Still Here (A Blogiversary Post)

athree23 via Pixabay

 When I retired from Education Career #1, I committed to posting here regularly. I'd been dabbling at blogging for six years, squeezing in posts whenever time and the muse showed up simultaneously. Since one of my goals when I left my job in public education was to move toward full-time writing, posting regularly was a step in that direction. Although I'd heard other writers complain about how blogging detracted from "real" writing, as a newly retired person, I was excited to do both.

Lately, though, I've been finding it easy to identify with those complaints. With multiple writing projects going on alongside Education Career #2, it's no longer simply a matter of time, but a matter of creative energy as well. 

Yet here I am. Still. For one reason or another, I always decide in favor of sticking to the promises I made when I first posted from my perch on the porch swing, and again in 2015, when I launched Organizing by STYLE. 

Here are a few of the reasons I continue to show up.

1. I like talking to my readers. Sure, I can still do this to a certain extent with articles and non-fiction endeavors like Know Thyself, but they're more like business meetings. Blog posts, on the other hand, are more like sitting down with a friend over a cup of coffee (iced tea for me, please) or, some days, a glass of wine, depending on when I sit down to write the post.
2. It's good practice. Writers get better by writing and we get better at meeting deadlines when we get practice doing that as well. Enough said.
3. I'm better with words than other formats. I've been encouraged more than once to go on Instagram, something I did last summer before Know Thyself came out, but I'm a writer, not a visual artist and I hate selfies. Perhaps I'll learn to love Instagram over time but, right now, I'd much rather be here than there. Did I mention that I like talking to my readers?
4. I enjoy it. Most of the time anyway. Sure, I sometimes wish there were 27 hours in the day so that saying yes to blogging didn't mean saying no to something else but, most of the time, I like being here.

So, I guess that means you're stuck with me. And, if you'd like to throw a topic suggestion my way, I wouldn't have a problem with that. 

Thanks for reading. Oh, and if you'd like to enter to win a copy of Courting Peace, email me at jerseywriter@yahoo.com with "Blogiversary Giveaway" in the subject line, and Courting Peace in the body of the email. One entry per person, please, limited to the contiguous United States for paperbacks. Deadline to enter is Saturday, June 3 at 12PM EST.