I've been thinking about my blog. Do I write only writing things? Do I keep it impersonal – professional stuff only? I read blogging do's and don'ts until my eyes crossed. I don't want this to become a “mommy rant” or a “wife rant” or any kind of “rant”, although I seem to be ranting right now. I don't want to keep a journal of my writing ups and downs. Does anyone really care that I squeezed in some writing between two and three in the morning or loads of laundry or teaching my kids geometry and world history?

I'm not good with writing about how to write. I don't want to lift others suggestions even if I give them credit. I feel fake doing that. Maybe someday I can write those things, but not here, not now. Since I'm a writer, not writing about writing rather limits my choices. Then I came across Natalie Whipple's entry on her blog, “The Truth About Blogging”. The universe has spoken. My questions have been answered. http://betweenfactandfiction.blogspot.com/2011/04/truth-about-blogging.html

So here I am, feeling fake, but this one time I'm all right with it. Thank you Natalie. I now have the courage to share bits of me. If I do my job right, sometimes you will laugh, sometimes you will cry, sometimes you will ponder, but I hope you will always be satisfied.

It doesn't qualify as an epiphany, but it was a definite eye-opener. Not an answer moment though it certainly was an awareness moment. My writing has been pushed aside while I work on my websites, one website for my writing and one website for my Spanish Water Dogs. I don't have much for my writing website which frustrates me. Everything for my dog website came easily. That's partly because I've been showing and breeding these guys off and on for about seven years, so I have a lot to draw from. There are pictures galore and of course tons of stories from living with these beautiful creatures.

I've even started a blog on my dog website. I posted three entries in the course of two weeks. That may not seem like a lot, but those entries were written on the fly while editing photos and videos and learning the video editing software. Why, why, why do ideas concerning the dogs come so much easier to me than things for my writing website? I have a theory. A scientifically based theory. Sort of. Here it is:

The dog's website, in and of itself, was much easier simply because I already had a history with my dogs. I had a history cataloged in photographs, videos, ribbons, and trophies. The most difficulty came from narrowing down which photos to use. I could write pages about each photograph because each of them flooded me with memories.

But I don't have memories or photos detailing my writing history. There really isn't a history. Or is there? What about funny anecdotes from my critique group? What about the frustrations or the excitements of trying to write every day? Part of the problem is I can't imagine anyone being interested in my mundane musings over the daily grind of a no-name writer. Confidence much? Plus anyone reading my writer's blog would tear it apart grammatically as well as editorially. Right? Again, confidence much?

As I stated earlier, I also started a blog on my dog's website. I must have gotten a wild hair or a momentary lapse of reason or something. Seriously. I can't even keep up with the blog on my writing website. So why do I post to my dog's blog at a comparative warp speed to how quickly I post on my writer's blog? It's the ease of familiarity. The comfort of knowledge. Wow. What a difference that makes.

Where does that leave me? It leaves me pulling on my big girl panties and facing my fears. And that right there should give me fodder for at least a hundred posts.

I'm really torn between rewriting my “finished” novel or starting on one of my new ideas. I've plotted out a couple of new stories. I visualize spending hour upon hour typing away. I am having a personal na-no-wri-mo, a per-no-wri-mo if you will. Yep, a goal of two thousand words per day. Luckily we're past the measly 28 days of February. Otherwise I'd have to ramp up to twenty-two or twenty-five hundred a day. And that's just too hard to do. Right? Right? Give me an amen! Or not. I know, it boils down to how badly do I want it.

This ponderous position derives from my writing research and binge reading. Binge reading. Is that considered a syndrome or a personality disorder? Or worse – an addiction? Either way, it's what I've been doing, so label me what you will. After all, labels make the world go round.

Starting a new project also gets you excited. Simmer down – not that kind of excited. In a way, it renews your faith in the process. You also allow yourself to see the world from a different perspective. Sometimes it's a fresh perspective, sometimes it's an old and haggard perspective. Even a tired perspective is interesting when viewed through the eyes of your character.

The plus side to revision is that I now understand what I need to do to make this WIP the best I possibly can. Which, by the way, changes about twice a year as I receive new/better input/information from the world around me. So at what point will I truly have it in its peak form? I guess that's one of the questions of the universe. My universe at least.

Working on revisions still keeps me within the framework of the per-no-wri-mo. In fact, I'll revise my new goal and label it rev-no-wri-mo. Obviously my word count goal will need to be adjusted, but that's no big. Maybe hours per day or pages per day is better than words per day. That's a tough one.

So which way to I go? Revise or new? I think I'll flip a coin.