We are excited to continue the celebration of our fourth blogiversary of the Unexpected Ever Afters!  As a way to mark this blog milestone, we decided to venture way outside of our comfort zones and record our first video posts!  You can find Part One of this two part celebration here.  And, we are excited to now jump into Part Two.  We have really enjoyed the opportunity to discuss our blog journey in these informal interviews.  If you prefer to read rather than watch, you will see the transcript of the interview below.  Thanks for joining us! 

-Jessica & Wendi

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Video Transcript

Wendi: Hi everyone, thanks for joining us on part 2 of our video blog celebrating our fourth blogiversary of the unexpected ever afters.

Jessica: As you remember, at the end of our last post, we ended with talking about our favorite part of writing.  And we’re going to shift gears to start this post and talk about the most frustrating part of writing.  So Wendi, we’ll start with you. What are some of the things you find the most frustrating about writing?

Wendi: I mean, there’s a lot, but probably the most frustrating is when words just don’t come to mind.  When I know that there’s a word that can express what I’m thinking and I just can’t figure it out.  And/or even worse is when my mind is blank and I can’t come up with a post at all and the deadline for when I’m supposed to post is fast approaching.  That’s the worst part. There’s just a lot of panic that kind of sets in when I feel like I have run out of things to write about and I feel like maybe I’ve reached the end of my writing journey.

Jessica: I agree

Wendi: So that’s the worst part. How about you?

Jessica: I agree with that. I kind of chuckled to myself because I’ve written like 3 different blog posts that have started with “I don’t have anything to say. I’m out of things to write.” Cause sometimes I just, that’s all I know how to write next.

Wendi: Right.

Jessica: That is like a really frustrating feeling. 

Wendi: Which is a very relatable experience, I think.

Jessica: I agree. I agree. What I find the most frustrating about writing is the doubt that’s laced with it.

Wendi: Hmm, definitely.

Jessica: I was just talking about this conundrum of writing and how you want to be able to write and have everything be shared and impactful.  But at the same time you want what you write to be like kept for yourself where it’s always safe and cherished and loved. Sometimes I feel like both those things at the exact same time.  Like swirled in this like tornado. 

Wendi: Definitely.

Jessica: And that’s kind of my frustrating part of writing. I wish I just felt really confident about everything that I write.

Wendi: Yeah, I feel very much the same way.  Well, I know that there’s a lot going on in our lives all the time. So how do you balance daily just daily life and all their responsibilities with also incorporating writing as part of your experience?

Jessica: Well, using the word balance would imply that I have this all figured out. I do not. I heard it somewhere in relation to work and life, that it’s not a work-life balance, it’s like a work-life flow or like a work-life cycle. And I feel like writing is a lot like that for me too.

Wendi: Sure.

Jessica: I remember you wrote a post about balance and you talked about how peace, like you got the sense of peace when you just decided to go with the flow.

Wendi: Umhum.

Jessica: And stop working on the balance. And writing is like that for me too. Like if I focus so much on I have to write every day, or I need to make sure I’m doing this much this often, then it causes me a lot of anxiety. 

Wendi: Sure.

Jessica: Where if I’m going to go with the flow and find the chunk times to write when I can, then I have a lot more peace with it. So because writing brings me joy, I make sure I find those times for the chunk time to write.  But I by no means have a daily balance of writing time. What about you?

Wendi: Yeah, same. I have not found a balance either. I still have visions that I will achieve a balance and that everything is going to line up and my day will flow in the way that I envision it to flow, but it doesn’t.

Jessica: Same.

Wendi: So yeah, I kind of try to plug it in when I can and when I have the energy.  Sometimes I have time, but I just, my head’s not in the right space to write.  And then I kind of allow myself a little bit of time to just think about a topic a little bit more and sometimes I don’t have time to write but I have like the energy to write and then I try really hard to squeeze it in so that I can like get that writing energy, put that writing energy to use. So yeah, just kind of depends on the day again and how where I’m at and how the day is unfolding.  But yeah, definitely not a balance either.

Jessica: I love how you said that you give yourself like the grace to write or not write if it’s not the right time even if the time is there. That’s really great.

Wendi: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it takes practice, that grace part, but, I’m trying.

Jessica: Yes. Kind of our last question, and, it’s sort of a combination question. So as we continue this unexpected ever afters blog, what do you hope that readers take from the posts that you write? And, why did you choose to continue this blogging journey?

Wendi: Well, my hope has always been that readers will feel a sense of comfort knowing that some of what we share is relatable or maybe all of what we share is relatable to a degree and just knowing that there’s a lot of similarities that tie us all together even though we’re all very different and we have very different experiences and different perspectives and different life journeys, there are some unifying threads that kind of connect us all together. I think we can relate to each other more than we may initially consider. I’m hoping that readers out there will find connection or be able to relate to something and also for my children in the future when they’re reading posts, hopefully will find some connection to the process and the journey that we’re on.  And I guess why we’re continuing it, I’m still having a good time. It’s fun. I like the experience and I can only speak for myself but how about you?

Jessica: Yeah.

Wendi: How do you feel about continuing this?

Jessica: So first I agree with everything you said about the readers. Like I just, I think we really try for honesty and authenticity and kind of a challenge to that perfectionism that is typically found online. And I hope that readers connect with that. Or that it finds the right person at the right time is sort of my hope.

Wendi: Yes. 

Jessica: And, agreed like every year when we talk about are we gonna continue for another year, we always kind of play out the pros and cons. And this year just due to like the busyness of our schedules, we didn’t really have time to do our normal long pros and cons conversation debate.

Wendi: The deadline was fast approaching.

Jessica: It was and it just felt like a gut decision. Like I just I knew that I wasn’t ready for it to be over.

Wendi: Same.

Jessica: And I didn’t have time to think through it much more than that. So I’m just… It feels like we’re supposed to be here and continuing on this journey together and sharing it with our readers, so.

Wendi: Yeah.

Jessica: I’m excited for year 5.

Wendi: I know, right? And we’re just so grateful to our readers and all the support and feedback and all the encouragement that we’ve gotten over the years and just knowing that there’s people out there reading is very exciting to us. So thank you for joining us on this journey and we look forward to year 5.

Jessica: Thanks.