I regular reader posted a question on the Facebook page related to this site: "keeping the blog going for 2015? I miss your posts!"
The short answer? Yes.
The longer answer? Yes, but...
There are a lot of little reasons that the posts have been absent for over a month. In practical terms, there are some technical frustrations that make it harder to post often, even if it's simply re-posting other people's articles. The platform I use to create and host the site, Weebly, is very user-friendly and simple. But they updated mid-Fall, and I now find that posts no longer automatically save as you go. Readers, I have written and lost more posts than you know! Changes and editing don't stick. If I write the post in Word, copying and pasting messes with formatting in a way that is painfully laborious to undo, but when I attempt to write the posts IN the blog, I lose a lot. On top of which, I use a very old, very slow laptop at home which overheats and shuts down more often than it should. So, the frustration levels associated with blogging have increased lately, and I don't often have time to post or edit from my work computer.
There's also the issue of content. When I started the blog, there was a real need in me to share my story and get it out there. Get it off my chest, so to speak. I was also getting many of the same kinds of questions, and was emailing the same answers, the same story, over and over. I wanted to have all the parts of my story - the practical, the emotional, the advice, the venting - in one place where I could direct people if they asked. I've done that, and I've written about the topics which were burning to get out, and which I most often get asked about. Now? Now, it's the trickier topics to untangle, and those are time-consuming to write about. Wading through research, or finding an angle from which I haven't already approached fitness, health, weight loss, weight gain, eating disorders or body image takes more creative imagination.
When I first started this, I didn't have a plan but my goal was to keep up blogging for at least a year. I've read and followed too many similar blogs, which end up falling by the wayside. You know why? It's hard. It's time consuming. It's a full-time job for many writers, and I'm doing it in my spare time because I feel like it. Even blogs which have become big in the world of weight loss journeys, the ones which have a lot of content frequently posted and are supported by paid advertising or donations, they have a shelf life of 2-4 years. I barely made it through the first year.
Time.
Motivation.
Ideas.
Research.
Technology.
And then there's where I am, personally. Weight re-gain, and a fall off the wagon that makes it hard to keep writing and blogging and reading about topics which I associate more with shame and loathing than I did a year ago. As I mentioned in yesterday's post about the resolution to say "no" to more things, and "yes" to myself (with a re-focus on weight loss), I haven't been taking very good care of myself. I haven't been making the time to do the work of reflecting and learning and addressing reasons behind the Binge Eating, and I haven't been making the time to prepare good foods, or to write down and track my nutrition. I *have* been making plenty of time to enjoy beer and wine and friends, and it's caught up with me.
For all of those reasons, the answer is, "yes, I will still keep blogging, BUT..." It may not be as frequent as when I started. There may be more "hey look at this article, it seems interesting" links or re-posts. And when it seems to become too much, then I'll stop and go on to the next project.
After all, it's a small blog with a small following, and most of you know me in real life.
However, I am extremely grateful for those of you who do check in regularly to see what's new, who ask me about the blog, and who express some lovely compliments about it. That has been one of the most gratifying outcomes of this little project. Here's hoping I can squeeze out at least another year's worth of content!
The short answer? Yes.
The longer answer? Yes, but...
There are a lot of little reasons that the posts have been absent for over a month. In practical terms, there are some technical frustrations that make it harder to post often, even if it's simply re-posting other people's articles. The platform I use to create and host the site, Weebly, is very user-friendly and simple. But they updated mid-Fall, and I now find that posts no longer automatically save as you go. Readers, I have written and lost more posts than you know! Changes and editing don't stick. If I write the post in Word, copying and pasting messes with formatting in a way that is painfully laborious to undo, but when I attempt to write the posts IN the blog, I lose a lot. On top of which, I use a very old, very slow laptop at home which overheats and shuts down more often than it should. So, the frustration levels associated with blogging have increased lately, and I don't often have time to post or edit from my work computer.
There's also the issue of content. When I started the blog, there was a real need in me to share my story and get it out there. Get it off my chest, so to speak. I was also getting many of the same kinds of questions, and was emailing the same answers, the same story, over and over. I wanted to have all the parts of my story - the practical, the emotional, the advice, the venting - in one place where I could direct people if they asked. I've done that, and I've written about the topics which were burning to get out, and which I most often get asked about. Now? Now, it's the trickier topics to untangle, and those are time-consuming to write about. Wading through research, or finding an angle from which I haven't already approached fitness, health, weight loss, weight gain, eating disorders or body image takes more creative imagination.
When I first started this, I didn't have a plan but my goal was to keep up blogging for at least a year. I've read and followed too many similar blogs, which end up falling by the wayside. You know why? It's hard. It's time consuming. It's a full-time job for many writers, and I'm doing it in my spare time because I feel like it. Even blogs which have become big in the world of weight loss journeys, the ones which have a lot of content frequently posted and are supported by paid advertising or donations, they have a shelf life of 2-4 years. I barely made it through the first year.
Time.
Motivation.
Ideas.
Research.
Technology.
And then there's where I am, personally. Weight re-gain, and a fall off the wagon that makes it hard to keep writing and blogging and reading about topics which I associate more with shame and loathing than I did a year ago. As I mentioned in yesterday's post about the resolution to say "no" to more things, and "yes" to myself (with a re-focus on weight loss), I haven't been taking very good care of myself. I haven't been making the time to do the work of reflecting and learning and addressing reasons behind the Binge Eating, and I haven't been making the time to prepare good foods, or to write down and track my nutrition. I *have* been making plenty of time to enjoy beer and wine and friends, and it's caught up with me.
For all of those reasons, the answer is, "yes, I will still keep blogging, BUT..." It may not be as frequent as when I started. There may be more "hey look at this article, it seems interesting" links or re-posts. And when it seems to become too much, then I'll stop and go on to the next project.
After all, it's a small blog with a small following, and most of you know me in real life.
However, I am extremely grateful for those of you who do check in regularly to see what's new, who ask me about the blog, and who express some lovely compliments about it. That has been one of the most gratifying outcomes of this little project. Here's hoping I can squeeze out at least another year's worth of content!
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