Wednesday, June 23, 2010

{How} I Blog

It's hard to believe that two years have gone by since I became a "serious," blogger.

And by serious, I mean I could actually remember my password on a weekly basis.W

I technically began Far More Than Rubies on June 3rd, 2008, eleven days before I was to be wed due to the inspiration I got from reading Kaylyn's blog. She was also my first commenter, which I remember made me so happy. I had fallen in love with this form of documenting and sharing your life. I wanted to take part, so I did.

Don't you love the instant gratification that is our electronic era?

I said it's been 2 years, and not 2 years and a couple of weeks because those 2 posts before my wedding were lame and didn't really count. And then we had our honeymoon and I wasn't about to be blogging from the Keys. Though I really wanted to, ha!

Well, our honeymoon was cut short, due to Ian getting an interview for a job, so we had to hightail it back to our new home. The interview turned out to be a bust, and he started his full time Masters degree, leaving me home, alone, in a new town where I knew no one.

Enter my fascination/obsession with blogging.

My first post, found HERE was all about our honeymoon and it's wonderfulness and the daunting task of finding a new church in our new town. Oddly enough, I must have not figured everything out, because that post is not visible unless you highlight it with your mouse. Ha!

My second post, the first visible one, ha, is found HERE and is all about, you guessed it, BOOKS! Looking at those pictures of our beautiful first apartment and that lovely office furniture that was our haven during that stressful time brought tears to my eyes just now. That desk is where I first began blogging. I loved the green on the wall. I dusted those shelves religiously. And now the shelves are all dismantled, the books are in boxes, and the desk is wrapped up in a cargo container in a warehouse that we won't see for two years. Boo. Anyways, looks like that was my first post with pictures too. haha, I'm so proud of the progress.

And, my favorite post of all time was within that first week or so, found HERE. Remember, for the two of you that were following me then, how funny that time was? We had our first house guest, Ian's friend from Egypt/Japan/Norway (I know, weird,) came for an undisclosed amount of time. And we hadn't even been married two weeks!

Alright, enough reflection. How I love thee Memory Lane!

So now, blogging is still my favorite hobby of all time but it looks a little differently. Before, I didn't know what to write about, and would generally just write about the daily happenings. Well, 100 followers later ( yeah, I hit my goal mark of 100 followers earlier this week, so exciting!) and I Blog differently.

Now I use my computer's sticky note system to keep track of blogging ideas.

Here's a shot of my desktop, I just love my background! And to the right is my sticky note system. You can change the colors and more them all around, but I'm all about symmetry and straight lines.

And yes, the middle one is a Hebrew prayer. I told you, I accidentally signed a contract to work at an all Jewish camp one summer. That was the summer I learned some Hebrew. haha

Here's a close up of my blogging post it.

It needs to be updated, but you get the idea. As a theme or post comes to mind, I jot it down there, and wait until I actually want to write about it. Sometimes I never get around to a topic, or it gets outdated or old, so I just remove it and there is no love lost.

But somedays, when I REALLY want to blog, but don't feel like writing about the snooze fest that is our life that day, such as how we walk to the train, ride the train, walk to class, sit through class, and reverse our travel home, everyday, then I can refer to this list and see if there is anything that strikes my fancy! This How I Blog post has been on that sticky note for a month, but I wanted to wait until my 2 year Bloggiversary.

It's important to me that blogging always remains fun, and not a chore. But, just as I approach everything else in my life, what I do, I want to succeed.

I know. I'm an overachiever. ha!

Another blog writing thing that I do is I try to keep my writing as fluid and professional as possible. I'm never attracted to blogs that write in text or colloquial language (picture a valley girl typing,) and I know that I wouldn't be proud of my work if it sounded like I just typed my words without thinking about them.

I also usually listen to music while I write. Write now, my favorite is Chris Tomlin (anything,) if I want to sing along, and David Garrett, the violinist, when I want some awesomely amazing instrumental (seriously, check him out! My favorite is his cover of MJ's Smooth Criminal!)

8 comments:

Hannah said...

post its on desktop is a good idea! I always just start them and then leave them as saved and never publish them. Happy 2 year blogging anniversary. I always enjoy reading what you have to say.

Lauren said...

Love reading your stuff! and love that post-it system...of course we would have to have a new computer in order to take advantage of that nifty little feature!

chloƫ. said...

Happy blogiversary! I'm happy that I'm one of the 101 :) You were one of the first people I followed when I became a serious blogger!

Brittany said...

Happy 2 year blogaversary! :)

I am so happy you blog, and I love the way you blog! It makes me happy! You're one of my favorite blogs to read! So glad we've become blogging friends!

Amanda said...

Happy anniversary! :) I'm pretty new to your blog, but I'm loving it so far! I tend to put things in "draft" on Blogger, then when I am at a loss for something, I scroll through the drafts looking for something that strikes my fancy.

Anne @ Sincerely, Britches said...

I love blogging but sometimes my brain is so fulled with nothingness that I just stare at a blank computer and decide to try again the next day. That fact alone often makes me wonder if I lead a very boring life...lol

Callie said...

This is an interesting post! I like the sticky note thing - I do that too, only I use a little notebook. But I've been a little lazy lately and haven't thought up any new ideas, so I'm just kind of flying by the seat of my pants! Ha, ha.

cait said...

how fun is this post? I love how your voice comes out in your writing...glad you started blogging two years ago, b/c I sure like reading your posts now that I found your blog in bloggy world! I keep a list of blog ideas too, but I use my iphone note app. I love the computer post-its...I don't think i can do that on my computer..or if I can I would love to know how you do it!

happpy late bloggiversary!