AlphaThoughts: I'm back, and here's why it will stick

Well, my 'new leaf' two years ago rather withered and died on its stem.  So here I am, back with a whole new plant.

I could say that the reason I haven't blogged for two years is that life got in the way - wedding planning, wedding, honeymoon, moving house, getting pregnant etc.  But who has a life that doesn't get in the way - and come to that, who wants one?

The real reason I haven't been blogging is, I think, that pesky internal editor again.  I stopped drafting my novel (AlphaBook 2) at around 22,000 words because the stupid editor kept telling me it was no good; and as Alphabet Soup charts the progress of writing the book and there was no progress to chart, I got embarrassed and crawled away to hide from it all.  I figured I had enough beautiful things happening in my life to occupy my time, and off I went to do them.

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So why am I back now?

I'm having my first baby in October / November this year, which is something AlphaBloke and I have wanted for a while and we're both looking forward to welcoming the AlphaChicklet.  This has got me thinking about the things I wanted to achieve in life, like writing a novel.  I always thought I would get these things done or substantially underway before I had children, and I feel a little sad that I've let everything get on top of me and haven't accomplished these things yet.

Then a week ago I started reading Be a Free Range Human by Marianne Cantwell, a wonderful book about breaking away from the office 9-5 and building your own 'free range' career by doing the things you love.  Please see Marianne's excellent blog here for more information - safe to say this AlphaChicken is already a convert to her free range flock.  I am only halfway through the book, but have done every reflective exercise to try and figure out what I love to do, what I bring to the table, and what lifestyle I want to have.  I've realised how much I loved blogging, how much I miss it, and am starting to understand how it might help to support a free range lifestyle for me once AlphaChicklet comes along.  One of the first missions the book sets is to do a 'Play Project', something to explore a possible career idea (in my case writing) in a short project form, with definite deliverables, and to be completed in a month.  So here's mine - in a month from today, on August 10th, I will have completed at least eight blog posts on any topic.  It does not matter whether anyone reads them or comments - what matters is that I am flexing my writing muscles and testing whether this is really what I love to do.  I've already got a list of possible posts to work on, and I'm raring to go...

So my blog is back - a whole new plant in a free range garden.  I'm so excited to be setting off on this journey.  Join me for the ride if you like!

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