3 misconceptions about The Messy Middle

1. “Oh, so you’re not the middle child?” Befuddled look.

No. Nor am I the youngest, nor an only. The Messy Middle isn’t a blog about being a middle child … because I’m not one  :). This misconception came to my attention when I was in Kansas speaking at the conference, said a bit about The Messy Middle in my opening remarks, and a friend said the above gem (and maybe also tipped her hand she doesn’t read this, which is cool. I thought it was funny!)

2. “Is the messy middle about being middle aged?”

Well, I have a certain age I vowed as a child I’d live to if I had anything to do with it and I’m not yet to the halfway mark of my life. So again, no, the messy middle isn’t a clever way to talk about my age.

3. “You lived in the Middle Kingdom! So the messy middle is about China, how clever you are.”

Um, yes, I lived in China and China is known as the Middle Kingdom and to muddy the water a bit more, I do blog about China. But, in general it is not ABOUT China, it contains love for and references TO China.

*****

In light of these misconceptions, I decided some spring cleaning was in order and updated several of the pages — updating information, rearranging things and adding pictures!

I happen to be quite taken with the about page and you’ll probably see the greatest changes there. As a bit of a preview, it now starts off:

My name is Amy and I live in the messy middle of life. The tag line for this blog is “where grace and truth reside.” I find people tend to be drawn to grace, grace, grace OR truth, truth, truth. Either side doesn’t require much discipline, do they? Instead they foster auto-pilot living. But real life happens … in the messy middle, with both.

I know, it can be maddening. But also exhilarating!

And I’ve added photos to the about page. Fun! I’ve also updated the find me here, popular posts, and speaking.

Yes, speaking! I added the page in January and then, you know what happened, and very understandably the speaking page took a back burner for a while. On it you will find topics that I speak on, endorsements, a sample of me speaking and a way to contact me.

After cleaning I feel super proud of myself. Probably inordinately so. And want to point to a cleaned out drawer or desk top like a proud momma beaming at her new born’s poopy diaper. Yes, we get it, your child’s bowels work like every other humans. What I’m trying to say, is I know being overly proud of something that isn’t THAT big of a deal can be tricky to know how to respond.

So let me help you get excited too! Until May 23rd, I’m going to have a subscription drive with prizes every two weeks including books and gift cards (April 11th will be the first).

If you sign up for the newsletter or let folks know about the drive (and then let me know in the comments what you did — i.e. tweeted or instagrammed), I’ll enter you. And you can enter up to five times per two week period.

This fun graphic will be at the bottom for the next six weeks to help you (and me) remember.

Have fun poking around The Messy Middle! And if you see any typos or parts that aren’t clear, please let me know, you won’t hurt my feelings but help to “save my face.”

What parts did you like?

An excited Amy

p.s. I’m linking up with #riskrejection over at Amy Sullivan’s and you might wonder where the #riskrejection part is. I hate self-promoting and asking people to do something for me and not for the betterment of humanity. I’ve held subscription drives before that have amounted to NOTHING :( … so, this feels like a bigger risk than it might appear. Still, I’m willing to risk :)

Sign up envelope via Tim Morgan on flickr