The Sum Total Of Me has that nice parchment Blogger template that I am rather fond of. It is a very simple straightforward place. The only things in the sidebar are some of the author’s blog friends, recent posts, and the Archives list.
Our blogger lives on the west coast and is married with children and works as a pre-school teacher. The subtitle of the blog reads thusly:
“Just another individual trying to heal through the power of writing.”
As good a reason to start a blog as any I can think of. She has been writing since July of 2004.
The entries are of a moderate to lengthy nature and are filled with various reactions to her world from day to day. There are ups and downs recorded with a guarded candor that at first was hard for me to break into. She is obviously a private person, trying to deal with the very public world of blogging.
She is dealing with psychological issues in these pages and occasionally manages to outline quite clearly what haunts her even today. This entry is a good example: November 1, 2004 “My Wish”.
Her writing is clear on some levels, and cryptic on others. It’s kind of a mixed bag in this respect. There are often entries that contain music lyrics, which I don’t usually find all that inspiring to read in people’s diaries. But I do understand the desire to share how a song affects you when you listen to it. Frankly, I think it’s difficult to share that kind of emotion on a blog. Would that it were easier for some of us less technically adept to include the sound clip. That might work better!
In any case, it was a pleasant visit all in all.