Up until a few days ago, I was blogging endlessly about chores I couldn't seem to get done because of the demands of being a newbie blogger with 2 followers and almost 10 daily page views (on average). I was taking blogging as seriously as church while letting cobwebs grow in my kitchen sink. Re-reading a few of my entries, I realized I was going to run out of interesting things to say about my messy house, and grounded myself from blogging until I finished the oft-mentioned chores.
I developed a case of blog constipation as I tried to focus on completing a few long-overdue projects the last couple of days. Since I'd banished myself from blogging until the cursed jobs were done, I had to content myself with furious note taking in draft form - no publishing until I was done! Well, I'm happy to say the glassware has been packed, antiques auctioned off, outerwear is in the coat closet, all the bird feeders have been emptied, cleaned and refilled, the yard tidied, the ironing is done for another six months and I'm free to get a case blog diarrhea as I unleash a fresh barrage of polite ravings.
I'm trying to improve this blogging effort, but I obviously need some guidance. I had a terrific meeting this morning with a friend who is a veteran blogger, web designer, online palm reader, and inventor of HTML (also, she had ONE date with Al Gore, and then he dreamed up the Internet. Coincidence?) So she's all that, digitally speaking. This lady is also the person who told me about Blogger (easy enough for even me) and encouraged me to just sit down and and write and worry about how to turn it into a blog after I started writing. My friend is so tech-savvy and answered my endless questions about the mysteries of the blogosphere and how to pick up a reader here and there. I expect to make numerous mistakes trying out some of her suggestions, and will undoubtedly embarrass myself trying to employ some of the tech "info & lingo" she tried to explain. Bear with me.
So far I've been writing about writing, but that's getting boring. Now I think I'll blog about my life.
When I was setting up this blog, I had to come up with a name. I wanted to call it "My Life According to Me," but that clever title was already taken. But that's really all I know anything about, and I've got to start somewhere. I also had to choose a "screen name" or something like that. I considered Esther Blodgett and Hildegaard Yabromowitz, but ultimately decided on Hoosier Hausfrau. Again, someone else got there first. So I decided to quit designing my blog and just start writing it.
I am a housewife. There, I said it. I stay home. I don't participate in the "workforce." I have a paying job, of sorts, babysitting for some neighbor children after school, but my primary job is taking care of my family and home. And you know what? Home is a pretty interesting place to be, and the job of housewife is more engaging than it sounds.
I find it fascinating and rather surprising that most of the interesting things that I see and hear on a given day take place within 500 feet of my house. I mean, I watch the news, History Channel, and Discovery nature and science programs; I read a great deal and I get out of the house on a regular basis. But when I think of amazing people, inspirational stories or humorous situations that have made an impression on me, invariably they take place right under my nose. It reminds me of how Jane Austen was said to remark that a story about 6 to 8 families in a village or neighborhood had all the components she needed for novel. Or words to that effect.
I have neighbors who are unfailingly compassionate, extremely witty, wildly profane, puritanically demure and just plain heroic. There are housewives who volunteer at school, church or in the community practically every hour that their children are at school. There are husbands who work all day, then come home and jump in to help with the non-stop evening activities of their families. When a neighbor has surgery, other neighbors step in to cook, mow, keep the kids or pick up prescriptions. There are doctors, nurses, teachers and public servants right around the corner from me, each contributing to the welfare of many souls.
One of my neighbors suffered an unspeakable tragedy a few years back, but slowly pulled out of a bleak depression and reconnected with her neighbors. I have only to sit on my front porch at 5:00pm any weekday to see an amazing array of humanity pass right in front of my eyes.
After 4 years here in my neighborhood, I can honestly say I love where I live and wouldn't want to leave here. And considering how different my current home is from the ones in which I grew up, 900 miles away, that's saying something. When you have good neighbors, home is a great place to be.
In the dark ages (before the Interwebs made everything easier yet more complicated), it was possible to claim to be a frustrated writer without having to prove it. I mean, you could always say your unfinished novel was in a drawer, or your mother threw out your spiral notebooks containing your gut-wrenching poetry, or you burned all the rejection letters from all the publishers you submitted your short stories to. After all, who, in 1985, would expect an average mortal to have the necessary skills, talent, determination and connections to get anything published? I was always one who started things, like novels, talked about my efforts to anyone who would listen, then got distracted (or lazy) and never finished. So I could claim to be a frustrated writer without actually writing anything. Prove I'm not one.
Fast-forward to 2010: I have run out of excuses. I love to write and want to share what I write. Technology has made it possible for people like me, having no demonstrable talent or skill, to reach an intergalactic audience with our rantings, musings, advice, predictions and drivel. And there's not even so much as a junior editor to stop me. So now I have created a blog. Will I stick with it? Will it be interesting to anyone but me? Will I figure out how to do anything interesting besides choose a font? Tune in next time to find out...if there is a next time.
