Awards | BulgingButtons

Dear Readers,

My hope is to share with you content that you enjoy reading. I’m trying to do that in a way that is interesting and engaging. I’ve been looking at the blog stats and have come to the somewhat painful realization that my college statistics course was zero preparation for distilling the information I’m currently facing. Actually, that’s not quite it. It’s not the realization that’s painful, it was the statistics course and its accompanying MINITAB computer labs that were painful. In graduate school someone gave me the sage advice to take my statistics class pass/fail. Remembering back to my undergrad experience, I took that advice. Mercifully, I passed.

As interesting as all that may be, it’s just back story. Something I am told time and again to avoid in my writing. I guess old habits die hard. Here’s the crux of the situation: I want to know what you, the reader, want to see on BulgingButtons. From the start it’s been a cute little self-absorbed blog about my life as a fat girl. It’s branched out from there to include my life in general, including some thoughts on parenting my dear son, with bits about my teaching career, a little about my long neglected quilt projects, and a fair amount about the wonderful world of words, aka writing.

I sometimes write about health related topics, or the world of fat girl fashion. I also write about my food obsession, both positive and negative, and about my ongoing efforts to get my fat behind in gear, i.e. exercise. Some days this is more challenging than others. Oh, and challenges. I have the ongoing 47 for 47 challenge, and the NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo challenges for the month of November have kept me quite busy as well. I also did a series of Daily Passions Prompts, and I have regularly written to the WordPress Daily prompts.

I suppose I’m not looking for a new direction exactly, because I really like sharing my thoughts in all different directions, but I do wonder what aspects of the blog appeal to you most, and what parts are your least favorite (or just not interesting to you). I imagine the quilters have all left the building, as my poor neglected projects page hasn’t had any action (much like my poor neglected quilt projects). And anyone seeking recipes has probably moved on, because I haven’t shared any. But I know that lots of you have chosen to stick around. I’d love to know why.

I’m ready for the feedback, bring it on! What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of BulgingButtons, and what would you like to see more and less of here?

Thanks in advance for your well thought out and detailed comments! (See what I did there? Clever, no?)

With love and orange-filled Oreos (hey, I have to get rid of them somehow!),

Can I get a woot woot?! Mama, of Reinvention of Mama, has given me a shout out with a Sunshine Award. This one is for bloggers who, “Positively and Creatively Inspire Others in the Blogosphere.” Wow, I like the sound of that! Thanks, Mama.

Blogging awards are fun, and a great way to find and follow blogs you may not have seen before. That being said, not all bloggers have the time or inclination to accept awards, and in my opinion that’s fine. They are not meant to be a burden!

If you do choose to accept, the rules for this award are:

1) Use the Sunshine Award logo in the post. 2) Link to whoever nominated you. 3) Write ten pieces of information about yourself. 4) Nominate ten fellow bloggers “who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere.” 5) Leave a comment on the nominees’ blogs to tell them of the award.

Ten pieces of information about me:

I just signed up for NaNoWriMo and I’m scared! The goal is 50,000 words in 30 days. Gulp. If you’re doing it, let’s be writing buddies!
I’m probably more excited than I ought to be about my new MacBook, just for blogging and writing. It’s actually five years old, but new to me.
When people get my name wrong they always call me Wendy.
I’ve been slacking off on exercise and it feels bad. Ew.
I like my belly dance DVD but it’s really difficult for me. Practice, practice, practice.
The State Fair simultaneously intrigues me and creeps me out.
I’m an adoptee who knows virtually nothing about the circumstances of my existence. Most days I don’t think about this, but deep down I find it somewhat unsettling and deeply unjust. I have no problem with the fact that it happened. It’s the secrets and lies that bother me.
I wish my sweet tooth had a dial on it so I could turn it down, or even off at times. The more sweets I eat, the more I crave them, and I usually cave in to the craving.
I’m still trying to figure out why some blog posts get lots of traffic and reactions and others get very little. What’s the secret?
I’m messier than I would like to be and I wish there was a little cleaning fairy who would stop by my house once in a while. She/he could also stop by my classroom now and then, too.