August 19th will be my 46th birthday and my 10-year blogging anniversary. When I first started my blog, Have Fun, Do Good, blogs were the kings of social media.

And then YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, etc. came along, and our attention spans dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds (less than a goldfish!).

But I’ve kept blogging. Why? Because I love it. I’ve wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. Over the years, I tried almost every genre of writing: fiction, memoir, poetry, performance, journalism. None of them were a fit. They didn’t flow.

And then I read Jory Des Jardins’ blog. My husband and I had just moved into our first home and Jory was our neighbor at the time. When Jory told me that she had a blog where she wrote about her life, I was surprised. I thought that blogging was something only political wonks did. Boy, was I wrong. Jory’s blog was beautifully written. I loved it and wanted one of my own.

So, I started Have Fun, Do Good, and it changed my life. It brought in clients for my business, speaking opportunities, mentions in the press, and awards. And it gave me a place to express myself. Until it didn’t.

A few years ago, I began to feel hemmed in by the title. I was told that it was a great “brand,” but the problem was, it didn’t encompass everything I wanted to write about, or all of my personality. I mean, who has fun and does good all the time? I fantasized about starting an anonymous blog called, “Be Miserable, Do Bad.”

Plus, as Have Fun, Do Good became increasingly well known in the social good sphere, my in-box was filled every day with an overwhelming number of emails from people asking me to write about their campaign, cause or product. It no longer felt like my blog.

It took a long time to accept that I had outgrown my blog. I found it hard to let go of something that had brought me joy and success in the past. I kept thinking it was going to go back to the way it was, but when it didn’t, I had to let go.

So, this year I moved my blog over here to my website and dropped the Have Fun, Do Good title. I’ll be honest, I lost readers, and that’s OK. I love the readers I have now (thank you wonderful readers!), and I know from blogging for ten years that if I keep writing from an authentic place, and use the social media tools I mentioned above to share what I write, there will be more. It just takes time. And effort. And patience.

Ultimately, for me, blogging is about two things:

• Creative self-expression

• Sharing the gifts that you’ve been given (e.g. knowledge, humor, insight, analysis, wisdom, inspiration, an eye for beauty)

If writing a post makes me feel good ’cause I’ve brought something from my inside out, and it helps even one person, then it was worth writing.

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I’ll be offering the 11th session of the Juicy Blogging E-Course September 14-October 12, 2015. Because I believe that having a “blogging buddy” will help you keep blogging over the long run, (and may foster a wonderful collaboration!) when you register, you’ll receive a special code to share with a friend so that they can register for 50% off the regular fee.

All photos by me.