Blog Burnout

It has been hard to get to the old blog lately, what with having a new job and a long commute and a few dozen other excuses. Another reason for my lack of posting is what I term “Blog Burnout.” Blog Burnout is a condition that affects writers such as myself, who at some point decide that their blog is boring and stale and really, what is the point of all this writing and sharing?

I’ve also been struggling with the fact that my very public blog hampers my ability to put into words exactly what I am thinking. I used to take pride in the fact that I rarely use curse words on this site, but now I find it to be a bit of a cop out. It’s this self-censoring that really gets to me, and in the end, it feels dishonest when I hold back.

I’ve always admired Amy Storch—of Amalah.com—for being brutally honest and never censoring what she thinks or feels. I think it is that freedom of speech (and her obvious talent) that makes her blog so incredibly successful. When she quit her job several months ago to focus on her writing, I was surprised, and a part of me worried for her, but I think now that move only served to free her up for more honesty. Without having to worry about being dooced from her job for her opinions, she is now able to channel more of her true self through her blog.

(What is ironic is that Amy recently went through a pretty severe case of Blog Burnout, but was able to recover from it by stoking her creativity by creating a new blog.)

Well. With all that said, where does it leave me? Two-thirds of the way through a new entry, ha, ha, ha.

The other third of this entry will come in the form of a little story:

As I mentioned previously, Reilly had three shots last week at her 15-week appointment. At the same time, she was getting over a cold. In addition, she isn’t napping very well at daycare. Finally, she is teething again. All of these factors combined on Monday night into a tantrum, a tantrum so fierce, in fact, that she decided it couldn’t wait until the morning, and thought that it would be best to wake up and have it right then, at 11:45pm.

She would not be calmed by the normal soothing techniques. She would not take a bottle, or a pacifier. She just cried and cried as I walked her around the house, so much so that it was starting to worry me. At one point, as I paced the kitchen with her in my arms, she pointed to her highchair and yelled, “AH!” When I asked her if she wanted to sit down in her highchair, she said, “Ah, Ah, AH!”

So, I put her in it. She pointed to the cupboard, and I brought out some Goldfish and placed them on her tray. She gobbled them up, had a slug of water, and I just had to laugh. I turned to Donna and said, “Can you believe this kid?” She just shook her head.

After a few more handfuls of Goldfish, I asked Reilly if she was ready for bed, and she reached out her arms. I walked her back to her room, placed her in her crib, and she fell fast asleep.