Hey there.
I’ve been playing around with the idea of starting yet another blog in the new year then yesterday I received a notification about an email from Jeff Goins with the subject line “I’m quitting blogging (and almost everything else).”
That certainly caught my attention, as I’ve been wondering if anybody actually reads blogs anymore and since I know he’s had a lot of success with them, I was curious what he was up to and immediately read his blog post, “The End of Blogging (for Me).”
I came late to the world of blogging. My writing background is in print journalism, writing and editing for high school and college newspapers and then a local community paper, so there was always some kind of built-in audience with all of those and if I had any other writing to get out, it was done quietly with a pen scribbling in a spiral notebook.
Then in 2009, with a toddler and an infant at home, I decided to start a blog so I could document those days for my mother-in-law, who lived out of state. Late at night, I’d write up different things that happened during the day with my sons so she could follow along.
As my sons got a little older (and were joined by their younger brother), I wasn’t comfortable having so many pictures of them posted online so I migrated to a private blog and removed most of the photos from the public one and carried on with private postings until Jan. 1, 2019 when I ran out of space on that free site.
And another blog, and another…
There were also short-lived blogs, such as the decluttering one where I posted pictures of things that I was getting rid of so I could still keep the sentimental memory without keeping the stuff, and one where I rambled about whatever was on my mind. I wasn’t interested in going through all the steps to monetize my blogs (though I did join some Facebook challenges to learn about that), I just wanted to write and hoped that my posts would connect with anyone who would find some value in what I was writing. Mostly it was my husband who read my posts, but at least they were out there in the world in case someone randomly found them and needed to hear those words.
After I left my job at the newspaper after 17 years to spend more time with my kids, the plan was to try freelance writing and I wrote some articles for local publications (and one international publication) and started another new blog, “A Medley of Moments,” where I wrote about a variety of things and in 2018, my boys and launched “Everyday Day is Holiday” on that blog, where we’d pick a national “holiday” and celebrate it - for instance, eating at Sweet Tomatoes for National Buffet Day (Jan. 2) and making whipped cream for National Whipped Cream Day (Jan. 5). That was lots of fun, and we made little videos of the boys trying new foods or learning something about the subject of the day. (They were 7, 9 and 11 at that time, so they were really involved in the process.)
However, when our schedules got busier as the year progressed, it was challenging to be consistent with the posts and the holiday experiment fizzled out around April.
In December 2018, I started yet another blog, which documented my return to a passion that started in high school - songwriting - and through that blog I shared my songwriting journey, lessons I learned along the way, gratitude for those who taught those lessons and lots and lots of songs that I wrote.
In 2021, I launched the project “52 Weeks in 2021” where I shared one of my original songs every week. That project was in memory of my mom, who died from pancreatic cancer at age 52 (and that was the year I turned 52 so it was also a way to help me focus on something else other than the fact that I was turning the age my mother was when she died).
In 2022, I focused on songwriting goals, taking lots of courses and writing lots of songs (and hardly any blog posts). Thanks to the assistance of one course created by Sherilyn Keller called “Release Music Like a Pro,” I learned the process of how to move a song along from an idea stage, work with a producer and release songs and I released two this year. (I was also grateful to receive an artist opportunity grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts and the Arizona Community Foundation to to take the course, which was filled with both helpful information and encouragement.)
Looking ahead to 2023
And now with 2023 on the horizon, I feel compelled to try something new. For the past few weeks, in the gaps between shlepping kids around town and busy work and home duties, I’ve been agonizing about what to do next creatively.
I’ve felt so scattered about what I want to do that I haven’t been productive at all in this aspect of my life. Do I try to learn more chord progressions? Work on my lyrics? Take guitar or piano lessons to improve my playing? Take singing lessons? Learn how to produce my own songs to help cut down on production costs? And then there are the TikTok videos that songwriters are supposed to also be making these days to reach new audiences. I opted for print journalism over broadcast journalism for a reason - I love the writing aspect and don’t enjoy the on-camera experience (or at least watching my on-camera experience.)
Getting to the point of overwhelm isn’t beneficial for anyone and I wasn’t making any progress in anything I wanted to do. Plus, my kids are now 12, 14 and 16 and I also want to spend as much time as I can with them, too. (Or at least as much time as they want to spend with me in this new phase of their life.)
So in narrowing down what I want to focus on for this upcoming year (outside of family and work), I realized that I want to continue to write, both blog-style writing and songwriting, and I hope to connect to people that way (rather than forcing myself to make short videos).
One of the happiest blogging moments this past year was learning that a friend and former colleague of mine came across my 52 Weeks in 2021 project and was so inspired by it that he started returning to focusing on his songwriting as well - and he even asked to cover one of my songs his Facebook concert.
That’s what I’m hoping to do here in Substack - to provide a space to share inspiration. Since I only learned about this platform yesterday, I haven’t done much research about it and don’t have a master plan, but what I did learn is that it’s a community that values writing, so I’m in!
If your interests include songwriting, music, parenting (primarily teens, although I may occasionally flash back to those toddler days), music production, following your dreams and finding inspiration where you can, come join me!