“Seriously.”

I stared at her in the darkness. Only the street lamp and the dashboard lights of her car shone on our faces. We’d been sitting outside my house, talking, for an hour. I sighed softly and put my hand on the door handle.

“Write something,” she said. “Write something every day.”


Do you remember when I used to blog?

I mean, back when I used to REALLY blog?

I was going through some old posts today, doing prep work for another post for another blog, and ended up in September 2007. You want to know how many times I hit that publish button during this very same month two years ago? TWENTY-ONE. I know. That means I actually posted more often than, you know, once every other week.

To say I’m not sure what happened would be a lie.

You long time readers will know that I used to write almost every week day. I kept up with my friends’ blogs, I responded to my own comments, I followed new readers back to their own bloggish places and formed relationships. I have dozens of good friends today that I know solely through and because of this five year blogging gig.

But that was then. Back when blogging was just about blogging. It was just about the sheer fun of it.

Due to the nature of the internet, the face of blogging began to change. It evolved into something I didn’t recognize. No longer was it about the relationships, or about the writing, or even about showing Grandma the most recent pictures. It started as a trickle that became an ocean; “the business side of blogging.” The levels varied from blog to blog–some barely dipped their toes in the water, while others threw themselves into the waves. And before I knew it, on my own level in my own corner of the internet, I was sucked into the vortex.

The American Dream is all about taking the things you love doing, your hobbies, and finding a way to make money from them and then being known for how well you’ve accomplished this, isn’t it? And yet, we all know where that leads… we’ve either seen it happen or done it ourselves. It isn’t long before the thing you love becomes the thing you loathe. Why should the sphere of blogging often known as “momtrepreneurs” be any different?

By the time I realized I’d unknowingly changed directions–whether or not it was perceptible to others outside the obvious of putting up ads, it was there in my mentality and focus–I was already turning back the other way. I was tired of having a purpose to blogging other than writing. Writing was the reason I’d started doing this in the first place, and all the other… stuff… made me want to stop altogether. Bloggity friends were still having fun with all of it, but I wasn’t. So I changed the way I handled pitch emails, and cut out anything having to do with money, “rank” or count–except my ads (which required no action on my part or my readers’) and my good ol’ stat counter kept for safety purposes. And then I spent months considering whether or not to just scratch the whole thing and throw the blog down the drain.

Meanwhile, John came home from Iraq and I took most of August and September of last year off from my typical blogging schedule, just to get used to being a family again. But you know how when you’re running or biking or whatever, it’s always harder to stop and start than to just keep going? Same with me when it comes to blogging. I was just starting to get the hang of it again when the storm of my parents’ ending marriage began, consuming me for months. I didn’t know how to write about it. I still don’t. I don’t know if anyone would really even care to hear about it. Who needs to hear about the mess in someone else’s family when surely they have one in their own? So I held back.

This blog has seen seven new posts since June. A number of the blogs I read haven’t had very many more. People are tweeting more than they’re writing.

The face of blogging is changing… again.

The blogs that remain are the ones written by people who want relationship. Who want a place to sort out their hearts through a keyboard. Who love blogging simply for what it inherently is. A place to love others, to share a message, to write.

And I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to jump in. Again.

Consider this your cue to expect more action around here. Whether or not anyone is still hanging around, or whether what is written is anything those stragglers want to read, I’ll be here… just writing.

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