blog cheating

Yes, I've been busy. No, I haven't updated this blog very often in recent weeks. No, I haven't been keeping up with others' blogs. (And for that I'm sorry. I'll catch up soon.) But I would be lying to say that I hadn't been blogging. In the between times of my busy schedule, I've been working on creating a blog for an editing association I'm involved with.

I'm quite proud of my work. (Send me an email if you'd like the address to my new blog.) And it's turning out to be a great opportunity for me to learn more about html and coding and all that jazz. Plus, I think it looks cool and that I created some clever workarounds to limitations imposed by the blogging format.

The woman who runs the group's national website wrote to me yesterday saying that the blog looks so complete that she'd like to take down the static page for our chapter (which she maintains) and replace it with my chapter blog. I feel so honored. She and another member are both working on blogs for their respective chapters. I'm riding the front of the wave. It feels really cool.

In many ways, creating a blog is like creating a magazine. I get that same addicted rush to work on the product and then that same giddy feeling when my baby is ready to be presented to the masses. Of course, after the creation and initial presentation period, they are quite different. There are no do overs in the world of print. And while the ability to later change, manipulate and perfect may be attractive, it is deadly to a perfectionist like me. I can fine tune from sun up to sundown and still find more that I'd like to tweak and alter.

So in all my tweaking and altering, I've neglected this blog. And then, when I come to finally post, I sit and stare. What to write? When one has neglected someone or something for a long period of time, reconnecting becomes harder. The longer I go without posting, the more memorable and deep I feel the subject matter must be when I finally do make that post. But that pressure pushes me to avoid posting. And the nasty cycle begins. (YellowDancer21 has been having similar issues with updating her blog.)

So an update on me: I've been busy. And I've found that in being busy I lose the ability to think and write about the broader world around me. My observations are limited to the minutiae, the elements of the tasks before me (read: BORING). Right now, I could give a very thorough discussion on pens and the inks within them. If you ever want a comparison chart...

And, since I know you are all secretly asking, yes, things are still good with the boy. He still hasn't run away screaming from my craziness nor has he mutated into an unbearable, rude jackass -- the two most common relationship enders. So, I'm thinking I may just keep him around awhile.