Today is the beginning of the relaunch of Shimelle's class, Blogging for Scrapbookers. I started my blog about sixteen months ago when she first taught the class, and I'm following along on the relaunch as a way to reconsider and freshen up my blog. I think both are needed!
So, welcome new friends (and old) to my blog - Gallorganico. The first prompt for Shimelle's class focuses on why to blog and why scrapbookers in particular might blog. I started my blog mainly as a way to catalog my art, which tends to mixed media collage. You can see some samples in this post or this one. As my art has expanded into photography, I have used my blog to feature some of my favorite photographs and PSE work. Some examples are here and there. I'm also an avid art journaler, and I often most my art journal pages, like the one today. Over time, I have started to share more about my life in general on my blog and have started to use my blog to record photographs and stories that will eventually make their way into my scrapbooks, just like Shimelle suggested in her prompt today. You can see my photos and journaling about the recent tsunami alert in this post or getting a new dog in this one. Without a doubt, one of the best things about blogging has been the friends that I have met along the way.
Another wonderful thing I've discovered in blogland are challenges that help spur my art. One of my favorite challenge blogs is Gingersnap Creations. Their current monthly challenge is about "work," and I created today's art journal page in response to the challenge. It's also allowed me to think about whether my art and my blog are "work" or something different. For most of the last year or so, I've posted every day, but lately I've started to slow down. Partly because I've been busy and partly because I think I've lost a little of that lovin' feeling. Somedays my blog does feel a bit like work. I'm hoping this class will help me rekindle my love for my blog or help me come to terms with "blogging without obligation" (only on those days and in those ways that bring me joy).
So, old friends, why do you blog? How do you use your blog? Are you as excited as ever or have you slowed down? And new friends, welcome! What are you plans for your blog? By the way, let me know if you're a new reader, and I'll definitely go visit your blog.
I had noticed a slight decrease in blog posts, assumed you were just being busy! Hope you get your blogging mojo back with this course as I love seeing that Gallo Organico has had an update!
ReplyDeleteyour page and the question you pose are very interesting. i usually enjoy blogging but if several days go by when i don't, i get stressed and then it does feel like work! enjoy your class - i'm looking forward to hearing more about it.
ReplyDeleteI think I too would find it a bit like work if I blogged everyday....but I do miss your daily posts,Rinda!!!!
ReplyDeleteYours is one of the blogs that has inspired me the most....and helped develop my creativity.
Im a bad blogger - I can blog 2 or 3 times a day & then nothing for a couple of weeks!! I do love to read my faves though. Rinda yours has always been in my reader even after a couple of cull sessions lol xx
ReplyDeleter i love ur blog and have been very lacklustre myself in blogging recently but primarily as issues have come up pertaining to the visibility of my blog and its links to my role as a health professional. although its supported u have to be so very careful and to be honest its put the scareys up. i blog to meet new friends, which have and see whats going on in the blogosphere,
ReplyDeleteJo xxx
I'm in a similar boat - looking to drop the blog-related feelings of obligation and work. Hopefully re-visiting BFS will be a useful exercise :)
ReplyDeleteWhy do I blog? That's a good question, Rinda, and one I've been pondering lately. I was going full-steam-ahead until I found out about my mom's illness and somehow that kind of took the wind out of my sails and caused me to think about priorities. I still love blogging, don't get me wrong, but the main reason I'm blogging these days is to keep in touch with the lovely friends I made when I took Shimelle's class 18 months ago. And you are among those friends that I made there. I want to participate in this next go-around, but not sure I can commit to it time wise.
ReplyDeleteI blog because I can ;-) Mostly I just wanted to have a little space to share the artwork I do and perhaps people would learn something and/or enjoy stopping by to see what's new.
ReplyDeleteI too love that saying "blogging without obligation" - I blog when I have something good I want to share, but if several days or a week go by I don't sweat it!
Your art journal today really speaks to a feeling I have sometimes... especially on a weekend when housework is calling!
I'm not a new reader, but it has been awhile since I've visited. Good to see you are still artsy. :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoy blogging Rinda, when I want to blog. If a week goes by that I don't blog, I feel like I should, and I don't like that feeling. If I felt that I had to blog daily, it would be work. I enjoy your blog Rinda, and should you decide to blog less, I'll still enjoy your blog.
ReplyDeleteFortunately or not @@ I don't feel bound to blogging on a specific schedule. I know they say that readers like a schedule and like to know what to expect but I am all over the place ... I blog about my family, my creations, my business, my faith, etc. The only constant for awhile has been the Sunday Song of Praise video I post. I always have good intentions but they just slide away lol I love that I have met so many very cool people because of blogging!
ReplyDeleteWhen I started, with the new flush of excitement that blogging brings, I loved every moment and I quickly settled into an almost daily blogging schedule - not unlike yourself. Then, I had to go away and was not able to blog - it really bugged me. Now, I realise that the breaks are really good for me as a human and good for my blog - having time away is really important and I have settled into the routine that I will take most of our school breaks as a time to slow down or stop for a period of time.
ReplyDeleteThe pull for me is the friends I have made and catching the stories of my family before I forget them. I am also really happy that I have family, extended family and friends all over the world who keep up with what we are doing - in a way it has provided an extra connection that would be otherwise overlooked.
I find your blog a part of my life now, your creativity, positivity and thought provoking posts are always a pull for me - I miss you when you are away, but having a break is important and I fully support however you choose to blog! :-)
Wonderful journal pages! Thanks for playing the Gingersnap Creations Get to Work Challenge!
ReplyDeleteWell of course you know your blog is an "always read" in my mind! I started to blog because I wanted to try a bit of writing again after a break of many years - now I'm blogging because of the wonderful connections I have made. I have found it a life changing experience. Inspiration-wise, some days I have lots of ideas for posts which I scribble down, other days I have to search for my muse, but I never like to prepare to far in advance.
ReplyDeleteI hope class reinvigorates your blogging muse Rinda - tho I have to say your posts are always of a consistently interesting and eminently readable standard!
Oops, I missed this post earlier! It's a particularly interesting one - thank you for sharing your thoughts with us so openly and honestly :-)
ReplyDeleteI think it's worth 'stepping back' and thinking through our reasons and motivation for blogging every now and then. As you know, I'm a big advocate of 'blogging without obligation', even when I forget that myself!! If blogging feels like work, then maybe it's time for a short break or a slight change in direction. I've had that feeling, if only slightly, now and then; I can't now imagine NOT blogging, but I am determined to make it work for me and not the other way round, so I'd rather take a day or two or more off than struggle to put together a post that I'm not happy with - which isn't to say that I think all my posts have to be sparkling, original, witty, inspiring and meaningful - gosh, I'd be thrilled if any of them were any one of those things!! But if I'm blogging for the sake of it, if it feels in any way like a chore, then I've forgotten just why it is that I blog, and that's a sign to me that I need to rethink and refresh. (NB This is obviously all just my own opinion about my own blogging habits! xx)