Hello, dear readers! I know I’ve taken a bit of a hiatus, so I wanted to take this opportunity (while Lucy is taking a hopefully-long afternoon nap) to catch you up on what’s behind the radio silence. Part of it is logistics: as I’ve mentioned before, Lucy hasn’t been as great of a napper as she used to be, so I just haven’t had the time I had before to plug away at blog posts in the middle of the day. But the larger issue is that my blog is going through an identity crisis, and to be perfectly honest, so am I.
When I started this blog I saw it as a fun way to document Lucy’s first few months, stretch my writing muscles, and keep my brain from completely turning to a big pile of mush during my maternity leave. From my perspective, it was great on all three fronts. But then it started to evolve, and I found I wanted it to be something more than just a forum to discuss naps and breastfeeding and my new-mama struggles. So I started to explore other topics, and took the leap of unveiling it and sharing it more widely with people I know, and revealing my name. I jumped aboard Twitter, started getting more followers and blog subscribers, and had one of my blogs published on Project Eve. I was thrilled and excited by the forward momentum of the project.
But then my momentum came to a screeching halt. Somehow, knowing that people outside of my circle of close friends might actually be reading what I’m writing has given me a serious case of writer’s block. I want to be writing something thoughtful and meaningful (or at least witty and entertaining) and so, stumped, I write nothing at all. Is this blog supposed to be a mama blog? An online diary? A series of essays? Humorous, or serious? I find myself self-conscious about my topics and my tone and so I am silent, which is the complete opposite of what I want for this blog. My goal, above all, has been to write — something, anything.
And this struggle, of course, mirrors my own struggle. For seven plus years I’ve been a lawyer and that’s been a big part of my identity. Now I’m a mama and that’s where my focus lies. I am challenged by trying to reconcile all the various aspects of my life: being mama, wife, daughter, lawyer, writer, and my own separate person all at once.
I think getting this off my chest is the first step to breaking through the blockage and starting to write again. There will be more to come this week on Lucy’s 4-month doctor visit, Lucy’s transition to sleeping in her own room at night (tear!), and Sheryl Sandberg’s new book Lean In. For now I need to be OK with the fact that — just like me — this blog will remain a work in progress.
Loving Lucy 