As a warning, this first entry will likely be a bit of rambling. Hopefully, the others will make more sense. For several years now, I’ve been considering creating a blog. After all, I love writing, and I’m a lot better at writing than talking aloud. Yet, I had no idea where to start. I’d written for company blogs including blogs for law firms, wedding photographers, dance studios, real estate companies, car dealerships, and a variety of other companies. If I can successfully write for companies that I know next to nothing about, I can surely write blogs about myself or something else that I know at least a little about.
I’m an obsessive journal writer (as in I think I last missed a day writing when I was traveling from Michigan to Idaho after I finished grad school in 2012). Even when I had an unfortunate accident with a food mandolin in 2014 and I couldn’t properly hold a pen for at least a month, I handwrote journal entries every day. Yes, they were sometimes little more than a paragraph, but my obsessive journal writing continued during that time. Yet, as a private person, I knew that I didn’t want my blog to turn into a journal entry for the world to read. Having read other blogs, though, I know that the most interesting ones are the ones that do give people a little insight into the writer’s life.
Why Start a Blog?
A few weeks ago, I had a feeling that it was time to start my blog, and some thoughts came to me about what sort of topics I needed to write about. As of right now, this is planned as mostly some spiritual insights as well as my thoughts on some of the books that I’ve read recently, particularly books that are clean but also enjoyable as well as ARC (Advance Reader Copy) books. As an avid reader, I definitely encounter both really good books and some way less enjoyable books on a regular basis.
Because I am a private person, sharing personal, spiritual information about myself, including my testimony, is really difficult, and I’ll admit that I often avoid it. Will I say something wrong? Is my testimony too simple? Will people judge me when I say something that sounds dumb or when I admit that something that to others is obvious is something I only recently discovered? Yet, it’s a lot easier for me to write things out than to say them aloud. Because of that, I hope that this will give me the opportunity to share my own testimony with the world whether people who share my beliefs or those who are less familiar with my religious beliefs.
Encountering Issues
In choosing to start my blog, I encountered three issues. First, the motivation. Do I really want to do this? Will anyone actually read this? Am I wasting my time? I’m not even all that computer literate. I’m kind of technologically challenged and way behind when it comes to new technology if I’m being honest with myself. Let’s just say that the cellphone that I have right now I got used in 2019, and when I took it in to the cellphone store to get it hooked up back then, the guy said he hadn’t seen one of those in years. Hey, it still works. That’s all that matters. Ultimately, even if I’m the only person who ever reads this, at least I created something for myself.
The second challenge was figuring out how to even do this. As you read this, it might seem like I have no idea what I’m doing. My secret? Not only does it seem like that, I really don’t have any idea what I’m doing. I read several articles on starting a blog. I even read one that said if I followed the steps in the blog, I’d have it up and running within twenty minutes. Guess what! That was about two hours ago, and I’m nowhere near figuring out if I can even get this post to post or how to do just about anything.
Coming Up With a Blog Name
The third challenge was deciding on a blog name. “Sometimes Sinking” kept coming to mind. After all, I feel like no matter how hard I try, there are days (if I’m being honest, sometimes weeks, months, and even years) where I’m just not getting anywhere, like I’m trying unsuccessfully to stay afloat. I wasn’t sure that “Sometimes Sinking” was catchy enough. Did it need something more?
I considered “Random Ramblings of a Sometimes Sinking…” only I wasn’t sure what to add to the end, and even though this entry has included some ramblings, I wasn’t sure that I wanted my words in general to be thought of as “random ramblings.” They are something more than that, right?
What about “A Sometimes Sinking Soul?” Unfortunately, that felt a little too ghostly or at least like I’d died. Then there was “A Sometimes Sinking Saint.” Sure, members of the LDS church would get it, but would others who came across the blog think that I was trying to saint myself?
I considered “A Sometimes Sinking Single Sister.” What if I do get married some day? Wouldn’t I have to change that title? Of course, “single” could mean one sister rather than necessarily meaning an unmarried person. I’m not sure that my rationalization in keeping the title would make sense, though.
I’ve definitely decided that choosing a blog name is not an easy decision. Who knew creating a title could be so difficult?
Ultimately, I decided to just stick with “Sometimes Sinking” (at least for now) because I think we are all “sometimes sinking” (spiritually, emotionally, physically, financially, or in a number of other ways). So come and enjoy my “Sometimes Sinking” journey with me.