Experiments in the key of Carrie

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Dear readers,

Shortest break ever, huh.

A few things. If you are a blog subscriber, please don’t unsubscribe. I will continue to post updates from time to time. Like now.

I find myself throwing around two vastly different ideas on how to continue blogging, with the intention of keeping it a healthy outlet and connector, rather than a time-consuming distraction or vanity-feeding outreach. My first idea is to become a weekend poster, or “slacker blogger” as suggested by a friend. As an all-in personality, this suggestion sounds tough, but just might work. I’ve got the notion that I would like to pour my daily blogging energies into the writing of a non-fiction book, so maintaining an irregular, special occasion, weekend blog would fit well with that. My second idea is to form a paid subscriber base that would make blogging a job rather than a hobby. I throw that idea out there, while acknowledging that it’s problematic from a number of angles. One is that I have serious inborn qualms about mixing creative endeavours with monetary ones. Two is that I may not have the time to give paying subscribers what they’re paying for, and that would be stressful.

So many other things to write about!

* March break: over and done, and after a long week home alone with the children I am inspired to find alternative plans for our summer holidays. My half-baked plan to let the kids look after themselves while I put ear plugs in and worked was a total fail. What was I thinking??

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* Making tea: I read a little article in Geez magazine on making your own infusions/tea by using ingredients like dried orange peel, ginger root, cinnamon stick, cloves, etc. So I’m drying the peel from the orange my son ate this morning.

* Ingratitude is on my mind. How to help my children express and feel gratitude for the many offerings they receive, rather than sulking or complaining about the things they wish they’d received instead? Hm.

* After my last post, I was grateful to hear from readers who hadn’t commented before. The one-sided nature of blogging can feel lopsided and strangely weighted, like I’m writing to a mirror-self, and that sometimes bothers me. I appreciate when people comment, or tell me in person that they’ve related to something I’ve written. It makes writing feel like less of an isolating, interior occupation — which writing so often does. I would miss that about blogging. I think I would miss it too much to stop altogether. That is my weekend reflection. What other medium allows me to connect, in a genuine and honest and real and perhaps most importantly immediate way, with so many people all at once?

So, thanks for reading. Til next time. xo, Carrie

P.S. In response to my vague idea about blogging for subscribers (above), a reader emailed to say: “It occurs to me that it might be possible to think about a blog not on a subscriber model (which might pressurize a daily post), but on a supporter model, which could be more fluid.” She also sent a link to this TED talk by Amanda Palmer on “The art of asking.” Here’s the link. Here’s a taste: “For most of human history, musicians, artists, they’ve been part of the community, connectors and openers, not untouchable stars. Celebrity is about a lot of people loving you from a distance, but the internet … is taking us back. It’s about a few people loving you up close and about those people being enough.”

Wow. Thanks.

On impermanence
Ten minutes of blogging bliss

14 Comments

  1. Tricia Orchard

    Whew! Thank goodness you are back! 🙂

    When I told few friends that you were done blogging, they excitedly thought the reason was because you and I would be gone somewhere for 28 days! Wouldn’t that be great if that was the reason you were away from the blog?!

    How exciting that you have an interview! I know you will do well! Don’t fret!

    Reply
    • Carrie Snyder

      That reason never even occurred to me! I’m so dense! That would have been awesome …

      What do you think I should wear??

      Reply
    • Tricia Orchard

      Hmmmm…have you seen what I wear? Style maven, I am NOT! I really have no idea what to suggest!

      I think you should ask the neighbourhood midwives for their input!

      Good luck! 🙂

      Reply
    • Carrie Snyder

      Business casual, that’s what Janis tells me. That’s a few levels up from Carrie’s-home-office casual, methinks.

      Reply
  2. saleema

    I visited your blog tonight via my laptop with the express purpose of commenting on the previous post (which I’d read on my phone the other night) and making a plea for something not unlike the slacker blogging already suggested. How happy I was to find another post! I hope you can find a way to manage blogging as something other than an all-or-nothing endeavour…it really is the perfect morning or afternoon coffee break (I do, this, too, with your posts!). I’m grateful either way, though, for the time you have put in to share your thoughts and a glimpse into your daily life.

    Wishing you luck on the next stage with your application!

    Reply
  3. Susan

    Congrats on getting the interview! I for one am game to comment more often if it helps in any tiny way to make the pursuit more balanced 🙂
    Um, yes, a week at home with the kids on own would be loooong. I’m so lucky my hubby is a teacher so I get help on march break.

    Maybe like for a job interview – dress a step above how you would actually dress for the job??

    Reply
    • Carrie Snyder

      Ah, excellent advice. It’s been a loooooong time since I’ve had a job interview, but you’re absolutely right — that’s how I would dress for a job interview. I think I have just the pants.

      Reply
  4. Leah

    Hi Carrie,
    So grateful to read your post today. I would definately consider being a supportor 🙂 I often read your posts to distract myself from the chaos of the day & find a different direction for my thoughts for a while. I consider you very brave to offer so much honesty out to friends, acquaintances and strangers.

    Reply
    • Carrie Snyder

      Thank you, Leah! I will gladly accept your support-in-spirit even if I’m not ready to ask for actual monetary support for this enterprise.

      Reply
  5. m

    Congratulations on getting to the interview stage! So exciting! I’ll definitely be sending you good vibes on the 13th.

    Our Spring Break is two weeks and I just survived the first (thanks to a trip out of town it was less survival and more fun). This week it’s home, though. I’ve already bartered a trip to the candy store if they can get their room clean and organized. We’ll see how that goes.

    Glad to see you’re back, at least for now. I didn’t want to go cold turkey! While I love that you used to post daily, I’d definitely be happy to have weekend-only/sporadic posts to read. Now, to watch the Ted Talk…

    Reply
    • Carrie Snyder

      Obviously I didn’t want to go cold turkey either!

      I’m still puzzling over my random yoga thought: What could it mean? Maybe it means nothing? Or maybe I can’t see what it means, or accept what it means? This is the kind of essentially imaginary problem I find myself getting very knotted up over.

      Reply
  6. Oh My Word!

    Carrie, congratulations on the midwifery interview! I will cross my fingers for you on the 13th – how exciting.

    Reply
    • Carrie Snyder

      Thank you! I’ve just met with one of my midwife friends who poured out all she could remember about her MMI at McMaster a few years ago. I’m going to do my homework for this, as much as it’s possible to!

      Reply

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