping through for interesting posts to read from other mom bloggers. I am still frustrated by what seems to me as so much "greedy blogging" out there, but I am going to make a conscious effort to no longer suffer from that myself.

Awhile back, when my extended family got upset over what I was saying on my blog, I went the other way. I felt terrible that my blog had become a source of anger. So I stopped writing about things that I had strong opinions about. I no longer mentioned family members by name, and I limited the pictures of them. I still believe these are good practices to establish and out of respect for those I love, they will continue.

But it also made me scared of my blog.

Not anymore. Originally, I started blogging: NOT to get free stuff, NOT to make points to people in an indirect way, NOT to offend anyone. Originally I started blogging to try to take the experiences and pictures from my family and to try to write fun stories about them. I used to love writing back in high school, and I find that when I have a focus, I can write a pretty good little story (sorry about the little conceit that's coming through there)

And now that I am focused again, I hope that this blog will return to its early state. Fun lighthearted stories, silly pictures of my little boys, and maybe once in awhile a personal struggle that requires some advice. I'll probably still do a few memes here in there, if they fit the story. I may even end up entering a contest or two (I REALLY need to find a zhu zhu pet for Aaron for Christmas). But my over all goal is to tell a good story.

I hope you have stuck with me through this evolution. And that you will come along with me and let me know if a story was fun to read or if you took something from it. That's my goal.

Has anyone else ever encountered a blog transformation? Has anyone else ever discovered that their blog had become something other than what they had originally intended. I'd love to hear about it. And any words of encouragement you want to send my way, I'd love to hear those to.

Have a great Monday and I'll be visiting you soon.