I signed up for the Spark ecourse about two weeks with every intention of sticking to it.  Basically it's a 30 day course designed to help get the blogging spark back.  I've been so overwhelmed with life lately that my blog seems mixed up and about to collapse.  Of course it may not seem that way to readers.  I've kept the everything looking nice and neat for readers, but behind the scenes, I am a mess.  I needed something to help me get back on track.  I needed a bit of a push to focus.  Enter Spark.  Every day I received an email with a bit of discussion and a task.  I was supposed to do the tasks daily, but with my life, it just didn't happen.  Instead, I created an email folder and just dumped the emails in when I received them.  Whenever I got a 30 minute window of quiet, I pulled up the next day's email and went to town.  This has resulted in a 30 day course stretching into almost two months, but that's okay.  Even with the delays, I feel like I'm getting my blog back on track.  Click on the pic to join in the fun!

Here are my thoughts and accomplishments for Days 1-5:

Day 1 - Cleaning

The first day was all about cleaning your work space to help focus on writing.  Unfortunately I don't have a dedicated blogging area.  I alternate between using the craft desk and the living room chair.  I would love to have a dedicated space, but life just doesn't allow for one right now.  Actually my most productive place to blog is the coffeehouse.  If I can steal 2 or 3 hours, I run down to the coffeehouse (it's two blocks away), buy a mocha, and plant myself at a table.  Once I put my earphones in, there are no distractions.  I stay off FB and Bloglovin' and I get down to writing.  It's hard to find the time to escape from house and family obligations, but when I can, it's glorious.  For this day's task, I did make an effort to clean off the craft desk (which recluttered itself in about two days) and cleaned out the ottoman in the living room.  I rediscovered some blogging ideas and notes shoved into the ottoman and grabbed an empty notebook to help with my thoughts.  Even though I blog and am constantly connected with technology, I still love a clean notebook.  I don't have my dedicated space, but cleaning did give me a bit of a clean slate.  And I started thinking about potentially scheduling coffeehouse time every other week.  I wonder if I put it on the family calendar, if I could actually commit to time?

Day 2 - Make a Playlist

There was a time (years ago) that i absolutely adored making playlists.  We had ones for road trips, ones for rocking out, ones for reading, and ones for any other random occasion that popped up.  Lately I have relied on Pandora or iTunes to make the playlist for me.  Today was a great opportunity to explore my own music again. Here's my blogging playlist, 538 songs (I like variety!):

• Adele 19
• Alexa Wilkinson Lullaby Appetite
• Alexi Murdoch "Orange Sky"
• Anna Nalick Shine EP
• Arcade Fire "Abraham's Daughter"
• The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
• Ben Folds Live
• Birdy "Just a Game"
• Birdy and Mumford & Sons "Learn Me Right"
• Bonnie Somerville "Winding Road"
• Brandi Carlile The Story
• Broken Bells "The Ghost Inside"
• Caedmon's Call Selections from multiple albums
• Christina Perri "Jar of Hearts"
• Christina Perri "A Thousand Years"
• The Civil Wars Barton Hollow
• The Civil Wars The Civil Wars
• Coldplay "Atlas"
• Colin Hay "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You"
• Damien Rice -- Selections from multiple albums
• Dave Matthews Band -- Selections from multiple albums
• Dixie Chicks "The Rainbow Connection"
• Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros "Home"
• Ellie Goulding "Mirror"
• Fiction Family "When She's Near"
• Fiction Family "Betrayal"
• Finley Quaye and William Orbit "Dice"
• Fiona Apple -- Selections from multiple albums
• Florence + the Machine -- Selections from multiple albums
• Frou Frou "Let Go"
• Goo Goo Dolls "Name"
• Goo Goo Dolls "Iris"
• Guster "Satellite"
• Guster "May Parada"
• Guster "Fa Fa Fa"
• Howie Day -- Selections from multiple albums
• Inara George "Fools in Love"
• Indigo Girls "Water is Wide"
• Iron and Wine "Flightless Bird"
• Iron and Wine "Such Great Heights"
• Jamie Cullum -- Selections from multiple albums
• Jars of Clay -- Selections from multiple albums
• John Mayer -- Selections from multiple albums
• Josh Groban -- Selections from multiple albums
• Joshua Radin "Star Mile"
• Joshua Radin "They Bring Me to You"
• Kate Voegele -- Selections from multiple albums
• KT Tunstall -- Selections from multiple albums
• Lady Antebellum -- Selections from multiple albums
• Lifehouse "Breathing"
• Lifehouse "Hanging by a Moment"
• Lifehouse "Everything"
• Lisa Loeb "Stay"
• Lisa Loeb "Falling in Love"
• Lorde "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"
• The Lumineers The Lumineers
• M83 "Oblivion"
• Maroon 5 "Pure Imagination"
• Maroon 5 "Come Away to the Water"
• Mikky Ekko "Place for Us"
• Mumford & Sons -- Selections from multiple albums
• Nada Surf "If You Leave"
• Nada Surf "Always Love"
• NeedtoBreathe -- Selections from multiple albums
• Neko Case "Nothing to Remember"
• Nickel Creek -- Selections from multiple albums
• Norah Jones "Sunrise"
• OAR -- Selections from multiple albums
• Of Monsters and Men My Head is an Animal
• OneRepublic -- Selections from multiple albums
• Phantogram "Lights"
• Punch Brothers "Dark Days"
• Rachael Yamagata "Reason Why"
• Ray LaMontagne "Hold You in My Arms"
• Red "Ordinary World"
• Regina Spektor "Real Love"
• Ryan Adams "Wonderwall"
• Santigold "Shooting Arrows at the Sky"
• Sara Bareilles -- Selections from multiple albums
• Sarah Brightman -- Selections from multiple albums
• Sarah McLachlan Mirrorball
• The Secret Sisters "Tomorrow Will Be Kinder"
• The Shins "Caring is Creepy"
• The Shins "New Slang"
• Simon and Garfunkel -- Selections from multiple albums
• Sister Hazel "Your Winter"
• Sixpence None the Richer "Don't Dream It's Over"
• Smashing Pumpkins "Landslide"
• Snow Patrol -- Selections from multiple albums
• Suzanne Vega "Tom's Diner"
• Taylor Swift "Safe and Sound"
• Third Day "Blackbird"
• Third Day "She Sings in Riddles"
• Tori Amos -- Selections from multiple albums
• Tyler Hilton -- Selections from multiple albums
• The Weeknd "Devil May Cry"

Day 3 - Write a letter to your blog

I won't reproduce my letter here; it's a bit personal and rambling.  But I did realize a few things while free writing the letter:

• I want to get back to writing for me (no offense to readers, but this was meant to be a place to collect my thoughts)
• I want to focus on quality instead of quantity
• I need to take a critical look at my memes and weekly features
• I need to do a bit of clean out
• I need to write more substantial posts (not just memes)
• I need to overhaul my reading challenges/reading progress sections

Day 4 - Get dressed

Today was about creating a routine for my writing.  Thinking about how I approach blogging.  Trying to decide how to be more productive.  And i realized that I do my best writing at the coffeehouse.  I need to escape the distraction from home.  I don't do my best writing at home (written while at home, but oh well).  I want to create a schedule for my blogging.  No that's not right.  I want to schedule time for my blogging.  So I went to our family calendar and scheduled a few hours at the coffeehouse every other Sunday.  Now to stick to it!

Day 5 - Write a task list

Whew!  This one was a biggie.  I made a blog goal list, a blog task list, and a house task list.  Pages of action items, but this does make me feel so much better.  I love my lists!  They help me organize my thoughts.  And I tend to get more things done with my lists than without.  I already crossed an action item off of my blog task list: TBR piles for through December.  Already making progress!