On Blogging

It has been a few weeks since I’ve blogged—how do I do this again? 

At several points throughout the year, I’ve thought myself crazy for starting a blog. My full-time job is writing marketing copy for an education company. I write all day every day. Before I stopped using Grammarly, it checked several million words I’d written in the span of just a little over a year. For context, the average novel is less than 100,000 words. 

Writing has never felt like a chore, but I can get tired of it. I talk with the other writer at my company, who has also become one of my dear friends, about this often. I write 40 hours a week and then I go write some more. On my blog. On my Facebook page. On my work in progress. If there is a day I go without writing, it feels like something is off. 

Writing is a part of who I am. I feel like I’m a pretty good public speaker, but I’m much better at sharing my thoughts through the written word. I like thinking through things on paper, coming to a conclusion, and then sharing my final thoughts with the world rather than spewing the rough draft.

I’ve been consistently blogging now for ten months. I started writing this blog at the end of January 2024, and when I hit the 1-year mark, I’m planning to do a fun post with some stats and learnings, but I couldn’t help but reflect a little bit since it’s the end of the year. 

While this blog is dedicated to a specific corner of my brain—family, creativity, and religion—it’s a pretty big corner. Family and religion are two of my main values, and I don’t know if I would consider creativity a value, but it’s a big part of who I am. 

It has been a test of vulnerability to write something for you each week and publish it on the internet. I’m always worried about how people will perceive me based on my writing, and I try to make sure each piece is just right before putting it out there. In reality, there are going to be people who disagree with me or are triggered by my posts, and I need to be okay with that if I want to write something meaningful. The best books don’t shy away from the hard parts of life—they meet them head on. 

There’s no takeaway or action items from this week’s post. It’s mostly ramblings, but I felt like I needed to get some things out there. Thank you for reading and helping me stay accountable to my goals and for helping me become a better author and communicator. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried and failed to start a blog over the past decade or so. This is the first time it’s stuck, and I’m looking forward to another year of musing on my favorite things with you.