Welcome back to Holidailies

I started writing a first entry last night for Holidailies, but then I realized I wasn't quite ready to dive into the topics that I was dipping my toes into there. So we'll back up and ease into it (maybe).

So anyway, it's been a few years since I did Holidailies. I didn't do it last year, I think I started it in 2016 but didn't get very far, didn't do 2015, got maybe half a month in 2014, and then 2013 was the last time I really did Holidailies successfully. And before that, 2012 was another season of half-measures, though 2011 and 2010 were pretty good. In the larger context of blogging, my Holidailies participation speaks to the overall trend line here. I think I started blogging in 2004 (on the now-defunct blog-city, which is why I'm not exactly sure), and the first several years were my own personal golden years of blogging. I had a year or two where I actually blogged every since day, and several more where I came close. I was part of a community of bloggers who read each other and kind of created larger conversations as events and topics and lines of thought rippled through our little community. It was a really exciting time to be a blogger, in no small part because of the active community (and even though most of us now blog very rarely, I've remained Facebook friends with many of them, and even met a few in person!).

I was also, it should be noted, unmarried and childless at the time. With children ages 8. 6, and 2 now, I'd be crazy to pretend that this change in my circumstances hasn't had a profound effect on my writing (or, ahem, my lack thereof).

So what is it that I write about here?

My blog got its most recent surge of renewed vigor in the spring of 2017 when it served briefly as a training log as I was preparing to run a half marathon (like, seven whole posts!). In general, I don't tend to blog a lot about health and fitness, though it is one of my big interests. I guess I suspect that most of the people who do read my blog aren't very interested in how far I'm running or what my bench or squat numbers are.

On the other hand, I have often posted about cooking, because yum. Who doesn't love a good recipe? Especially this time of year, when our genes are telling us to pack on the pounds to survive the grueling winter.

I used to post book reviews, but for years now I've just been posting them on Goodreads, with an occasional mention here of books I'm reading. I do love books though.

Music tends to come up a lot. It's always been a big part of my life since I started taking piano lessons in 3rd grade, then trombone in 5th grade, and continuing with band and choir in high school, a music major in college (singing, composing, and playing in band), and then graduate work in composition and conducting. Of course, given that Holidailies has been one of the bigger writing motivators these past eight years, it's also not surprising that music comes up, since it's so strongly associated with the season. I expect that trend to continue this year, especially since I'm singing in two choirs now.

Back in my early days of blogging, politics came up all the time. This month? We'll see. I have strong opinions, but as I've gotten older I seem to have less and less interest in arguing them. What can I say, I'm a uniter, not a divider? That said, there were a few ideas I've been kicking around that I might write up this month.

Philosophy and religion come up sometimes as well, though less and less frequently. History, sometimes. Personal anecdotes, more and more.

I missed out on NaNoWriMo this year: 1667 words per day was just too daunting right now. I'm hoping that some little blog entries each day will get me back to writing. Being part of the Holidailies community is fun, too, reading what other people are writing and bouncing ideas around. And if you're reading, I'd love to hear from you, too.

Happy Holidailies, everyone!