I'm Back!

Hello Friends!

I've missed you...

Most of you know that I've taken a bit of a blogging hiatus...It was under the guise of needing more time to clean my house.

Do ya'll think my house is any cleaner?!

I bet you guessed right.

Not so much.

In my disorganized, not so natural homemaker defense...I did decide to take this mini blogging break at one of the busiest times of the year...probably not the smartest decision on my part, huh? Or perhaps the not so smart part was to believe that in lieu of blogging I was going to become the next Fly Lady.

Or...

...Maybe it was pretty smart after all.... had I tried to manage the blogging, and the Christmas shopping, and the decorating and cleaning and cookie baking and Bible studies and holiday social events and the articles I've had to work on here and there for freelance purposes...well, you might not of got a whole lot from me anyway. So, in retrospect, it worked out well, though not as I thought it would...surprise, surprise, right?!

While my house is not (that much) cleaner, I did have a great six weeks and do think God was working some things out in my heart about blogging and my expectations of it (expectations yet again!) and for it. Who am I? What is this blog space? Where do I want to go as a writer? And even more specifically, what is this blog all about and how much time I should spend on it?

It was a good time to evaluate my goals, my purposes and my expectations...something good to do from time to time, particularly on the cusp of a new year (can you say New Years Resolutions?!).

So, I'm back and here is the low down on my blogging thoughts and goals for the this year...

-First and foremost, I'm planning to take a slightly different direction. I've set up a new blog, mostly for close friends and family called...

          A Little Monkey Business (www.littlewoodmonkeybusiness.blogspot.com)

...On that page I will continue to post thoughts about the girls, funny stories about my daily adventures with them, and all of that off the cuff stuff that happens (like little Miss Ella stomping on toads!) that makes me laugh (or cry!) and offers you a bit of a laugh as well. You will be able to link to that page from my Little Writer Momma page by going to the "Blogs I Follow" hyperlink on the right hand side of my page. There will be no rhyme or reason to my posting schedule there...I will update it as often as possible, and also utilize more photos to tell the story of our daily lives...

- On this page, Little Writer Momma, I plan to post 2 times a week. Consistently. Mondays and Wednesdays. Consistently. 

I am going to write more about my life as a writing mom. About my life as a mom who is still trying to figure out what it looks like to carve out time to pursue the passions that God has written on my heart in the midst of mothering from the heart the beautiful children He has placed in my care; a challenging and precarious balancing act at times.

It will be a space that will hopefully be both encouraging and honest as I share the tools, and bits of encouragement that I have found useful in my journey. It will also be a space that talks about becoming well-rounded...or finding "balance" (not sure what that looks like yet!) in parenting, being a great wife and cultivating artistic interests in the midst of it all.

That said, if you are a mom who likes to craft, or sing, or speak foreign languages or play the guitar or the xylophone...or want to run a 5k race or a half marathon, my hope is that you will find encouragement here as well...While our end goals may all be different the journey is often so very much the same spiritually and emotionally: Finding time and space for ourselves while still being great moms and wives and members of our communities at large.

-As I took some time to think about what I want my blog to be about I came up with some general that I'm passionate about. Things I will write about this year:

• Finding and pursing your passions in the midst of parenting
• Setting goals and sticking to them
• How to keep your marriage healthy
• A topic I'll call "Faithful Follies"...how I strive to grow in my faith, and then stumble time and time again...how important it is to keep going and how to stay encouraged.
• Some thoughts on parenting and being a good mom in the midst of it all--- some here and some on the Monkey Business page. 

-Some things I hope to develop.

I'd love to include the voices of other moms in this space. If you would like to write a "guest post" I'd love to have you...The beauty of life is that we all respond, react and recharge ourselves differently...the beauty of fellowship is that we get to encourage and learn from one another. 

If you're a writer and I know you, watch out! I'll probably be tracking you down and nagging you to write a post here...please be nice and say "yes"! (:

If I don't track you down, but you have an idea, send an email to [email protected] and I'll probably say yes! Unless you propose to write about your interests in pursuing UFO's and extraterrestrials...then I might have to think twice. Most other topics relevant to passions and mothering and marriage will be readily accepted.

I'd also love to expand my readership...in part because the more people who are part of the conversation the more depth the conversation can have. Also in part because....well, I'm a writer. Writers, musicians, artists... we all work the same way...when folks respond to our words or images we are inspired to create more strings of words and images. If you have any thoughts about expanding readership, please share....or at the very least "follow" me on Twitter and send a couple friends this way!

Hey...and leave a comment or two below!!! I like comments...mostly because they help me to feel like, well, like I haven't just dialed the "0" on the phone everyday to have a conversation with the operator. That gets a little lonely after a while...(sigh...smile...)

I'm glad to be back with you. I'm feeling a bit more focused. I'm looking forward to the journey this year and all that it will hold.

January is going to be all about writing and setting goals...how to go about it, what is effective and what is not...what has worked for me and what hasn't. Looking forward to starting the conversation!

On Wednesday I will be writing about writing down your goals...something I have not always been good at, but working on. Hope you'll stop back!