Posts
I just won a blogging contest! How exciting is that?!?
Okay, so that's a flat out lie. I actually just entered a blogging contest late last night and then, after I got my entry in one minute before the deadline, I went back and read the rules of said blogging contest. That's when I realized I was 200 words over the 300 word limit. Call it "baby brain" but the fact is my chances of winning that blogging contest are "slim" and "none." Still, I have decided to act like I won it anyway.
Let me explain. Around 10 o'clock yesterday morning, as I was getting 5 kids ready for a trip to the aquarium, I checked in on Facebook. One of my friends had posted the link to "Real Simple’s Simply Stated Blogger Contest" which has two great prizes; $1,000 and the chance to become a blogger on Real Simple's popular website for a month.
"Sounds good," I thought. "I could do that."
Then I looked at the deadline. It was only about 12 hours from the time I first read about the contest. But instead of thinking, "give me a break!" I thought, "I could do that!" After all, wasn't there a time when I wrote a dozen stories for broadcast in half as many hours, and still looked presentable enough for live TV?
Of course that was during my productive, "B-3-K Era" (before 3 kids), and if I've learned anything from my (now 4-year-old!) video podcast, New Mexicast, it's that when mommies make deadlines children make other plans. Yes, I can still do ANYTHING I want, I just can't do everything WHEN I want. It is just a parenting absolute that must be accepted. Anyone who doubts this unbendable, universal truth need only try to take an uninterrupted shower with a person 10 years old or younger in the house. Accomplishing such a feat would defy the laws of Physics and would no doubt send the world spinning out of control.
But there's something else I have learned from both my podcasting and broadcasting; I am better with a deadline.
How's that for a catch-22? Deadlines are impossible with kids and I do my best work with a deadline.
Which brings me to my little lie at the beginning of this blog entry (okay, my big lie). The only way for me to blog in any consistent fashion is to trick my brain into thinking I have a real deadline. So, brain, in case you're listening...
Guess what!?! We just won a blogging contest that now requires us to blog on a consistent basis! Yes, I know it's a lot of pressure, but we can do it. We've done much more than this in the past, right? Right! So, brain, I'm putting you on notice... It is time to step it up and get writing!
Okay, for the rest of you, please feel free to check back in often over the next month or so to see whether my brain is falling for this little ploy or not. It worked when we submitted that blogging contest entry before the deadline (never mind the extra 200 words!), so I'm optimistic this will work.
But for now my brain and I both need some rest!
¡Hasta la proxima!
