It wasn’t until after the holidays that I realized just how much I had needed the time off. I’m not sure if it was just this last crazy year or that I simply needed some time to think. Could be either or both. Whatever, I definitely feel much more in the right frame of mind to write stuff for the site now.
But I also believe the need to take a break and just think is something we all need to do occasionally. Even when blogging about something you love to talk about all the time in the first place. One of the romance bloggers I still follow all the time posted something around Christmas regarding this that truly resonated with me:
Been there. Done that. Especially the crazy granny on the porch thing.
To be honest there was a time several years ago when I seriously considered ending this website. Partly because life had become complicated on several levels. Mainly, though, it was because I had slowly pulled away from what we fans fondly call “romancelandia” to a large extent. I mean I continued to follow several of my favorite blogs. And still do. Mostly, that’s to get information about books coming out by authors I enjoy. And, also, to keep up with some people I don’t want to completely lose track of.
But pulling away had definitely made me reconsider why I was even blogging in the first place. So I knew I had to figure out why I was still doing whatever it was I was doing here. Simply telling myself it was to talk about romance novels wasn’t a satisfactory answer for me at that point in my life. So, I gave myself a deadline of a year, give or take, to decide. Then I sat back and literally thought about what it was really that I liked to talk about here. Or more specifically what I liked to do that I would then feel comfortable talking about here.
The thing I kept coming back to was the dictionary definition of romance that I’d clipped and saved years ago. Like right after I got on the Internet and involved in said romancelandia. The more I looked at that definition, the more I realized that everything listed in it was what I loved to, well, consume in terms of popular culture. So that became the guiding star I ultimately decided to cling to and keep at the very bottom of the website. Take a moment to scroll down and look at it if you haven’t before.
But keep in mind that it’s not there for visitors/readers of this blog so much as for myself. Is it quirky? Sure, but it’s my guiding star so that’s allowed.
Because, yes, I do love romance novels. But that isn’t the only genre I love. And that definition covers so much more than a love story. And, also, so much more than books. Occasionally I just have to take the time to remind myself of the guiding star I chose. My time off for the holidays this year was very good for exactly that because I literally wallowed in several different genres, meandering through them like a child at play. Which is as it should be. As a result I currently have lots of posts in the works about what I’ve been “doing” the last few weeks.
Oh, yes, holidays and vacations are very good for the soul.