Intentional Living and Wholehearted Writing ~ Fall @ FIMBY

October 11, 2011

Remember that little piece I wrote this summer on not waiting for the stars to align to pursue this craft of mine called writing? If you are new here you may have no idea what I'm talking about, and it's probably better that way. I promised something I have not delivered on - yet, and I'm sorry to say this is not the (long overdue) follow-up to that post.

But today's post is kind of like Stop Waiting for The Stars to Align in that I anticipate what I share here will open a flood gate that will be hard to stop. In fact, I sincerely hope it opens up the flood gate. Because holding back all that I've wanted to write for months and months has not been easy.

I'm going to turn on the valve. And this time, I think I'm ready for it.

Stop Waiting for The Stars to Align unleashed a torrent of words. Words that I spent hours and hours writing but that I am simply not ready to edit and publish. It's not the time.

It's the season for something else - to fully write and publish the words of last winter. And to share what's happening in this very moment of family life because of that. The decisions and choices blossoming from the ideas germinated in the dark of winter. 

At the time I bought books on self publishing, thinking, "this might be it, the progression of blogger to author, the book I am meant to write". I say that mostly in jest because I've never had the dream, like many bloggers do, of writing a book.

I just want to write, earn something for my efforts, and make connections with people reading my work. Putting together the pieces of this puzzle with integrity - where my actions align with my inner values - is the big challenge.

Jumping on the self published book bandwagon seemed the thing to do. But I realized after that initial flush of excitement that book writing at this stage of life is not for me - for reasons I can discuss in comments (I don't want to take up precious paragraph space with the ins and outs of my personality, our family dynamic, and why publishing a book is not in the cards for me right now).

We were in the chaos of moving during the winter and I couldn't write and publish even at FIMBY (never mind a book!) nearly everything I wanted to share.

But the ideas didn't care and they kept coming so I scribbled pages and pages of notes on looseleaf, the back of kid's drawings, in notebooks - whatever was handy. I did a lot of this while burning cooking supper.

Those notes have been backburnered in my writing binder too long now. Like a mountain stream bubbling through the bedrock those ideas are wanting to be published.

After we moved I was busy living, savoring summer, and feeling vibrant and "in between". Also there was a whole lot of homeschool change going on that never hit the press, so to speak, until this fall.

In the midst of all this summer activity was when I got serious about my regular blogging commitment of two hours a day. Which is what I wrote about in Stop Waiting for The Stars to Align. Our trip out west (fabulous for our outdoor interests, meeting people, and furthering our location independent working connections) interrupted that a bit, as was obviously necessary for the traveling we were doing.

And when I was asked to contribute to Heather's 30 Day Vegan course I jumped at the chance to grow my connections and credability as an on-line writer and get paid to write. 

That was a wonderful experience that took lots of personal writing time, much more than I expected. 

September was the official start of the school year and I spent time writing about food (in the groove from 30 Day Vegan), wrote about homeschooling and getting organized and finally published reviews and a giveaway I committed to at OR in August.

And now here we are - October. Words wanting to see the light of day since the deep, dark of winter are growing restless and I just can't hold those back any longer.

So what is it I'm burning with such desire to write about?

Mostly navel gazing self reflection and intentional living stuff. Topics I really hope you will find inspiring or at the very least interesting. Because half the fun of writing a blog is having people read and respond.

This calendar year of 2011 is drawing nearly to a close, unbelievable I know. It's time to finish what was started back there in winter. To publish those words about the self work I've done - defining my mission, facing my insecurities (and how I'm moving forward in spite of them).

I want to talk more about our family dreams, hopes and goals. And to explore the point of intentional living. 

Will you notice any difference here at FIMBY?

Not so much in the content but perhaps in the frequency of posts. My writing intentions, as I've explained, have been divided amongst FIMBY and other places for a better part of this year. I'm ready now to focus all, or nearly all (I have my regular Simple Homeschool commitment to uphold and two small assignments for other people) my writing attentions here. This will probably translate to more posts per week.

What am I hoping to achieve with this focus?

Mostly peace of mind - to not have all those unpublished (and yet very important to me) thoughts hanging around in my head into the new year. I'd love to start January with a clean writing slate. Because I know next year is going to bring some amazing writing opportunities of its own, I want to be ready for those.

And I'm hoping something else really big will happen. That I will find the sweet spot of success writing from my wholeheart. Success and wholehearted writing - those are two ideas not easily defined that I will be attempt to unpackage this fall.

Are you with me?

Oh, I sure hope you are. I love writing here more than words can express. It has become a very key part of my daily routine and dare I say, happiness.

I hope you won't all abandon me in the face of prolific posts (just skip over those you don't want to read - you have my permission - which you don't need) or sensitive topics. Don't worry I don't plan to be writing about controversial parenting topics like picky eaters. But topics that relate to the core of who I am - my faith, passions, and calling. My fears, challenges, and vulnerablities.

And because I don't want either my life or FIMBY to be all about introspection (the blog is called Fun in My Back Yard for a reason) I have a whole week devoted to both making and blogging about soap! Just in time to help you get your act in gear for Christmas gift giving.

I'm so excited about these coming months - both in my daily living and here at FIMBY. In less than a month we move to Quebec, the final destination (for now) in our Life 3.0 move. I'll be telling you all about this next stage of our move (750 sq. ft living space) very soon.

We are living the life we want as a family and I intend to write my heart out as I tell this story. To be honest, I'm freakin' excited about it all (and also wondering when the ball will drop on my dreams, somedays it seems too good to be true) and I hope I don't scare you with my enthusiasm.

Just a heads up that tomorrow will be a guest post, something I've wanted to publish now for months. My friend Jill Foley shares how their family lives with a mission mindset and how they incorporate that into their homeschool. Jill's others-mindedness has inspired me now for a couple years and I'm so happy to have her share tomorrow.

I think her post is the perfect segue between the homeschool vibe of September and the direction FIMBY will be taking in the coming months.

And that's the state of the union friends. I'm hanging on tight because I think it might be an interesting journey. And I might (but don't hold your breath) even finish that follow up to Stop Waiting for the Stars to Align. Now that would be too good to be true!