On blogging and reading...

I used to blog a lot more regularly.

I liked it.

And then I became aware of people reading it, and then I get caught up in the trap of writing FOR my readers, vs. for myself. I made up in my head what people were expecting of me, and so I tried to conform.

I want to get back to just writing for what I want to write about.

It's more true to my voice. And I think that's probably what started people wanting to read here to begin with, right?

Anyways, those are my random thoughts for tonight. I'd really like to challenge myself to write a little something every day. We'll see.

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Today we went to sign up for the summer reading program at our library.

Boy, did I love the library as a kid. We would always go to the library on base, wherever we lived at the time, and I would get a big rush as I would gather up my stack of books that I was into at the time.

I was big into series: Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, the McGurk Mysteries, Babysitter's Club, Katie John, Cherry Ames (which was a really old series about a nurse- loved it!), Nate the Great.... I loved mysteries in particular. Of course I love favorites like Anastasia Krupnik and all the Beverly Cleary & Judy Blume books. Oh and Harriet the Spy.

Every time I have gone to the library with my kids the last few years, it's been torture. It's hard to take a bunch of preschoolers and toddlers to the library. Nine times out of ten I felt like I had brought a wild herd of stampeding stallions with me. But I have stuck with it, because I remember that reward of being a kid with a huge stack of books... the promise of mystery and intrigue and adventure waiting for me to escape into as soon as I got home.

They're starting to get it.

And I love it.