Evolution of my Little Blog

I was just thinking about the evolution of my blog.  At various stages of its life, this blog has had very different focuses...foci...

When I first started blogging, it was honestly as a stepping stone to letting the world know I liked to write.  I blogged mostly about what God was teaching me and the creative side of life.

• Dreams 
• A Dark Night 
• Runaway Train
• Nearsighted

These posts were written on my original blog. One that no one knew about.  I was writing "publicly" but the public had no idea.

Then my blog became about a new start. A new career, a new blog, a new focus.

• I Think God is Trying to Tell Me Something
• Focus
• Eating an Elephant
• The Lies we Listen to

Then beginning with this post a whole new focus for my blog emerged.  I started writing about my love for cooking and photography.  I was reading a lot of Pioneer Woman at the time and loved what she did with her blog so I started going down that road.  I think it was the real beginning of my blog.

• Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad with Brussels Sprouts
• 103 Won't Get them down
• Creamy Pasta with Roasted Zucchini
• Almonds and Basil
• Slow Cooker Mac N Cheese
• Grilled Zucchini Rolls
• Cheesy Crescent Chicken Rolls
• Apple Pie in an Apple
• Starbucks DIY Breakfast Sandwiches

I mixed in some true Kim with some honest posts about where I was at but it was mostly about my food.  It got to the point that all my friends called it a food blog. To this day people still call it a food blog. ITS NOT A FOOD BLOG.  

• I'll Be Honest, Part 1
• I'll Be Honest, Part 2
• Do you really hate being single?

Somewhere along the way, it just got to be about life.  What I loved, liked, wished for.  

• Love to Create
• Come on Irene
• Oh What to Do

In all of this, i was randomly writing reflective posts on what I was learning in the midst of life

• Stuck in The Mud
• Church of New York
• Faith & Trust
• Chasing a Pipe Dream
• Sweet Discipline
• Right Things to Say
• The Challenge of Being a Writer
• God's Box: Still Trusting
• What I am learning from a ball of yarn

I even began using my blog to be the main advertiser of my growing Etsy Shop.

• Creating for the Sell
• Cyber Mondays
• Black Friday Sale Fun 
• Cyber Monday & Update
• Fall is in the Air

The late spring of this last year I started getting more involved in the blogging world. Joining link ups, entering giveaways, etc.  My blog changed almost drastically. In some ways it was great. I was getting exposure. I was seeing other writing styles, other ways of expressing yourself but i was also getting more readers.  

• 2012 Ultimate Blog Party
• Pinning Party

I went from 30 something followers to the 200s in a matter of weeks.  

I even got to the point of taking on advertisers & sponsors.  Many days my blog was about the giveaways and the sponsors.  I found it hard to keep up with it and started to lose my voice as a writer.

Once the high of the growth dwindled down, I started reflecting more on who I was as a writer, a blogger, a friend. I am still reflecting on who that is. I am still trying to find out who I am and where I want my blog, my writing to go.  What I love about the blogging community is that I can take my time to figure it out and I don't have to be boxed in to one specific style. My followers will change. My focus will change and that's ok.

How has your blog evolved? Have you found your own niche?  Are still trying to find your voice?

Practice Makes Better

One of my goals for 2013 is to write more creatively.  More specifically "8) Write at least one creative post a week."  So far I have failed at that but its still January so I am not a total failure yet (wink wink).

Now in processing what this means, I have had to decide what a creative post means? I think originally it was more creative writing style like fiction, poetry, etc.  I want to hone those skills more.  I truly think practicing your art will make you a more rounded artist.  If i wait until perfect inspiration comes I will never write.  

So, for me, writing at all is a good habit to start. I get so bogged down sometimes by lack of inspiration or the tasks of the day that its just not a priority anymore. So I have decided that writing creatively means writing about anything other than technical things and giveaways or blog hops.  DISCLAIMER - I actually love the technical things, giveaways and blog hops. I seriously enjoy them BUT they are also serious distractions from why i began blogging. I started blogging because I wanted the outlet to write and making it public (though a long process) was necessary for me.  I needed it so that i would no longer be a closet writer and so that i had a community that helped encourage my desires as a writer.  I got caught up in the social politics of blogging but now I want to go back to the reason I started blogging in the first place... to strengthen that writing muscle.  

SO What does that mean?  In our staff meeting yesterday our main administrator posed these three questions when communicating to our parishes. So What? Who Cares? & Why Me?  She stated that we should ask these questions when communicating to our masses.  Bringing this over to my blogging, I want to ask these same questions.  I realize that sometimes when I write, I shouldn't consider these questions because it could stifle the writing process but in the same respect I think they force you to look at what you write about and why and really dig deeper into the why.  So I want to take some time, at least once a week, to write. Just write.  They may be creatively written posts or they may be about life but I will write. 

Brooke from Covered in Grace listed 30 Days of Blogging Prompts this week.  They were realistic yet simple writing prompts.  I hope to use these to help get that writing muscle going.  I won't do them every day but often enough.

Day 1: List 10 random facts about yourself.
Day 2: Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and describe how they became fears.
Day 3: Describe your relationship with your parents.
Day 4: List 5 things you would tell your 16 year-old self if you could.
Day 5: What are the 5 things that make you happiest right now?
Day 6: What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced?
Day 7: What is your dream job, and why?
Day 8: What are 3 passions you have?
Day 9: List 3 people who have influenced you, and how.
Day 10: Describe your most embarrassing moment.
Day 11: Describe a few of your pet peeves.
Day 12: Describe a typical day in your life.
Day 13: Describe 5 weaknesses you have.
Day 14: Describe 5 strengths you have.
Day 15: If you were an animal, what would you be and why?
Day 16: What are your 5 greatest accomplishments?
Day 17: What is the thing you most wish you were great at?
Day 18: What is the most difficult thing you have had to forgive?
Day 19: If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?
Day 20: Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.
Day 21: If you could have 1 superpower, what would it be and what would be the first thing you did with it?
Day 22: Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?
Day 23: List your top 3 hobbies and why you love them.
Day 24: Describe your family dynamic from your childhood vs. your family dynamic now.
Day 25: If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be and what would you eat?
Day 26: What popular notion do you think the world has wrong?
Day 27: What is your favorite part of your body and why?
Day 28: What is your love language?
Day 29: What do you think people misunderstand the most about you?
Day 30: List 5 things you would hope to be remembered for.

Thanks all for taking time out of your day to read my blog!  

Have a lovely weekend!

{Writing} From Dream To Screen

Its no secret that I like to write... at least anymore.  I prefer story telling over anything else but story telling is so much harder.  Going from an initial idea to getting the idea down on paper is the hardest part.  For some reason blog posts are 100 times easier then stories but even blog posts are hard sometimes.

This week, as a part of Mama Kat's Writing Prompts, I chose "Share your writing process. How long does it take an idea in your head to get published on your blog?"

Typically, ideas are the easy part.  I have ideas come to me at the weirdest times and often.  In the shower, on the subway, as I drift off to sleep, in the middle of a sermon... Rarely do they come when I am in a place I can stop and actually write.  Often, my ideas come to me like Twitter or Facebook statuses.  They will be a short idea or phrase that often leads to further detail.  

If I am lucky and good, then I will stop whatever I am doing and write down the idea and the top 2-3 points/leads to that idea.  This rarely happens. I often will fool myself into thinking I'll remember it and why I thought it.  But 96% of the time, its gone the second I move my attention to something else.  

When I get a chance to sit down and flesh out an idea, often times the inspiration that came to me a "flash of genius" is often a faint glimmer.  If I am feeling inspirited, I might try and write anyway.  That usually leads to a different version of the original intention but is sometimes better.  

There are times I schedule out writing time with no real idea in mind.  Some of those times, inspiration comes and I will write about whatever is on my mind.  Other times, its a wasted hour or two and I end up checking emails or reading other blogs.  That happens more times then I'd like to admit.

My creative writing/story telling often happens in the same pattern. It leans a lot more on the unfinished and uninspired side.  Often, because its a long piece, I will get 20-30 pages in and lose my motivation. I can't count the amount of stories I have started and not finished.  Maybe one day I'll save up some money and head somewhere with just my computer (no internet) and just write for a couple of days.  Wonder if that will flesh out any of these ideas swimming around in my head.

The last step typically in my blog post writing is finding the right pictures. I prefer to have images in my posts but I prefer to have my own photos.  I try my best to find something I have already taken or if I have time, I will take pictures just for a particular post.  

So that's how this thing called writing tends to work for me.  Its a little ADD and random, like I am.

What's your process?

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MY MORNING ROUTINE & Writing Prompts

I've mentioned lately that I want to start writing more.  I love to write. Whether its blogging or creative writing, I really do love it.  I have way more blocks than I do releases but I still love it.  Last week, someone commented on the use of writing prompts and then later that week I saw Brooke from Covered In Grace post on using writing prompts.  After following a few links, I landed on Mama Kat's Writer's workshop.  So far i am finding it simple enough.  I get prompts emailed to me each week.

Last week's topics were:
1.) What’s for dinner Mom? Describe a meal your Mom cooked that you dreaded eating growing up.
2.) Share your favorite Summer Olympic Moment so far.
3.) Your morning routine.
4.) What’s your Summer Fashion? Share a favorite outfit you’re loving this Summer.
5.) Do you have a sweet tooth? List your top five favorite candies!

So I decided that I'd start doing this more.  I am not sure I'll have a specific day that I will do this but I hope to do it once a week. 

MY MORNING ROUTINE

Boring, right?  Yeah well lets see if I can turn what could possibly be a boring post into a fun one.  Not really holding out much help, but we'll see. :) At least you'll get to know me a little better.

A little back story:  My only paid job is a part time one. I work for a church here in New York.  Trinity Grace Church Upper West Side.  I work in the offices on Tuesdays and Thursday.   I also work on Sunday evenings during the service.  On Monday, Wednesday & Friday I work a little more independently.  It originally was supposed to be a time that I worked on my photography and writing but lately for a while it has been more about my blog and crafting.  It doesn't bring in money so I should probably adjust my schedule...

Anyway, my morning routine...  I am struggling with telling you what it is vs. what I want it to be.  On my non-office days, it typically consists of me fighting with the alarm.  I tend to stay up way too late on the nights before non work days so getting up is often a chore.  

Then I spend some time with the Lord reading other people's blogs.  It always is a way to help me wake up. I am not much of a morning person.  I need time to process and wake up.  So often I will check email or check out people's blogs.  Sometimes I obsess over numbers. 

If I am good, I make a schedule for the day. This helps me stay on task.  But often I'll get through half my morning before I get around to it.  

Even the mornings I go into the office, much of this is my routine.  Even the blog vortex that i can often get sucked into inevitably causes me to be late to work. On those mornings, I spend time on the train reading my bible.  By then I am awake enough that i retain some of the info.  At least most days that is true. I am reading through the New Testament. I am really loving discovering the Word all over again!.

Oh and in case you wondered.... Coffee is a huge part of my morning.  These days its iced coffee because its too warm in our apartment for hot coffee, although I do miss it!  We started a Thursday Morning Women's prayer time this week and the hostess  had hot coffee.  I kinda wanted to just hold the mug for a few hours and tell it how much I loved it and missed it.  Yeah, I'm weird but if you didn't know that already then you should know that. It will make things less awkward down the road.

So that's my normal morning routine.  Its not that exciting but I hope I didn't bore you too much.  What is your morning routine?

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