Blundering into This Blog

Years ago, I had another blog. I blogged for years. It was easy to find my voice because I did it pretty anonymously and I did it with the goal of finding the good in my life. Mostly, I did it with the goal of finding humor in the stressful and mundane aspects of parenting. I wasn’t selling or marketing anything. I never even considered a content calendar.

Now that I am selling and marketing (truly my least favorite things), I’ve been grappling with what to do with this blog, how to blog with this different purpose. I don’t want it to be all business and book reviews. Don’t get me wrong, I love books, but an all-books-all-the-time blog? I’m not quite feeling it.

Because we had completed one international adoption and were in the process of a second when I started my first blog, I quickly fell into an international adoption blog community and made great friends, some of whom I’ve gotten to hang out with in person. Meeting new people, whether online or in person, turned out to be my favorite part of blogging. Through our writing, we all shared ourselves with each other, and I am a better person because of it.

So I’ve decided I’m going to do what I did with the last blog: look for the good in the world and just be me. This will involve books as I share some things I’ve read, learned, and experienced over my 22 years of parenting.

Annnnd my youngest just walked through the house carrying one of those little hand-held paint buckets full of exterior paint — the kind that is supposed to last for 20 years, and would undoubtedly ruin every interior surface on which it splashes. Dark brown.

Crisis averted, and he is now back outside doing his good in the world for today with that paint.

Where was I? Oh, yes. Twenty-two years of parenting and a total of six kids. So, I’ll undoubtedly write about some of that, repost old blog posts from when the kids were little, quote and review books that have helped me along the way, do my best to buoy and encourage parents (because the world really needs you), throw out some homeschooling tips and resources I’ve found helpful over my 17 years of homeschooling (because I know some of you are being forced into this homeschooling stuff due to the pandemic, and some of you are even choosing to just do the homeschooling thing because the schooling thing is too uncertain in your area), talk about kids and Big Feelings, review books we have loved over the years, share new ones we find, and, hopefully, meet other authors that I can feature as well.

I’m not sure what a kid lit author’s blog is supposed to look like (totally open to suggestions and tips), but that’s what mine is going to look like for now.

Today’s good in the world (so far): Kids 2, 3, 5, and 6 are outside repainting the railing around the porch and deck and Kid 4 is taking care of weeds. All without complaining. Kid 1 is married and living in a different state, so she gets a pass. 😉

Today’s good in the world (later) (hopefully — I’ve been meaning to do it all week) is to deliver these, along with some books, to some kids I know:

What’s good in your world today?