Blog Hop

I have been nominated by, the very talented at many crafts, Angel Gem to take part in a 'Why I Write ' blog hop. It's doing the rounds and is a fun way to find new to you blogs and maybe make new blog friends too.

Here goes....

What am I working on?  I have a list of things I would like to try and make, mostly thanks to being inspired by Pinterest and other talented bloggers, and my most recent make is a felt rose brooch.

 It's actually quite a deep red and I think it works well with the black.

Something else I am working is on is reading these two books by Sarah Ban Breathnach.

I have had the Simple Abundance book for years. As the cover says it's a daybook and I have read the first quarter of the year many times but I have never read it all the way through. Reading an entry a day just doesn't work for me, there are too many distractions. I can't read it like a normal book either as I find her writing, and the quotes she uses from other,s give me so much to think about. So I read it as and when I can, making notes along the way. Romancing the Ordinary is divided into months and provides ideas for enjoying each month as the year flows along. Again I read this with a notebook by my side ready to jot down ideas and thoughts as they come to me.

It's a similar idea to the puttery treats which Alison posts on her brocante home website. A simple idea to bring a little bit more prettiness and happiness to each day is the ultimate goal and I don't think you can argue with that.

How does my writing differ from others in my genre? Simple answer. It doesn't. Apart from the fact that I write about my life and my home and my family, I do exactly the same as everyone else and record life as it happens.

This little piece of Blogland started off as my online diary nearly 6 years ago and that is how it remains and will continue to be so.

Why do I write what I write?  The last answer links into this question. I blog because of a need to record our family as it grows. When we became a family of three I kept a diary for a while as I wanted there to be a record of how it felt becoming parents to a three year old. Five years later we became a family of four with another three year old coming into our lives and shortly afterwards I discovered the world of blogging. My children have a limited amount of information and very few photos from the first three years of their lives and so this is a perfect way of making sure I record as much of their childhoods as I can.
How does my writing process work? Process? Is there supposed to be a process? Maybe that's where I'm going wrong?! Perhaps I should be more methodical about posting. When I began my blog I was at home on adoption leave and when I did return to work after 18 months away I went back two days a week. I had much more time to blog and we did lots more as a family because the children were younger. Little ideas for posts would pop into my head and I would be able to grab the camera and take a few photos and hey presto there it was on Jumble and Jelly. Over the years my time at work has increased which in turn has resulted in less blog time and less energy for thinking about it at times too.

Where do I go from here? In 2013 I posted the least amount of times ever. I wanted 2014 to be more productive. It started well enough but as so often happens, and it's something I get really disappointed in myself about, I allow work and personal issues to pull me down too much. And then of course we had the shattering news in May about T's brother. This turned life upside down. For the first few weeks it was all about just coping with the day to day. Occasionally I would think about an idea for a post but it all seemed so trivial compared to what was happening. I considered stopping altogether. I considered stopping this blog and starting a new one. In the end I decided to carry on and have been giving some thought to how the posts may look in the future. Times change. 
One thing I am planning to do over the summer holidays is attempt an online course which will help me understand and use my bridge camera more effectively. As my free time lessened and the post ideas dried up so I was using my camera less and less too and my enthusiasm for it diminished. I would love to know how to do something other than use the auto facility.                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Thank you Angel Gem for the nomination, it's taken me a few days to actually get this post to the point I could press the publish button, but it made me get out of my head and into words thoughts about blogging. So if you are reading this and feel like you want to have a go then please do, it's always interesting finding out more about you all.