Valerie at Home

I figure the first post of my new blog should be something about how I'm going to use my blog to change the world and save mankind. If I can't claim so lofty a goal, it should at least include some kind of vision statement, some reason to exist. Heck, even just a list of potential topics might be nice. I've read a few blogs in my time and everyone seems to have some overarching theme that ties their posts together. My DH has an awesome and intelligent site devoted to security. A friend fills hers with her 1 picture per day goal. A couple of pastors I know fill their with, well, pastor-like topics.

I've had to face the fact that I have no one all-consuming passion that I want to immortalize in a blog. As you can see from my description, my day is typically broken into a hundred different activities where I'm playing a hundred different roles and they all demand my undivided attention. (They don't always get my undivided attention, but I find it's a whole lot safer when I focus during activities like driving the car.) So my blog will probably be a lot like my life and deal with a plethora of topics. I suppose the overarching theme of my blog will have to be life as it appears from the viewpoint of a SAHSM (and if you don't know what that is, please see the description under my blog title).

So why write a blog, you ask? The answer is simply that I like to write. I need an excuse to write. My dream is to be a real, published writer. Of course, I have several published books to my credit, but since I was a technical writer, they were software manuals, and my name doesn't appear in any of them, they don't count. Having a blog gives me a place to practice and hone my skills. It also keeps me accountable to writing and pursuing what it takes to become a published writer. By nature I am a very laid-back, lazy person who is content to handle the crisis of the moment and not spend the time and effort required to pursue anything more. There are many opportunities out there to break into writing professionally and I need to make myself go after them, so my plan is to keep an accounting of the submissions I send off and make sure I'm doing more than waiting for the next easy thing.

The reason this is all so important to me is that I need to find something outside of my roles as wife and mother. I need something that will keep me from losing myself. Don't get me wrong, I love the life I lead and I couldn't ask for a better husband and kids, but I still feel a restlessness, a need to do something significant. Whether the restlessness comes from Satan to keep me from the contentment I should feel or the restlessness comes from God because I'm not doing all that He wants me to do, that's up for debate. At any rate, I'm anxious to see what is revealed.