10 years

I’ve been writing on the Internet for a decade. Wow.

The first time I realized people were writing online was in 1999. Back then, there were two styles: weblogs and online journals. I loved them both. I had a full list of bookmarks (remember those? before RSS?).

I moved to Nebraska in September 2003 and created a little hand-coded site to keep friends and family updated on our move. It definitely started out as more of a weblog: bits of information, links, commentary, and a few pics. After awhile I started writing more. I journaled about my experiences in Nebraska, becoming a mom, and exploring the creative art of hand crafts.

Then life got busy. My daughter stopped taking naps. My journal entries got shorter and I hit publish less often. When my daughter started school, I thought that would change, but my mind began to wander off topic. I squirreled away things that interested me in pocket lists, twitter favorites, tumblr hearts, secret pinterest boards and facebook likes. I stopped sharing things that didn’t fit the narrative I had created here.

10 years marks a perfect milestone for reflection: What am I doing here? Why am I not doing anything here? How do I start doing more here?

I think for now the best thing for me is to return to more of a weblog style of writing. I miss being here. I want to be here. I just don’t have as much time to be here.

I’ve made a few changes. Don’t worry. Nothing is going away. In fact, I’ve created a table of contents that will hopefully make it easier to sort through 10 years of writing. That kind of rendered the navigation menus and sidebar widgets unnecessary, so I got rid of them. It takes some getting used to, I know, but I really like how the posts are front and center now.

I’m also going to push myself outside the boundaries of my current narrative. I want to explore all types of creativity, not just hand crafts. I want to talk about all kinds of sustainability, not just recycling and reusing. I want to write about smart women and how they can be role models for myself and my daughter.

Seems a little weird doesn’t it? More things to write about and less writing about them.

Change isn’t always easy, but change is good.