KelliPundit: Answering LaShawn

When LaShawn Barber asks, people should listen. She has an info gathering questionnaire for bloggers. I've participated and will share with you my answers to her questions.

Hi LaShawn,

I've enjoyed your blog for sometime now and thought I would respond to your questions. Here it goes:

1) How long have you been blogging?

Since September of 04. Dan Rather talked me into it, you know, when he said "...political partisan operatives..". I yelled at the TV: "Hey, I want to be a political partisan operative!"

2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)

Indeed. Why? Because I am out of my element while my husband is enduring a 2 year fellowship that requires ALL of his time. I'm a Red State girl raised in a Red State living in a Blue, Blue State. Though I have colleagues and friends, I am alone A LOT and conversation from a 5 and 3 year old doesn't fill the gap. Especially during an election year. So I fully admit that I am completely and totally addicted to blogging. I have several blogger friends and comment regularly on different sites. They have become my lifeline. The hobby has helped me maintain my sanity and my marriage.

3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?

Yes, we went home for a week during the Thanksgiving holiday, and since my family is not quite savvy with the technology thing yet, internet access was less than zero. So it was a forced hiatus. My blog is a living, breathing body of a lot of time and effort that I am proud of, to be away is like not feeding your pet for a week. Ugh.

4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?

I have only wondered about what will happen when the fellowship is over (July 1, 05). I will no longer need it to fill my lonely, husbandless time. Not to mention the fact that my hubby, my boys and I will be re-instating a sense of normalcy to our lives once again. When I say my hubby's job is time consuming, I am not joking. Out of the door by 5:30 am practically every day and who knows when he will come home. My boys have gone 3-4 days without laying eyes on him. It has been very tough. To survive this schedule for a 2 year time period, defense mechanisms take over and things will be different when the fellowship is over. A similar situation as to when soldiers come back home to a family that has been functioning a long time without them. You miss them a lot, but you go on with life; they come home and it is an all new routine to adopt, and it can be very hard. I can say this because my husband served 4 years in the AirForce and I had to deal with him leaving for an extended period of time and knew many other spouses who adapted in the same way.

However, I hope that I never do give it up, just slow down a bit. Which is why I've recently brought on a co-contributor.

I hope this helps in your survey.

God Bless,
Kelli XXXXXX of KelliPundit