Thursday 25 November 2010

what do I know and enjoy?

What's my intent?   What do I know and enjoy?  Brainstorming time!

My problem, if it's a problem, is that I know and enjoy a lot of things.  I've often said that I'm a "jill of all trades" though, perhaps unfortunately, that's kept me from mastering them.  I've also developed a wide number of skills over the years, but I'm only going to list (in no particular order, btw) those that I truly enjoy doing!  So...

What do I know and enjoy?


  • music: singing, piano, guitar
  • hobbies: sketching, embroidery, watercolor painting, sewing, gardening, woodworking, computer use
  • reading : widely! bible, fiction and non-fiction, poetry
  • writing : stories, poems, blog posts, prayers and meditations, journaling, NaNoWriMo, website content, articles and columns for newspapers and magazines, publishing newsletters and cookbooks
  • teaching : elementary and secondary, private and public schools (BEd in Secondary Social Studies (Geography) and Teacher-Librarianship; as well as teaching Home Economics, English, core French and more).  Ladies' Bible Study groups.  Tutoring: special needs students, home school students, ESL adults.  Home-school mom, grades 1 to 10, very eclectic approach.  I LOVE to find creative ways to meet learners' individual needs and learning styles.
  • interests : First Nations (especially Haida), simple church, learning disabilities, educational philosophy and methodologies, researching just about anything, life-long learning!
  • mom (and wife!) : 4 daughters and 1 son, foster children, neighbor children, 8 grandchildren (so far!), school teacher, Sunday School teacher, Girl Guide and Scout leader, babysitter ... I love kids!  I love all the phone calls and emails I get asking for advice!
  • cooking and baking, planning and catering theme birthday parties
  • people : spending time together, helping, learning together, eating together, sharing life together, volunteering, being an active part of community groups
  • faith : relationship with Father and with His family; being the church together; living loved!
  • dreams : living in an intentional community; living in a cabin by the ocean; spending a couple years exploring North America, traveling about in a converted bus, meeting lots of people along the way!
  • simple living!
Obviously I'm never bored.  But my websites and blogs have tended to be as eclectic as I am.  I want to write.  I love to write.  And yes, I'd like to make money with that.  In the past, I've done that to some degree by teaching writing skills, writing weekly newspaper columns, and having some of my stories and articles published in magazines, anthologies, and newsletters.  I do have a personal website, and at least 4 blogs in various states of activity.  I've studied very carefully how to make money on-line, but haven't actually started doing it.

Now I'm thinking a couple things:
  • I need to narrow my blogs (and website, too, probably) to particular topics
  • I need to EITHER choose one or two topics right now, and blog on them in a super focused way (maybe I'll even master them, lol); OR start half a dozen blogs, connected by some common thing (maybe my "penandpapermama" persona), and blog on them all fairly regularly (at least until I can see what I'm super-enjoying and what is really helping others!).  I'm leaning to the latter. 

What do you think?

What would YOU like to hear about, from my list above?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think you have a lot on your plate! Thanks for being here and doing this though. It's a great source of encouragement to some of us reading. :)