hot on the trail

I joined some yahoo groups a few days ago.

They are supposed to send out writing prompts, help people get past writers block or, at the very least, give ideas of things to write about.

I joined one about journaling. So far that one just seems like a big social group and not a lot about actual journaling is mentioned.

I haven't decided yet if I want to stay in this group. Today they were discussing politics. It's rather annoying. I joined the group to get ideas about journaling, NOT to listen the political views of others.

They do, however, do one thing that I've noticed so far. They do this thing called Thankful Thursdays. Since my goal with this blog is to get myself writing I thought maybe I'd do that here, even though it's not Thursday.

Life has been a pain in the ass lately so I'm not sure how much I'm actually going to find to be thankful for, sadly.

So, without further ado, here is my list....

• My marriage. We've been married for 16 years and it hasn't always been easy. Not even a little bit. We've endured separations and have perilously close to divorce a couple of times. But marriage is hard work and we've worked at saving it and I think our relationship is closer and stronger for it.
  
• My husband. Again, we all have our problems right. And everybody has their quirks and habits that annoy the shit out of others. We learn to live with them and get past them. He's a great guy. He's very generous and thoughtful and kind. He loves me despite all my weirdness and my own quirks. He understands me. And damn if the man isn't hot!
  
• My kids. There are definite issues with one of them that has made life extremely difficult lately but I'm still thankful for them and I love them.
  
• My friends and our monthly outings. Last night we went to Shakespeare in the Park. We do this regularly in the summer. It's an outdoor stage and you get to sit beneath the stars. We always take wine and food too. This month we are going canoeing. These outings sometimes help me maintain my sanity. Especially when wine is involved.
  
• My parents and my family. I'm glad that my parents are still around and that my family is close. We're totally functional in a really dysfunctional way. We are definitely not your average family. Or maybe we are. There are a lot of "steps" and "halfs" and races and ethnicities. We accept just about anybody and base it on who you are not what you are. I love that about my family.

Those are pretty basic right? I'm sure I could have been more imaginative. Next time I'll do a more interesting one. Maybe I'll make this a regular thing. Helps put life in perspective.

At least it made me sit down and write!

Not Chatty Cathy!

When I created this blog, it was going to be a way of sort of forcing me to actually sit down and write. At least to me, in my mind...that was the idea.

Of course, little did I realize that contrary to what my husband believes.....I just really don't have much to say!

I work from home except for one day a week. On that one day I travel to various courthouses and gather information, seeing all of my old co-workers that I used to work with on a daily basis. I work. I chat. And inevitably I'm in a hurry to get the work done, cut the chatting and get back home.

Occasionally this need to be done so that I can leave stems from a logical source....parking meters running out and costing me a $20 parking ticket, having a lot to do once I get back home and so forth. Frankly though, what mainly drives it is just that I work from home people! I don't want to be there, in those buildings downtown or in other county any longer than I need to be because well....I work from home! I mean really? Who really wants to go to work?

Unfortunately, this means that the good majority of all my social interaction comes from my husband and children, or my family and friends that I talk to on the phone often/see occasionally. This does not make for a lot of blog fodder.

Well, I guess that's not entirely true. My kids can provide quite a lot of entertainment, I just have to remember those instances...write them down or something, just because it's such an everyday thing that I forget a lot of it. I think my life is boring. My mother thinks it's a soap opera.

I've also wrestled with the idea of total anonymity or honesty. I think for now I will remain anonymous. That said, however, being anonymous is totally not my style so it probably won't last. I'm a true Sagittarius. We like to be noticed.

I've blog hopped quite a bit lately to see what others are writing about. I've found some really great blogs too! Wow, that can be time consuming!! So maybe it's not quite as the idea of it is and I'll be back more.

And I have to get my page background and stuff done. (Sorry Petty!!) I had a friend make that great header for me and I need to get on the ball and get it set up right and provide a link back to her.

So what motivated you to start blogging?

And so it begins...

My journey in procrastination.

Oh wait....that's supposed to be "my journey in overcoming procrastination". Oops.

And writer's block.

I have discovered that I am a bit of a perfectionist though. At least in regards to certain things. Apparently wanting to have things "just so" is one of those things. I find myself wanting to wait until I have my layout done to blog.

Yeah, that's probably just another technique in my never-ending bag of procrastination tricks. I registered this blog like a month ago.

Acknowledgement is the first step right?

So here I am.

Completed layout or not.

And writer's block?? Well, you know I am a master of that too it would seem. Avoidance feeds writer's block. I've heard that the best way to overcome it is to just write. But the longer you avoid it, the harder it is....and then the fear develops.

The fear that you can't overcome it. Or that it's not really writer's block. That perhaps it is just lack of talent and skill. We will see.

I'll be back!