Dreaming Smaller - an ONG Blog Update

No photos today.
No talk of pruning.
No witty banter.
You still with me? Good deal.
A few months ago I made a declaration that I was going to transform my yard into a sea of beautiful plantings and would throw a bash to celebrate my "grand re-opening". You can read that post here. I even promised that it would be "epic". I gave myself about a year and a half to pull it off since this was going to be massive and time consuming.
Well guess what? Shit ain't happening. Not by a long shot. 
Deep down, I think I knew I would never meet such a lofty goal, but hoped this blog would force me to work my arse off in order to actually pull it off. The pressure to perform would be enough of a driving force to keep me going throughout the spring, summer and fall.
Turns out is was more of an "epic fail" than anything "epic".
Why did my big plan not come to fruition? The answer is obvious; good old fashioned lack of time.
With a full time (and then some) job, two young children involved in a variety of activities and a wife that I adore, there just isn't the necessary amount of time to undertake such a project. And truthfully, that is a good thing. As a husband and father, I would be doing something seriously wrong if I had all that time on my hands.
Which brings me to my real point of discussion for today ... this blog.
I've been writing the ONG for about two and a half years now, and it has been a blast. I've met a number of people both virtually and in person as a result of my garden writing and each and every one has been phenomenal.
I've learned a ton about how to write.
I've also learned how not to write.
I've gained knowledge on how to address plant issues or critter issues.
I've even learned how to attain better SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
I've taught myself a lot about photography and the use of light, shutter speed, etc.
But I've also allowed myself to become caught up in it all a bit too much.
I can only write, take photos and research my analytics before or after work each day or between baseball practice and dance practice on the weekends. That is a lot to cram in during my "down" time.
As a result, I don't do a good job of responding to reader comments or reading other blogs or catching up on my favorite garden forums.
But worst of all, I find that I tune out my kids and wife too much in order to get it all done. I spend too much time analyzing my blog traffic when I should be playing with the kids or helping my wife research our future vacations. OK, it may not be as extreme as I'm making it out to be, but you get the point.
I'm not ready to give it all up. I enjoy the crafting of a post and the creativity that goes into it. I just need to dial it back a bit. A better balance if you will. After all, gardening is supposed to be a nice relaxing escape and I need to remind myself of that more often.
I can barely keep up with the weeds let alone promise to create some sort of masterpiece I've dreamed up in my head.
Thanks for listening and I'll be back again ... "somewhat" soon.
John