THINGS I HAVE LEARNED OVER THE COURSE OF MY 100 BLOGS:

• My proofreading is never perfect. I read and reread my blog entry before hitting “publish.” Try as I do, there is always an extra letter or one missing. I think writers have a tendency to self correct as they read over their own work. I find every mistake when I read others’ writing, I even kind of enjoy that detective work. I need to give my blog a closer eye to detail.
• People that love me do not always get around to reading my blog, and I need to be ok with that. In the beginning I used to ask my husband or my daughter, “Did you read my blog yet?” Sometimes I’d hit them with that question within hours of posting. I have learned that it does not mean that they are not interested. I had to remind myself often that feedback was not going to affect me. That said, it does feel good to hear that someone likes something I wrote.
• I am not too old too still love hearing that my mom likes what I wrote. Remember when we were kids and we’d run up to Mom and say, “Look what I made?” The praise for how hard we worked or how talented we were boosted our confidence greatly. My mom was and still is one of my biggest fans. She is not on social media, she lives across the country, and somehow her pat on my back is reaching me every time I post. I love it! Thanks Mom!
• Writing about my family makes me feel proud and happy, and sometimes sentimental for days when my children were little. I like looking through the lens at the happy days of motherhood. Even though it was not all smiles and easy living, it feels good to recount the positive memories. I do write about challenges we have faced, but tend to keep that to my memoir writing. Nobody wants to open a daily blog and be bummed out.
• Keeping names of people, not dogs, out of my blog is very hard. I made a promise to my family that my stories would not include names of any family or friends. Only Koda and Summer and their animal friends would be names. This is difficult. As a writer I am trying to give detail, and avoid vague descriptions. I have slipped one time, and it was pointed out to me by someone who shall remain nameless.
• My writing is not my best on this blog. That is a truth that is hard to swallow. I take pride in the pieces I work on for my memoir writing class. I revise and edit numerous times. Over the course of several days, I return to it with fresh eyes and improve it even more. But with this blog writing, there is no time for that. It is simply: get idea (from my list or the top of my head), write, proofread and edit, and publish. Usually all in one sitting. Occasionally I give it a few hours to marinate and then return for a final edit before publishing.
• I am technologically challenged. This statement should come as no surprise to my four kids. At one time or another each has had to help me fix some problem. My cellphone was on Do Not Disturb without me understanding why I could never hear the phone ring (for the past few months) except when it was family, thankfully my daughter figured it out within seconds. Or my son showing me how to rip and burn cd’s on my computer when I was making a movie. I’m still unsure of the difference between the two. Who needs tech support when you have millennials nearby. My Friday movies have been fun but tricky to upload/download/render/buffer at times.
• Blogging is fun. I enjoy writing about my family, the two sweet aussiedoodles, Koda and Summer, and queen of the house, Kitty. Even though it is tough to get an idea of who or how many are reading my posts, I like to imagine there is some audience out there appreciating my record of thoughts, pictures and videos. Hitting the milestone of 100 posts was a surprise to me. I wish I had the consistency in my diet and exercise plan, still working on that commitment. For now, I will continue my blogging, which just happens to be great exercise for my brain!