I’ve just woken up from my second vivid dream, nightmare really, involving driving on the freeway. Ok, I’m listening. I will slow down. I will pay meticulous attention. I do not wish to live out either scenario, although the second is far preferable to the first.
Nightmare number 1: I’m driving along on a familiar freeway, in the middle lane, going south. My attention is diverted for a split second. I look up and there is a man standing by the driver’s door of his stalled white pickup truck directly in front of me. I’m going too fast. I wake up.
Nightmare number 2: I’m riding with my mother on an unfamiliar freeway (impossible, she doesn’t drive on freeways). In the middle distance I notice cars are having trouble with a high point in the road. As we get to this spot the minivan ahead of us goes airborn. We see the bottom of the van looming in front of us. They manage to land. Mom manages to stop without it hitting us. Both of us badly shaken, I talk her through pulling off to the side so nobody hits us. Nobody does. I tell her she saved our lives. The back of the minivan opens. There is a dog crate in the back and kids in the seats. I think everyone is ok. I wake up.
For me, this is the real stuff of nightmares. I don’t generally dream of monsters or aliens. Usually I have pleasant dreams, but sometimes I dream of the things I fear. I fear getting into a bad accident. I will be careful. I will listen to my dreams, even when they are awful.
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!),
I do not wish to live out either scenario, although the second is far preferable to the first.
They manage to land. Mom manages to stop without it hitting us. Both of us badly shaken, I talk her through pulling off to the side so nobody hits us. Nobody does. I tell her she saved our lives. The back of the minivan opens. There is a dog crate in the back and kids in the seats. I think everyone is ok. I wake up.
BulgingButtons 