Rethinking

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I have missed blogging.  I have missed writing for an audience (I still write daily on 750words).  I have missed the personal connection with my cyber friends.  I have missed learning about myself by sharing with others.

So what has prevented me from writing?  I could say the busyness of life (teaching six different classes each week; adjusting to life as a grandmother; preparing for the holidays), but that would not be accurate.  I could say that I needed to take a break in order to recover from the life changes that I experienced this year (the loss of my mom; the birth of my first grandchild; the departure of my youngest for an apartment of her own).  But that would not be totally accurate either.  My primary reason for not blogging is because I have felt like an impostor in the book blogging world and I banished myself from the club.

Silly, I know.  But when I first started My Cozy Book Nook reading was my primary leisure activity.  And when I first discovered internet blogs, I was drawn to those that focused on books and literature.  I joined several reading challenges, and made many online friends who were more voracious readers than myself. I owe much to these bloggers as they opened my eyes to new possibilities:  new ways to connect with others - new ways to express myself - new genres of literature.

So this morning I researched the possibility of starting a new blog.  A blog where I felt comfortable sharing all aspects of my life - not just books.  Over the past two years I have experimented in several other activities that have provided me much pleasure:  photography - quilting - scrapbooking (again) - traveling - writing.  And I want to share these various aspects of me with others.

But I ran into several challenges this morning.  For some reason I could not create a new blog using Blogger with Safari 5.1.  So I rationalized that perhaps now was the time to switch to WordPress.  But all of the domain names that I wanted to use (Beautiful Butterfly - The First Day of the Rest of Your Life - Free to be Me) were already taken.  And then there was the decision whether to pay for self-hosting or not.  I'm just not sure I am ready for that learning challenge at this moment in life.

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I was more confused than when I started the research, so I decided to take a shower.  I do some of my best thinking in the shower and the thought came to me:  I could still use My Cozy Book Nook for this new blog direction.  Reading has not been eliminated from my life, it just isn't the sole focus of my life anymore.  And many of the activities that I currently pursue - often take place in the Nook (it is now my craft space as well as reading room).

I know many of you have encouraged to me to do this for quite some time - but for some reason I held on to the artificial boundaries that I had set.  So I thank you --- for your patience while I learned that this blog truly is for me and whatever I choose to make it.

So I am back.  The posts will probably be rather eclectic and may not always resonate with you, my readers of the past, but they will be honest and they will chronicle the rediscovery of me.  It's funny.  This blog began on December 9, 2008.  It is now reborn on December 3, 2011.  A lot has happened in these three years, and I am quite excited to see what the next several years have in store.