Tag Archives: writer

A Goodbye For Now (or I Think It’s Time For A Break)

Posted on March 13, 2024 | Comments Off

For about 11 1/2 years, I’ve been writing this blog. I’ve done over 2900 posts in that time, and most of the time, I’ve been writing 5 posts weekly. About a year ago, I decided to go down to 2 posts weekly because I felt like I was starting to struggle with what to write. It was hard to let myself be ok with not writing every day, but I’m glad I made that change a year ago. I felt like I had to find things to write about instead of just writing about what I wanted to write about. I also made changes to how I wrote about my workouts and made them more like a general post instead of going into details about my workouts. Even with the changes I made, I still had this blog as a big part of my life for over a decade.

But I’ve decided that it’s time for me to step away from this blog, at least for a little bit. I haven’t been feeling that inspired to write here. My life hasn’t been that crazy, and I’m starting to appreciate the boringness of my life at times. Yes, I still want to have excitement and I’m trying to not just live the same life every single week. But I also know that if I need a weekend at home doing a lot of nothing, there is value in that. And even with only writing one non-workout post a week, sometimes I still feel a bit of pressure to have something happening in my life so I can write about it. Or if I have a lot of things happening within a week or two, I feel the pressure to decide what thing I should write about and what thing I should skip since I don’t want to write about an event weeks after it happened.

It’s crazy to think about how I started the blog in my 20s and now I’m in my 40s. My entire 30s were documented on here and that’s something I’m so grateful for. There have been countless times when I was trying to remember something and I searched my blog for the post about it. It’s been an incredible scrapbook for a big chunk of my life. I have changed my life in so many ways since I started writing. And even with the struggles I’ve had, things have improved so much for me. I don’t think my life is perfect, but the things I have now are things that I wished for years ago. I have a much more stable living situation, which is something that I will always appreciate. I have made a lot of changes in my health but more importantly, in my fitness.

It’s because of this blog that I discovered Orangetheory. I was invited to a blogger preview and I know I wouldn’t have found it as soon as I did without that preview workout. I rarely was in the neighborhood of that first studio before working out there, so I might not have found the perfect workout for me until they opened the studio in my neighborhood. I can’t imagine what my life would be like now if I wasn’t invited to that workout. I’ve had a lot of great things come my way because of this blog, but I think that finding my workout home is easily the best thing that happened because I started this blog.

I found new communities because of my posts. I met new friends that I still keep in touch with, even though almost all of them have stopped blogging by now. I think the blogging world isn’t what it used to be and that’s ok. Things like blogs are trends that come and go and it seems like people have been using other ways to be creative and have a voice. I think I’m starting to feel that way as well. When I started writing, it was a creative outlet that I knew was missing in my life. I don’t necessarily have a new outlet that I have started to use, but I’m more active on social media and that’s a bit of creativity for me. Again, the things I needed and felt were missing in my life in my late 20s are different from what I feel like I need now.

I also find it a little poetic that the day this post will come out will be the 4th anniversary of the last normal day we had before the pandemic. I think most people think of that Friday the 13th as the last normal day even if things weren’t totally shut down right after that. And the pandemic caused such a huge shift in my life, just like it did for almost everyone. I wish that not everything had to change the way it did, but I was forced to adapt to what came my way and I’ve been trying to make the best of it. But I also know that being forced to change is sometimes the only way that change will happen, so I am grateful that I have been able to make positive changes and create a pretty awesome situation for myself.

I don’t know if this will be the last post I write on here or not. I might take a few months off and miss writing so I start things up again. I might realize that I want to write randomly when something big happens so I write a few posts a year. I’m not setting any rules or ideas for this break for now because I don’t know how I will feel during my time away. I thought going down to 2 posts a week would stress me out and I’d miss writing, but it ended up being the best choice for me. I don’t know how much longer I could have kept up 5 posts weekly. I think this last year was much less stressful because I didn’t have that pressure on myself to keep going. And I’m hoping I’ll have another positive reaction to this new break.

So I guess this is it for now. It’s not necessarily a goodbye, but I’m not sure when I’ll be back on here again. But if I come back to start writing again, it will be from a fresh perspective after having some time away. And if I decide to not write here again in the future, thank you to all of you who have been following my journey. Whether you’ve been reading since I started in July 2012 or this is somehow the first post you’ve read. I have been so grateful that people have been interested in what I have to say and what I think. This blog has given me a voice when I really needed one and I have been so lucky to have an audience for this long.

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged blogging, time off, writer

Giving Myself Some Breathing Room (or Just Getting Ready For Other Things This Summer)

Posted on June 7, 2023 | Comments Off

I feel like I’m picking the right monthly challenges at the right time. I seem to know that I will need to do something in the coming month and focusing on it really allows me to make sure I do what I need to do. Sometimes I don’t know why I need to do something until the month is over, but it’s always a great lesson for me. And this past month was no exception.

The overall challenge I set for myself was to be ok with not being perfect. I wanted to let myself use that idea for different things throughout the month, but it mainly concentrated on one part of my life. And that was how I plan out my blog posts. I’m almost 11 years into writing and until May I wrote a post every weekday. Coming up with 5 posts a week is not easy. Sometimes I have ideas for each day and I can be excited about what I want to write about. But more often, I struggle to come up with ideas and I know that my posts can become repetitive. So my challenge with not being perfect was about being ok with not writing every single day.

As you can tell from the posts I posted last month, I did go down to 2 posts a week. My Monday post was my workout recap and then my Wednesday post was about something else. I debated if I wanted to also do a Friday post because I did have things that I wanted to write about, but I knew that it would be a better challenge if I did limit myself to just 2 posts a week. Sometimes I didn’t write about things as quickly as I normally would. For example, this post would have been on Thursday or Friday last week if I had my old writing schedule. I had to be more selective about what I was going to share, but that also allowed me to not focus on turning things I do into posts. I liked not having that stress and I know that this was the exact thing I needed to do for myself.

Giving myself permission to not feel perfect really did release something from me that I didn’t know I seriously needed. And my plan is to continue to not worry about posting every day. Right now, I think keeping it to twice a week is a good option. Later, I might want to add in a third day, but I want to do another few weeks with just 2 posts a week to see how I feel about it. And maybe it’s something I keep flexible and I write 3 posts if I have things I want to share but only do 2 posts if I don’t feel like I need that third post.

Releasing the stress of having to always think of posts has been great for my mental health. And I think I will need as little stress as possible as I get prepared for a potentially stressful summer. This summer is election season for my union, and that’s what inspired my challenge for June. This month, I challenge myself to stay involved in union things as much as I can and try to help others be involved as well.

I’ve already been working on this with the strike authorization vote. I worked on making sure all the people I knew voted and understood what the vote meant. Most people understood that the authorization vote didn’t mean we were going to strike, but we were giving the negotiating committee the ability to call a strike if necessary. And I’m so proud of the union because we had a really good voter turnout (at least for us) and almost 98% of the members who voted approved the strike authorization!

Union elections are always stressful, but adding in contract negotiations adds to that. We will have our regular elections plus we could be voting on a new contract if one is presented to the members. And if we don’t get a contract, there is a chance that we will strike. This is a lot of information for members to take in, especially if they haven’t been involved in the past. Even for me, things can get overwhelming with staying on top of all the things we should know to be informed voters.

But with all the craziness and potential stress, there are so many ways for me to stay involved and connected with my acting career. I know that I will be stressed (and not having to write as many blog posts will help to not add more stress), but it will be worth it. I know I feel better when I’m involved and active with the union. I look forward to the different opportunities that will be coming during this election season and contract negotiations. I might feel like it’s too much in the moment, but once I get through this summer I know I will be grateful that I did whatever I have the ability to do.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, blogging, challenge, election, planning, SAG-AFTRA, union, volt planner, writer

The Importance Of The Writers Strike (or I Support The WGA)

Posted on May 10, 2023 | 1 comment

The Writers Guild of America has been on strike for just over a week now. This isn’t the first time they’ve been on strike in recent history, but this time it feels different. The last strike was in 2007 and lasted 100 days. And even though there was social media during the last strike, I think the influence of social media is really showing itself this time.

I remember during the strike in 2007, there were people who were confused about why TV shows were shut down and not putting out new episodes. It didn’t feel like it was a huge news issue outside of LA or those in the entertainment industry. And when it did make the news, I feel like it took longer for those not directly involved to hear about it or understand what was going on. But this time, I was seeing things by friends who aren’t in the entertainment industry posting about a potential strike the week before it was going to happen. And as soon as the strike started, I saw people asking what they could do to support the WGA.

If you aren’t directly in the entertainment industry, there isn’t much you can do right now. I’ve seen some people post saying they should cancel Netflix, but I’ve seen people with the WGA say they aren’t asking for a boycott right now and it’s just a strike. So canceling streaming services isn’t necessary. If you are near where there are picket lines, you can always bring things like water, snacks, or sunscreen for everyone who is out there.

And for those of us in other unions, unless we have a show with a contract right now, we shouldn’t be crossing picket lines. I’ve seen things from SAG-AFTRA saying that if you are in production with a show and have a contract, you may be required to still go in for work and if you chose not to, there can be legal issues. I know that other actors have called into the union to check to make sure things they are doing are ok, and I think that’s a great option if you are confused. And a lot of my fellow actors have been joining the writers on the picket lines since the strike started. I haven’t had a chance to do that, but I’m hoping I can go soon during my lunch break from work since one of the picket line locations is pretty close to me. I might only be able to be there for about 30 minutes, but that’s better than nothing.

It’s never great when there is a strike and when work has stopped, but this is for something important. And the things the writers are asking for are very similar to what actors will be asking for in our upcoming contract negotiations. Streaming shows are not going away, and we need to restructure our contracts to fit that type of work. We have residuals in streaming, but it’s not the same scale we are used to. And having a limited number of episodes in a season has changed so much, but I think it has changed things more for writers than it has for actors. Making sure everyone is paid fairly for their work is a top priority. The work can be sporadic and not necessarily steady, but when someone is working full-time as a writer, they should be able to support themselves doing that and not stress about having a second job to make sure they can pay their bills.

I know most people hope that this strike will be shorter than the one in 2007, but I don’t know if that will happen. It seems like both sides are very far apart in what they want in the new contract, and it’s going to require a lot of compromises to come to a deal. But I know that this strike is important for the industry as a whole and that more than just the writers will benefit from the outcome.

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Posted in Acting

Tagged acting, SAG-AFTRA, strike, union, writer

Next Month Will Be A Bit Of A Fresh Start (or What Is Coming For This Blog)

Posted on April 28, 2023 | 1 comment

Last week, I wrote about how I was debating again about reducing how frequently I write blog posts. It wasn’t the first time I was thinking about doing that, but for some reason, it felt different to me. I’m not sure what is making this time different, but I’ve just had a lot of thoughts and reflections on how I’m spending my day each day and what I’m sharing with the world.

I’m so glad that I have shared a lot of things here and I know that it has helped other people, but I also feel weird sometimes knowing that I’m out doing something and I will be writing about it later. I do try to keep things private as far as other people go, so I don’t usually say names unless that person has given me the ok to do so. And I don’t share a lot of details that others tell me because those aren’t my stories to tell. But it’s still a weird feeling being on a date or something and knowing that will make a good blog post and not feeling like I can tell my date about it. And then there is always the fear that they will find my blog and see the posts I’ve written about them. It’s not just with dates, doing things with my friends usually have become blog posts and I don’t like that I always have that mindset. It takes me out of experiencing things as they are happening and makes me think about how I can craft the story I want to tell. Even with some things about my health, I don’t necessarily want to share everything. It’s not because I’m ashamed or gatekeeping anything, but health issues really can vary from person to person so I don’t want to say something that happened to me and have others feel like that’s how it is for everyone.

And when I’m struggling with what I want to write, I feel like I have to take more and more from my life and turn them into posts. Even if I wasn’t planning on writing about something, if I’m really stuck for what I want to write I feel like that’s the only option I have. That pressure hasn’t been horrible, but it does happen from time to time, and I have to decide if that idea is worth writing about, if it’s interesting, or if I’m sharing something that I really want to keep private for now. I don’t necessarily regret any of the posts I’ve written, but I do feel like there are some that I don’t really love. Writing 5 days a week for over 10 years is a lot and my life really isn’t that interesting. I do have some interesting days, but to come up with that many posts means that there are a lot of boring or repetitive posts.

And after I wrote that post last week, the idea of changing my post frequency really just stuck with me. I normally write a post about thinking of doing that and then it leaves my brain. Almost like I just needed to put it out there and then I’m fine. But this time, I couldn’t get the idea out of my mind. And it doesn’t help that I really don’t have anything planned for a while for posts outside of my Monday workout recaps.

So I’ve decided that for May, I want to see if I feel comfortable writing less frequently. I’m torn between wanting to have 2 or 3 posts a week, but it will likely be one of those. And my plan is to still do a workout recap on Mondays and then I’ll do either 1 or 2 other posts during the week. I’m not sure which day or days I’ll post the other ones. It may depend on what I have to write about.

As much as I feel like this is the right move, it’s hard not to think that somehow I’m failing because I take a lot of pride in the fact that I’ve written 5 days a week for over 10 years. But at the same time, the person I was 10 years ago or even 3 years ago is different from who I am today. When I started this blog, I couldn’t have even imagined that I’d still be writing over a decade later. So the ideas I had for myself back then don’t have to be what I hold myself to now.

I also know this might not be the right move for me and I might change my mind. But I want to give it a try and see if maybe I will have a bit less stress since I won’t be spending as much time thinking of ideas and writing. If it works, then I’ll continue with the new plan until I think I need another change. If I hate writing less often, then I can go back to my old ways. This change doesn’t have to be permanent, but I do think it’s a good move going forward.

And no matter what ends up happening with this blog and the frequency of posts, I am so proud that I was able to maintain this schedule for as long as I did. It was a real challenge for me at first since being so public was foreign to me. But for a lot of the struggles I went through over the last decade, having this outlet to write out my feelings has really benefitted me. And I think even with less frequent posts, I’ll still be able to have that same benefit for myself.

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged blogging, scheduling, writer

Always Wondering About The Future Of This Blog (or Not Sure If It’s Time For A Change)

Posted on April 19, 2023 | 1 comment

Every so often, I wonder if I should continue writing here or write as frequently as I have been. Sometimes I question it because my life just doesn’t seem that interesting anymore. Sometimes it’s because I know I’m not writing here for the same reasons I did before. And when it was the start of the pandemic, I wondered what I could write about when I was going to be isolated at home. Every time I’ve wondered if I should change things, I usually just decide that I will see how things go and allow myself to change them up if I feel like it’s necessary. But in the end, I never change anything and have continued to write every weekday for almost 11 years now.

I know that these feelings will recur since I will always run into issues like writer’s block or wondering if there is a point to doing what I’m doing. And I’m experiencing those feelings again now. But this time, I can’t exactly pinpoint what’s causing them.

Some of the feelings are probably due to writer’s block since there are so many times that I honestly have to think for a while about what I could possibly write about. I don’t necessarily want to write something just to make sure I don’t miss a day here, but there are plenty of posts that have been written exactly for that reason. I also think I’m feeling very removed from the blogging world compared to how I used to be. I never was super involved, but I used to get invitations to random events or have things that I could potentially go to because I write. I don’t know if all that ended because of the pandemic or if I’m just not famous or popular enough to be included anymore. And I used to love reading other blogs, and I just haven’t been interested in reading them as much anymore. I still read blogs that are written by friends, but I’m rarely reading blogs that are written by people I don’t know personally.

Of the blogs that I still read, I’ve noticed that a lot of people have reduced the frequency of their posts. So many of them used to post every weekday like I do and now post maybe twice a week. But they aren’t on a regular schedule. They just post when they have something to say, which is something that I’ve really considered. I think most of them like not having the pressure on themselves to get something posted 5 days a week and struggling to find content. And while I don’t struggle every week, it’s often enough that I’m thinking if I should make a change as I have considered multiple times.

I also wonder how interesting my life really is. I have a pretty routine and boring life with some random fun things happening from time to time. I write about the same issues with my eating disorder, dating, being in a rut, and health issues all the time. I know these posts are getting repetitive to read because they also feel repetitive to write. But I struggle with the idea of not having a routine with writing since I don’t want to be out of the habit and never write here again.

So I’m back to the same questions I’ve had multiple times over the years. Should I just try to write twice a week and have that as my new schedule? Maybe one post about fitness and one post about something else that happened in my life. And if I have a lot of things happening in my life, it’s not a horrible thing to write about something a few weeks after it actually happened. When I started this blog, I never expected to be writing this long. I’ve written over 2800 posts, which seems crazy that I’ve had so much to say when it feels like so little has happened in my life in the last decade at times. I know I’ve had a few big changes, but overall it doesn’t seem like things are that different from when I wrote my first post.

I’m not going to make any rushed decisions. I have struggled with the idea of changing how often I write several times and I don’t want to make a decision that doesn’t necessarily feel right for me. But the more I have these thoughts, the more I think I need to get out of what is essentially a comfort zone and push myself to do something that scares me. Maybe a change would be good for me. And if I don’t like it, I can always change things back to how they are now. It’s just tough to consider making a change that has been a regular part of my life for over a decade now.

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Posted in Tough Stuff

Tagged blogging, writer, writers block

Hitting Some More Writer’s Block (or This Could Just Be A Temporary Thing)

Posted on January 17, 2023 | Comments Off

Over the years I’ve written this blog, I’ve encountered writer’s block several times. It’s never a fun feeling, especially since I’ve been pretty dedicated to writing on here every weekday and have managed to keep that up since July 2012. But I also know that because I write on here so frequently, writer’s block is bound to happen from time to time.

Sometimes, it’s due to something happening either in my life or in the world. I remember at the beginning of the pandemic I questioned how frequently I would want to write here. I figured I would have nothing to say since nothing was going on in my life and I wasn’t planning on taking any crazy risks of being around other people. But looking back at those posts, I’m so glad that I have a record of my life during that time. Every stage of the pandemic has been different and I have a very good record of how I felt, what I was doing, and what the world seemed like to me. Not all of my moments of writer’s block feel like that or have a positive outcome when looking back at it, but that’s one that worked out really well for me.

I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve had writer’s block, so I guess I was due to experience it again. And there could be a couple of reasons why it hit me this time. I’ve been feeling nauseous on and off for quite a while. I used to get time off from nausea, but the injections have made it continuous. Fortunately, I have learned that by injecting them into my leg instead of my stomach, I can tolerate them better. So now that I’m at the tail end of my regular nausea, hopefully I will finally get a break. It’s also been raining here for a while and I don’t enjoy being out in the rain. I haven’t been going out and doing much lately anyway, but when there’s rain I have even less motivation to attempt to make plans. So my life has been very routine and boring with very little difference from week to week. I know I need to keep rebuilding my social life, but I haven’t had the motivation to do that, especially since the start of the year when the storms started.

But I also wonder how long I’ll be keeping up with daily writing. I do still enjoy it, especially when I have things planned out that I want to write. But when I have nothing on my schedule for ideas (which is what I’m pretty much experiencing now), it’s hard to think that writing every day is still the right thing to do. I’m sure eventually I’ll cut back on writing, but I think it’s a hard transition to make. A lot of my friends who also still blog have been cutting back, so I know that it’s something common to do and more and more people have been making this choice. And one of the reasons I started this blog in the first place isn’t really a factor in my life anymore. I did want to see if I could turn this blog into a day job for me or at least make some extra income from it. I have made some money, but it’s never been enough for me to make up for what I spend on web hosting and other things needed to maintain this site. And I don’t know if I ever care to try to do that much in the future. It would be nice to have extra money, but I’m also in a much better financial state than I’ve been in the past so it’s not as much of a focus for me as it has been before. And I know that if I wanted to try for that, it would take away from time that I should be using to be more social and hang out with friends. So it’s not something I think about much or make much effort into now. And whenever I do make money from an affiliate link or something else like that, it is nice but it’s not a big deal since it’s rarely more than $10.

I have no clue what I’ll be writing about this week since I have no ideas or fun things happening that I know of. But I do plan on still writing every day this week since that’s what I have committed myself to. And if in the future I change my mind about that, I’ll make a very intentional plan to do so and not just because I’m experiencing some writer’s block.

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Posted in Tough Stuff

Tagged blogging, writer, writers block

A Full Decade Of Blogging (or I Do Love Milestone Anniversaries)

Posted on July 15, 2022 | Comments Off

I know it’s a day early, but I’ve been blogging for 10 years! It’s crazy to think that it’s been a decade since I put my first post out on here. Since I typically write the day before the post goes up, that means that 10 years ago today I was writing that very first post.

I know I’ve said this so often, especially on blog anniversaries, but I still can’t believe I’ve been able to keep this up for so long. I know I wanted to keep this up as long as I could, but I never knew what amount of time that would be. Obviously, I’m glad that I’ve been able to write for 10 years now, but I know if I was able to keep it up for a few months and then stopped, I would have been proud of myself for the work that I was able to do.

10 years of posts means that I have written about a lot of things and a lot has changed in my life. I have written about so much that I’ve learned about and how I have figured things out that work and don’t work for myself. When I started this blog, I was in a very different situation. I was not in a regular fitness routine. My day job situation wasn’t as stable as it is now. I lived in the same place for almost the entire time that I’ve been blogging, but I have written about condo hunting over the years, even before we really got serious about it. And now, I live in a much better place than I was in before.

I’ve written about a lot of fun things and adventures that I have gone on in 10 years. I love finding fun (and sometimes random) things to do around LA. One thing I love about living here is that there are always things you can go out and do. I don’t always go out and do them and I’m working on that, but whenever I want to find something to do and I feel motivated, I know I will find something to do. And it will usually make a fun post on here. I haven’t been able to travel as much as I would have liked, but I do love getting to write about a place I haven’t been to before or a place I haven’t been to in a long time.

And I’ve written about some tough stuff over the past decade. I don’t think anyone would expect that they could go 10 years without some sadness. I think I’ve been lucky because I haven’t had to deal with too much hardship over the last decade. There have been hard things I have gone through and that I have watched others go through. But for the most part, the people in my life have been able to stay safe and healthy.

Because the pandemic has been going on for about 2 1/2 years, I guess 25% of my blog has occurred during a pandemic. I wrote about some of my struggles with isolation and my fears around getting sick, but I have been lucky and I have been ok so far. And now, I have this record forever of going through a historic time and what I was doing and thinking. I don’t know if I would remember as much if I had to just rely on my memory and not my past posts.

And I have used this blog as a record when I can’t remember when something happened or a specific point about an event. So when I want to look up something, I can search my past posts. It is a bit weird sometimes to think about it, but it’s also really cool. And I have tried to be as open and honest about the good and the bad so I have an accurate record of my life as I have been writing.

10 years of blogging and just over 2600 posts is a lot. But it’s also amazing. And I am so grateful that there are people who read this blog. I love knowing that others enjoy these posts and I’m not just writing into a void. I have gotten support from people who have read my posts and that is always incredible. And again, having a record of what I have gone through in the past 10 years can also provide help and advice if someone looks up an old post.

I’ve said this over and over again, but I have no intention of stopping my blogging. I’m sure at some point, I will stop or cut back on how many posts I do a week. But I don’t have a plan for that just yet. 10 years ago, there was no way for me to know that my life would be the way it is. And there is no way for me to predict where I’ll be 10 years from now. But I’m excited to see what happens and I will be sharing about it on here just like I always do!

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Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged anniversary, blogging, writer

9 Years Of Blogging (or Just Keep Writing)

Posted on July 16, 2021 | Comments Off

9 years ago, I published my first blog post. Or at least I published my first post on here. I had attempted a blog before that failed after only a few days. But I was trying again and just started writing. I wasn’t sure what I’d be writing about or how long I’d be able to keep it up, but I had to try. And here I am, 9 years later, still posting every weekday without missing a single day.

I know I don’t have to write every day. Some people might say it’s actually smarter for me not to because if I was worried about my reader numbers some studies show daily posting isn’t ideal. And I did start my blog originally to be something more than just me rambling and putting out my thoughts into the world, but now I am ok if it’s like that. Yes, doing sponsored posts and things like that are fun and I do consider opportunities that come my way. But I don’t do everything that is offered because I don’t want to do things just to make money off of a post. I have found my authentic voice and true self over these past 9 years and that’s something I don’t know I would have done another way.

There have been a lot of times I wondered what to write or what to do with this blog. But I just keep on writing. Even when I have nothing to write about, I find something to say about being bored or having writer’s block. As much as I try to plan out what I will be writing about in advance, there are times I’m still trying to figure it out late at night and just write whatever I’m thinking.

And last year, when the pandemic hit, I wondered what I would do. Even when I have writer’s block, I usually have things coming up that I could write about and look forward to. But when things were shutting down, I knew I wouldn’t have much to say. Except not having much to say ended up being something to write about. I am grateful that I have a written record of my time in this pandemic. I have my thoughts and fears in my posts and I’m sure that one day it will be interesting to reflect back on this time (we just have to get out of this time first).

Even though I have been consistent for the past 9 years, I know that can change in the future. Maybe I will decide to write less frequently. I think I would still want a blogging schedule so I have something regular, but maybe it won’t be every day. As of right now, I don’t have any plans to change things up. I want to just keep writing because I learn so much about myself from doing that. Even if these posts are just for me and nobody else sees them, I benefit from them and that’s awesome. And if someone else finds the posts and either learns something about themselves or doesn’t feel as alone in their struggles, that’s amazing and incredible! Both helping myself and helping others is what keeps me going.

Next year, I will have been blogged for over 1/4 of my life. That’s crazy for me to think about but I’m also so excited for that milestone. And that is going to keep me going when I feel like I have nothing to say this next year. I’ll keep writing, even if they aren’t super amazing posts, and then I can celebrate 10 years of blogging in 2022!

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Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged anniversary, blogging, writer

Gaining A Little Control In My Kitchen (or Continuing To Repeat Monthly Challenges)

Posted on November 4, 2020 | Comments Off

For October, I challenged myself to find more simple recipes to have as easy meals I can make with little effort. I know that cooking for myself doesn’t have to be an elaborate production, but it’s felt like that for quite a while. And I know that in order to be more on top of my health, I need to be cooking for myself more often. I can’t just rely on delivery food and frozen dinners. But it’s been a struggle for me for so long.

I don’t know if I will say I was totally successful last month, but I think I made some really big steps forward. I wanted to have a few more easy recipes that I knew I could turn to, and I don’t know if I got as many as I would like. But I did add a few more that only require a little shopping. For example, I found a good chicken recipe that only really takes some chicken, the healthy type of cream of chicken soup, cream cheese, and Italian seasoning. While these are not things I normally have in my house, they are easy to get ingredients. And to put this meal together, it only takes about 15 minutes in my pressure cooker. The recipe says to serve it on pasta, but I had it with some broccoli mixed in and ate it by itself. It almost felt like a deconstructed pot pie.

I’ve also realized that it’s ok to use some frozen ingredients along with a little cooking to make a nice meal. My friend Tara sent me a super easy recipe. All it took was some frozen pepper pasta from Trader Joes and pancetta. Make the pasta as directed and cook up the pancetta and it’s almost like a pasta carbonara. I made this and added some peas to it (although I know I added too many peas) and it was really good! I don’t know if I’d use the pepper pasta again because it was a little too peppery, but it was still very tasty!

And even though my goal was to cook more, I also tried to find ways to make cooking easier or to find shortcuts. I know it’s super easy to boil water for pasta, but when I’m just cooking for me it takes a long time for the water to boil (sometimes I’m waiting over 10 minutes and it’s still not simmering). Pasta isn’t the healthiest thing to eat, but sometimes it’s the easiest thing and it’s healthier than ordering delivery food. So when I saw this microwave pasta cooker, I ordered it. I know that I don’t need it, but it’s nice to know I can make pasta super fast and without getting a giant pot dirty. And I know that it says you can cook other things in it as well, so I’m going to explore those options too.

While I didn’t get as many recipes added to my list of things I can pull together with minimal effort, I’m happy with the steps I did take and how much more comfortable I am with just looking around my kitchen and finding things I can pull together to make a simple meal.

And for November, I’m doing something I’ve already challenged myself to do in the past. I’m participating in NaNoWriMo again. But this time, I’m not working on my book that I’ve been working on the past few years. That book is pretty much done. I know that technically it might never feel done, but I feel very happy with where it is. I do have another chapter or two that I want to write with lessons about dating during a pandemic, but it’s not something I feel like I need to work on this year. This time, I’m working on a completely new book.

This time, the book I’m working on is fiction. It is also about online dating, but it’s a completely made-up story. I don’t want to share too much about it since I don’t have it outlined yet and it’s still just ideas, but it’s almost like a mystery/suspense book that has online dating as a way to move the story forward. I’ve had this idea in my head almost since I started writing the first book, but it’s only been a few notes that I’ve saved. Now, I’m trying to flesh out the idea and actually get some things written down.

This time, writing a book is different from the last book. I don’t have the entire story in my head. I don’t have real things that happened to me that I’m writing down. I’m making it all up and I don’t have much done at all. So I don’t know if I’m going to get to 50,000 words this time, but I’m going to try. But the main goal I have with NaNoWriMo is that I want to get a full outline done for this book. I do want to get as much written as I can, but I also know that there may be a time this month where I’m stuck and don’t know how to write the next chapter. So I’m lowering my goal a bit. But it would be nice if I surprise myself and am able to write almost a full first draft by the end of the month!

I’m excited to see what I can get done with writing this month. I think it will be a really good thing for me to do for so many reasons. This idea has been in my head for too long and it’s time for me to get it out in words. Also, this will be a good way to spend time each day. I need to work on being more productive and this will give me something to do every day.

I can’t wait to share with you all how it goes and I hope I have exciting news about how my writing goes by the time I write my update on this challenge!

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged books, challenge, cooking, food, NaNoWriMo, volt planner, writer

8 Years In (or Another Blog Anniversary)

Posted on July 16, 2020 | Comments Off

8 years ago, I wrote my first blog post here. I have written about how this blog started as one idea and it turned into something else on its own. When I started writing, I never expected it to become what it is today. But I love that it has turned into something I didn’t plan on it being because it shows what it naturally wanted to be. And I think I have become more comfortable blogging as I have figured out what I want my posts to be about.

Every blog anniversary is a big deal for me. I always say how I never expected it to last this long, and that statement is still true. When I started, I didn’t have a plan for how long I’d be writing or have a goal that I wanted it to be, and then I would feel like I was done. I just started writing and haven’t stopped.

And these days, knowing that I haven’t stopped writing takes on a new meaning to me. When the safer at home plan started 4 months ago, I really wondered what I’d be able to do with my blog. I wrote about how I wasn’t sure what it meant for this space and was prepared to not have posts every day. And that is still something that might happen. Especially with the safer at home orders being back to their stricter place. I’m sure at some point, I’ll run out of things to write about if I am not able to really leave my house for anything. But that hasn’t happened yet. Somehow, I have figured out a blog post every weekday. Even if that post is me writing about how I have nothing to write about.

I feel like I write about pretty much the same things every year on my blogging anniversary. And I don’t have anything special or unique to write about this time. Just that I’m proud of myself for my consistency, including being consistent with writing when I truly thought I would have to blog less often.

There isn’t a lot to celebrate these days. The news seems to be filled with sad stories or negativity. So I’m happy that I have something to celebrate today. I know that blogging for 8 years might not be a big accomplishment for everyone. Some people have been blogging longer than I have. Some people might think that it’s not that hard to blog every day for years. But for me, it’s an awesome accomplishment and I am proud of myself. And that is something to celebrate!

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Posted in Celebrations

Tagged anniversary, blogging, writer

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