The more I talk about my writing and my work, the more I keep hearing things like:
I love learning about how people write.
I never knew that about the publishing process!
I’m obsessed with hearing how people create the things they do.
It doesn’t matter if it’s art, writing, music, or any other “creative outlet,” people are intrigued by how “creativity” works and what it looks like “behind the scenes.”
It got me thinking about my blog and what I want this space to be (yes, again). It made me realize that my blog feels too polished. Too put together. (Well, maybe in terms of the words I use and the stories I tell. One day, I want to totally overhaul the look of this blog, because I feel like it looks outdated). But as for the posts themselves, they don’t convey anything close to how messy my life, my writing process, or my creativity is.
I’ve been filtering myself for years. (Hi, I’m Liz, an eldest daughter who is also a recovering people pleaser).
My “training” and education always focused so much on polish, clarity, and, let’s be honest, very academic pieces.
But then I think of the years I spent writing about hot dogs (that is not a typo). Or wrote about doing ‘food fights’ with my friends (comparing dishes between restaurants, not actually tossing the food). And I remember how blogs used to be… more informal. Less essay focused. More… I daresay… fun and personal?
Once again, I find myself in a “messy middle.” Trying to define myself and all my many interests. But WHY?
I started Oops & Daisies many, many years ago as a place to talk about “life zoomed out,” but somewhere along the way, I made it WAY too formal.
This is not the place for formal, filtered, or structured.
This is the place I tell “real life” stories… not curated ones. Not all happiness and sunshine. But the mistakes. The self doubt. The troubles. But of course the things we want to celebrate, too.
It’s life zoomed out.
So I’m going back to the “old ways” of blogging.
Posting more frequently.
Posting shorter, less polished things that I don’t spend hours agonizing over.
Not writing or editing with SEO in mind (gasp!)… at least for the most part, because, hey, I like to recommend my favorite things, sometimes.
Posting without overthinking.
And just having fun with sharing the things I love, the things I’m thinking about… and who knows what else!
I hope you read and enjoy them. But if not, that’s okay, too, because sometimes you just need to practicing putting your voice out into the world, too, and that’s what I think this latest pivot is (currently) about.
One last note: I don’t want to admit how many times I re-read before posting this. I’ll work on that!
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