What has happened to you? Why don’t you write as often? Why don’t you write like you used to? Why don’t you write more of such and such type of posts?
Questions have been asked by readers, family, and friends in varying ways. I feel it like a verbal shake of my shoulders. I care! There have been lots of changes.
Change. I don’t like it either! I hear ya!
So let me just explain a few things.
First, some history on my blog. To learn how I started, read How I Became a Blogger. Here I explained the beginning and the hope of earning some income to bless my family with my endeavor. By 2013 that goal was a reality; however, in my post “What I learned from Jeff Goins,” I explained how my goals for blogging may be small, “I am a Christian wife, mom, and home educator first and blogging is just gravy!” My heart is to keep this priority always in check. I defined this a bit more in my post Small Goals or Big Dreams.
So much has changed in the world of blogging since 2010 and continues to change rapidly. When I began it would take me 30-60 minutes to write, publish, and promote my posts. I was publishing every day, and I had plenty of time to do all my work while my kids napped. Today I spend between 4 and 10 hours per blog post. Just in the time it takes alone, you can see that publishing seven posts a week is impossible for a part time job. Prior to our Great Move in the fall of 2016, I had already decreased my posts per week to an average of five.
Oh the things that have happened since this great big move to south Texas! I’ve told only some of the craziness like the trouble we had finding a house, hospitalizations, cancer…and so much more, but y’all life has never been the same. It has been one huge thing after another, and I am busier than ever.
My children are all older now and while that has freed me up in some ways, it has slammed me in others. This was the first year that I was formally homeschooling all five. With teenagers I’m finding that while they can do almost everything on their own and help take some responsibility, they also need much more of my undivided, one-on-one attention. In addition I am trying to be available to my parents and my sister Sara and her family. I feel like I never do enough!
So while readers are sometimes demanding of me as to what they want to see, I always want to keep my life goals as priority over my business/blogging goals. When life interferes, life comes first. I really appreciate all of you who have stuck with me, and encouraged me through all the changes.
I love this incredible avenue that God has provided to be able to share my heart, my family fun, love of food, and hunger to see the world through Laugh With Us Blog. Thank you again, for coming with me on the journey! I wish I could keep you all happy, but if there is one thing I’ve learned it’s that, “You can keep some of the people happy some of the time,” and that’s about it. 😉
Much love,
Leave a Reply