Neglected… but not forgotten

Photo credit: D Sharon Pruitt on Flicker.

4 posts in the last 2 months. Whoa.

I didn’t realize I had neglected my blog that much.

I always wondered what happened to people that disappeared from the blogosphere, never to be heard from again. But I get it now. Life happens. Blogging gets pushed aside more and more, and before you know it, it’s been so long that you don’t even remember your WordPress password, you’ve let your domain name expire – and it’s all gone. Just like that. And it’s too much work to start over from scratch.

I originally started this blog way back in 2008 to update friends and family on my daughters (3 and 9 months old at the time), and to share photos and stories on what life was like living in the DC area. Then, a few months in, companies came knocking, offering me toys and books and gadgets (oh my!), and I went down that route. I even started making a little money here and there. That was nice. Until I pressured myself to make more. That’s when blogging just became one more chore on my never-ending to do list. And when I decided that I would not (could not) stay up until 2am every night for the sake of my blog, things really began to go downhill.

I told myself that I’d get things going again when both my daughters were in school (as of last September). For the first time in more than 7 years, I was alone all day! I’d have 7 uninterrupted hours a day to blog. Right. It’s hard to admit, but I missed the girls so much that I think I kind of went into a little bit of a depression. Major separation anxiety on my part! For those first few weeks, I couldn’t tell you what I did for those 7 long hours. Stared out the window, listening for the school bus. Alphabetized our books. Watched The View. And The Chew. And whatever came after that. Then I started volunteering several times a week at school, so that became a big time commitment, but it got me out of the house at least.

To make a long story short, I’ve had my ups and downs over the last few months. Physically, mentally, financially… and my blog has definitely suffered for it. Maybe I didn’t let it get to the point where I let my domain name expire, but my traffic and engagement has declined so much that I almost feel like I’m starting over in a way. For a second, I even thought about just shutting this down completely – blogging is a lot of work – but I’ve had too many great experiences, met some of the most wonderful people, and learned so much from blogging to quit now. I guess I just needed that extended vacation to realize how much I miss it! While I’m not making any promises, I’m going to make an honest effort to move blogging up on my list of priorities. Until next time… 😉