Three weeks. 21 days. That can be a long time or a short time. It all depends on what’s being measured.
In this case, it’s time between blog posts.
Three weeks in between blog posts here at MeMyselfandKids is unprecedented. In the five plus years (I can’t believe it’s that long either) I’ve been blogging, I’ve never gone even close to as long as twenty one days between posts.
I used to post twice a week and add a bonus post on Summer Fridays. Last year, I went down to posting once a week. My goal is to get the post out on Friday morning. But of course, life happens and sometimes I can’t keep to my blog schedule.
So, why 21 days?
Nothing fantastic or incredible or awful.
I could chalk up the time in between posts to busyness. And it wouldn’t be a lie. Nothing particular to say about the schedule– just life.
I could say there’s stuff going on, but that wouldn’t be true. Well, of course there’s stuff going on. But I’m in a good place and feel as content as I have in a long time. Maybe forever.
So, why 21 days?
I have respect for my blog and this space. I truly appreciate the readers. There’s only about a billion other things that you could be reading other than MeMyselfandKids. So, to those of you who do read – particularly regulars – thank you. I try my utmost to tell stories that are personal yet relatable. I try to make you laugh, think, and occasionally cry. Or just shake your head and say, “Yeah, me too.” Isn’t that the goal of story telling?
Lately, I feel I’ve been retelling my stories. I dread the thought of someone reading, sighing, and saying, “Again. Haven’t I heard this before?”
I worry about how much I can/should say about my children. They aren’t babies, toddlers, or even little boys. They’re growing up and the stories of them – well, they might be there’s to tell. I think about that each time I write about them. It’s not worth pissing off my children in order to be a dad blogger.
Besides being a blogger, I’m a reader of blogs. From my perspective, parent bloggers seem to have a few categories that they go back to repeatedly. There’s the “I can’t believe my kid left xyz category behind.” There’s the sleep/homework set of posts depending on how old their children are. And finally there’s the I need to pay more attention to my kids post.
When I started my blog, I had a goal of becoming a better writer. I thought that if I committed to writing regularly I could make that happen. And I believe it has worked. In my opinion, my writing now is light years ahead of where it was.
My other hope when I started a blog was to have people read my writing. And that’s happened too.
What I did not expect when I started writing was to form a community (Tribe seems to be in ‘in word’ to describe this). I didn’t even know how to look for other blogs let alone leave comments. Anyway, a tribe formed and then it dissipated and then another one formed. The second tribe seems to have broken up with a bunch of the bloggers hanging it up. I miss the exchanges.
Then have been moments over these last 21 days (and prior to that) when I thought my time had come to check out. If I couldn’t come up with fresh stories, and with readership sagging, and my schedule becoming more demanding, was there a point to blogging?
But I’ve reconsidered. TRUTH: I still like blogging. I still like coming up with stories.
The posts might become less regular or more frequent – depends on many factors. I might be repeat themes. What I will absolutely do is my best to tell a story that has meaning to me with the hope it will have meaning to you too.
I hope you’ll continue to read (and tell all those you know to do so as well!) and comment and get something out of your time spent here at MeMyselfandKids.
It’s been 21 days, and I’m still here.
I love that you’ll switch to something more organic! As structured as I am, I could never put my blogging on a schedule – that was my joy and my freedom – it didn’t want to abide by time frames and deadlines!
Thanks Kate.
I have read many times how important it is to keep on a schedule in terms of growing a readership. While I would still would like to see my readership grow, it’s not my priority. Besides, it was not growing before. So, I’ll go as it works for me.
We are still reading and still here.
I think sometimes it is ok to run older posts again because new readers come along who aren’t familiar with the older stuff.
I’m not even talking about old posts. I just mean the same themes. Sometimes, I feel like I keep talking about the same things.