It seems there’s been some confusion about when I plan to retire from blogging. On my original post, I said I was going to stop blogging after March. What I meant was, I would stop blogging after March ended. March 31st is my last day. Once April starts, I will have officially stopped.
So. When am I done?
MARCH 31.
Another thing. On my retirement post I mentioned that I may post from time to time—or not. Which left more than one person confused. When I say going to officially stop blogging, it means I won’t be blogging regularly or with any kind of commitment. I am not saying I will never blog again, just that I can’t promise to blog.
Some of you may be wondering why I would announce I’m going to stop blogging if I won’t actually stop. You can find some explanations here in my retirement post, and I even talked about it some in my Blogging, writing, and life post. However, it boils down to this:
I don’t want to create falls expectations.
Blogging is a commitment, an investment of time and effort. If I can’t blog two or three times a week, posting good, thoughtful content, I shouldn’t be doing this. It isn’t fair to readers, and I simply can’t make that commitment anymore.
However, from time to time I do think of topics I’d like to discuss with others. If I’ve severed my commitment and gotten rid of expectations, I’m free to share these ideas as I so choose.
For example. I really enjoy interviewing authors, and I like sharing book reviews on my Goodreads account. Also, for a long long time, I’ve wanted to highlight other great writers blogs I stumble across. So I may still do things like that.
I admit it’s a little awkward, and a bit confusing, but I think it makes the most sense all around. I hate to give up on Headdesk now that it finally got it’s feet, but I’d be lying if I said that I can keep blogging regularly.
I do understand that this is all very nice for me, but not so nice for you. Nobody wants to check in on a blog that only updates once a month. Or once every two months. Or twice a year. That’s fine: I have a plan. You can Follow me!
See, Blogger has this neat little feature where bloggers can follow each other’s feeds on their dashboard. It’s very simple, and you can read all about it here. I even added the Follow widget to my sidebar for convenient following.
If you happen to have your own reader, then you can follow this link to subscribe to my RSS feed. If you think that sounds too complicated, follow this link, and my posts will be e-mailed to you every time I update. If that still sounds too complicated, um, I’m not sure what to tell you. What’s easier than getting my posts sent straight to your inbox?
Thanks for all of you who are already following or subscribed. I really appreciate all your understanding and support.
- Creative A
2 comments:
Grumpy Old Bookman did exactly the same thing a while back--retired, but came back occasionally when he had something specific to say and the time to say it.
One of the reasons we started the MNW Authors blog is that we knew blogging isn't forever--as you say, it's a big commitment of time and energy. But if you have enough people on a group blog, the ball pretty much keeps rolling without putting too much pressure on any one person. You might consider something similar in the longer term.
In any case, you'll be missed. You had some great posts here.
I did consider group blogging. The problem is, I think, you'd need a decent sized group to keep it updated regularly. Most of the bloggers I know are...well...already blogging :p But it's always an option.
Thanks, David. I appreciate it.
-CA
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