Blogging is Time Consuming

Image from here

Blogging is time consuming. Even for someone unencumbered by responsibilities like spouses, offspring, or pets, there are only so many hours in the day to balance the many demands placed, or self-imposed, upon me. I am invariably dropping one ball or another in the great juggling act of life (sorry friends). I also want to experience things and be present in my life and not a slave to social media and this blog.

As technology has shifted to new mediums, I have seen some blogs shift completely away from this forum and/or be taken down from the Internet (I really hope they saved them in one form or another). Other have managed to somehow integrate networking streams and their lives a little more successfully than me. It's hard not to compare and contrast lots in life and to feel inferior to other people and their many accomplishments, presented both in real life and on the web.

I keep coming  back to my reasons for doing this in the first place - documenting my life for future generations.

It is not for revenue streams.
It is not for readership statistics.
It is not to compete in a popularity contests.
It is not a platform for a book/television/movie deal.
It is for my nieces and nephews and their offspring.

Yesterday evening, between the baking marathon that helps me de-stress and honestly, to bribe various people to like me, and the phone calls to some friends and family, I managed to catch up on some reading of an online periodical. I SHOULD have been finishing the Refrigerator Roll Recipe and/or "banking" more posts for the week, but I was prompted (I realize now) to catch up on my reading.

It was to find this article in the Deseret News. It was to extract these quotes to keep me on track and remember WHY I am doing this -- to keep me motivated to keep this blog going despite time constraints, writer's block, the dearth of readers, and the fact that it this a very public forum and I am actually a very private person.

Now, I don't usually post too many faith-heavy entries, but this one will definitely have a Mormon-slant, and I'll do my best to post links to explain the jaragon. The themes, however, are universal.

With thanks to the article’s writer, Trent Toone. The full article was published on February 21, 2013, and may be found at http://www.deseretnews.com/article/print/865573684/Tips-guidelines-and-principles-How-to-write-a-personal-history-your-posterity-cant-put-down.html 

Copyright 2013, Deseret News Publishing Company

Extracted for length and pertinence, all phrases bolded for emphasis are done by me and not in the original article. 

Tips, guidelines and principles: How to write a personal history your posterity can't put down

By Trent Toone, Deseret News, February 21, 2013

Regarding the book: “More To Your Story: Discover the Powerful Experiences You’re Already Having” by LDS Church leader, Elder W. Craig Zwick and his wife, Jan. Elder Zwick is a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy [See the hyperlinks for definitions of these LDS terms].

“…We believe it is impossible to overestimate the influence our own stories can have on us, our children and future generations,” the Zwicks wrote in the book’s introduction. “But if we and those we love are to benefit from these moments, we would be wise to ‘Treasure up … the words of life’ (Doctrine and Covenants 84:85), write them down and frequently recount them — thus making them part of our family lore and heritage.”

“There is power in teaching true principles the same way we learned them,” Elder Zwick said. “The purpose of all of us in mortality is to learn through our experiences, whatever they may be. Stories infuse our life with meaning. We are here to learn from our experiences. … For the experience to be meaningful to you, it needs to be verbalized or written. … Until you speak or write about it, it doesn’t have power in your life.”

Once an experience has been identified, don’t get too hung up on details or flowery words, focus on the feelings that were felt, Elder Zwick said.

“The real essence of the experience is what we felt in our heart,” Elder Zwick said. “It is not so much what you write, but the idea is to convey a feeling.”

For help on deciding what is appropriate and what isn’t, Elder Zwick pointed out two scriptures in the Book of Mormon.

Alma 37:8 states, “And now, it has hitherto been wisdom in God that these things should be preserved; for behold, they have enlarged the memory of this people, yea, and convinced many of the error of their ways, and brought them to the knowledge of their God unto the salvation of their souls.”

In 3 Nephi 27:23, it reads: “Write the things which ye have seen and heard, save it be those which are forbidden.”...

Notable author, Lee Nelson also has this wisdom about documenting your life …

… Nelson wrote: “How many departed souls are regretting that they didn’t write something down before it was too late? How frustrated are they that the too-brief stories of their lives, often written by people who didn’t know them, miss the mark by such a great distance?”

As he wrote his own story, his life made more sense.

“I began to see pattern and purpose instead of accidents and dead ends,” Nelson wrote. “As I wrote about regrets and mistakes … I began to see some of these events as wonderful learning opportunities preparing me for future events.”

Writing a personal history is not like writing an algebra textbook, he wrote, it is nothing more, or less, than telling stories of your life. Some are short and funny and some are longer and more serious. Sometimes you explain at the end of a story what you learned, sometimes you don’t, he wrote.

“There is no secret,” Nelson wrote, “It’s not hard, but it does take time and attention, usually over several years. It might go faster if I do it for you, but it might be better if you do it yourself. After all, you are the one who did all the research.

“The elements in great stories, the stories that never die, are the same elements we see in our own lives. The great stories parallel the lives of human beings. All of us are reluctant heroes or heroines engaged in life’s journey.”

Also from the News:

Elder Dennis B. Neuenschwander
"A life that is not documented is a life that within a generation or two will largely be lost to memory. What a tragedy this can be in the history of a family. Knowledge of our ancestors shapes us and instills within us values that give direction and meaning to our lives." (General Conference, April 1999) [AN note: emphasis my own]

And so, onward ... to keep trying to keep this up, to keep writing the stories, documenting the milestones, and articulating the oddities that are my life.

~ Auntie Nettie