Words vs Pictures.

I've been thinking about this a lot the last few days. As I find myself searching high and low for my camera battery charger, wondering when I'll be able to 'get back to blogging', I've been thinking. What's more important? Pictures or Words? Do I NEED Pictures to make a valuable blog post? This is a journal, after all. Old Fashioned, handwritten journals didn't have many pictures. Maybe one or two here and there slipped between the pages. But for the most part, they are just words. And they are valuable.

This train of thought also got me thinking about the purpose of my blog. In the beginning, it was an excuse to not have to keep a regular journal. I thought that this would replace it, and it would be all gravy. I've begun to wonder if that really is valid. Can my blog replace my journal? Completely? I'm beginning to change my opinion on that. I don't feel like I can be 100% honest on a blog. Sometimes I blog just to get comments. I've never been the type to blog a holiday just for blogging's sake. I was always quite annoyed with the self-inflicted guilt that resulted from me MISSING one, so I decided to just miss them all. That's not what this was meant for.

That lead me to the spur of the moment decision to make this blog private. I want to be able to share a little more from the heart. To be more honest. To keep an accurate record of my journey through life. I kind of wish there was a way to make some blog posts viewable by only me, but at least this way I'll know exactly who has access, and that will make it easier for me to accomplish those goals.

I was actually quite shocked when, in the first day of announcing that I was making this blog private, I had over 20 requests for invitations. I didn't even know that many people still kept up. It's not a LOT, compared to more public blogs, but for me, I really didn't think more than 8 people still read. To all of you, thank you. I appreciate the support, and I appreciate the fact that you still want to follow, even though you'll have to sign in. Hopefully you have enough other private bloggers you follow that it won't be such a big deal.

I do warn you that this blog might change a little. I'm going to allow myself to be more wordy. There will probably be less pictures (at least a lower picture to word ratio). There will be more memoirs. More "dear journal" type posts. While I think I always knew this, I've embraced the fact that I'm doing this for ME, not You. No more pleasing. No more trying to make my life sound more exciting than it is. No more dumbing it down to keep you from getting bored. Just plan and simple: Honest.

So, if you're still reading, then you may be up for the proposed change. I hope you enjoy. I hope you still comment once in a while, as I can always use a little validation even though I'm sounding all tough and "I don't need you" like. I still do. :)

Until next time...