Focus my blog? Hmm, all right...

I've started researching a little bit into how to blog effectively and it's been a bit of a challenge for me.  For example, I've read that a blog should be targeted to one person - as if, every time I post an entry, I'm addressing one specific person.  Well, since I haven't even told anyone other than my husband about the fact that I'm keeping a blog, it's difficult to have a specific audience in mind at this point.  I do commit to thinking about this, though, because I suspect that over time, I might be able to target that one person.

The other thing I've read at least twice is that a blog should be very specific in its focus.  Well, that's a great idea and one that I should adopt, in all liklihood, but it's one that's caused me quite a lot of consternation because I have no idea what I'm going to write until I sit down at the computer and see the blank page in front of me.  I tend to be a bit of a stream-of-consciousness person - have you noticed?

As I've thought about this issue of focusing my blog, I've temporarily concluded (can one conclude something on a temporary basis?) that there are a few things I'd like to talk about on a regular basis:

• parenting moments and challenges
• our adoption process (which hopefully, someday, will turn into more parenting moments and challenges)
• my efforts (successful or not) to home educate our child(ren)
• philosophizing/musing about:  life and laughter; dreams (fulfilled and unfulfilled); faith; friendship; purpose...

I don't know how my list stacks up against the list of criteria blog experts might have at their fingertips, but I think these bullets will form my beginning point.  Perhaps I'll revise or refine them over time as I find my blogging voice.  What I don't want this blog to become is a day-to-day list of activities that I engage in; I don't intend for this to be a diary.  While I may well include tidbits of our daily lives, I want more for this blog to reflect a bit (over time) who I am as a person and what I think about this life we're engaged in.  And maybe someday I'll invite a few people to join me on this blogging journey!