Some of my loyal readers and friends have been complaining that Edgy Mama has lost her edge. Even non-friends have mentioned the same. The short-lived but lively local blog “Not Thomas Wolfe” called me “mundane Mama.” After I got over the initial five minutes of hurt, I found the moniker pretty funny. He/she was right, dammit!
Lately, I’ve been writing too much about my puppy, my kids, and my “other” writing. I haven’t thrown out much about sex, mid-life anxiety, controversial issues, or even books I’ve read. I’ve become mundane, mellow, and middle-aged.
Let’s examine this development. When I started blogging almost three years ago, I was hungry to revive the writing career that had slowed to a trickle during six years of birthing and caring for babies. I was feeling feisty, unfulfilled, and flirty.
What’s changed since then? Well, my freelance career has blossomed. I have a weekly biz profile gig for one newspaper. I’ve written a number of feature, entertainment, and health articles for that newspaper as well. I’ve written an article for a book that will be published in November. I’ve taken up photography, seriously, again and had photos published and been paid to photograph events (not weddings – don’t even ask). Recently, I started a dream gig – a weekly column about parenting from the pov of EM’s newly mundane, but still occasionally witty and snappy, voice (actually, I’m only contracted for two more weeks, but I think they’ll want me to continue – please, please).
In non-career news, my kidlings are older and more self-sufficient. I have more free time, more me time. I have a life outside the home. I’ve let go of my previous high standards for home cleanliness and organization. I realize that no one really cares when I don’t make up the beds or I let the kids live out of their (clean) laundry baskets for a few days.
Through my work and this bloggie, I’ve met and become friends with lots of bloggers, writers, photographers, and other creative folks in this quirky town. I’ve interacted with people from all nooks and crannies of life, from a pet psychic to a wealth management consultant to a covey of computer geeks.
There have been bumps along the road, but in truth, I tend to forgot about those pretty quickly. I haven’t written or tried to publish much fiction recently. An attempt to run a flash fiction site failed from lack of time, marketing, and good submissions. I’m about to add onto my home, which scares the bejezus out of me. But, otherwise, life’s cool.
Damn, I have lost some of the edge. It may come back. I could get hungry and feisty again. The crazy anony who, for the most part, have stopped spewing nastiness on the bloggie, could come back and get me riled up. Or I could just ignore them, delete their bad karmic comments, and keep my blood pressure stable.
So, what do y’all think? Am I losing the edge? And other than creating some kind of upheaval in my cool-ass life, how can I get it back?
