I stopped blogging when I started marketing.
While this isn’t entirely true—I gave up blogging for the convenience and ubiquity of social media—becoming a marketing professional changed the way I thought about writing for the internet. I didn’t forget how to write for pleasure, but because I knew marketing, I knew “better.”
Content—and what I did with it—mattered, so writing for the sake of writing was a misuse of my effort. The words I chose to publish on the internet had the power to build my audience, to bring in and nurture leads who would one day convert to my Constant Readers.
Writing as a marketer
Focusing on what I should have been writing made it difficult to write anything at all. I had ideas. I always have ideas. But after going through, What’s my purpose? What’s my call to action? What keywords will get attention? Where do I need to promote this?, most ideas weren’t enough to write about. And they certainly weren’t enough to publish on a blog.
My hiatus from the blogosphere isn’t a criticism of digital marketing, though. Marketing pays the bills, and it is interesting and relevant. The things we interact with online influence many aspects of our lives, and like many of us, I give my money and time to the people and brands that give me content and experiences I value. I’m very aware of the choices I make as a consumer. And marketing brought me here.
But my life as a writer is more than keeping your eyes on my words so you’re ready to pull out your credit card during my eventual pre-order announcement. I write because I love words and the real-life magic they perform. With words, we have the ability to take things that do exist and don’t exist and express them—through collections of letters and sounds that other people can take in and think about and respond to.
The “good old days”
I’m not the only older millennial who’s “over” the way we currently spend our time online. I’m not that bothered by ads and algorithms, but I don’t want to think about them that much for personal use. I just want to log into something, knock out words, and share them with anyone who cares about reading them.
I used to do that, just sign into WordPress (before that, LiveJournal), type, and publish. In high school, my blogging helped me feel connected with friends between school hours. When I was new to the professional workforce—then a science teacher with big dreams about changing lives—blogging was my Friday ritual. I would leave work, go to the nearby Starbucks, and blog on WordPress for a couple hours. I wasn’t planning content or converting leads. I was getting things out as I was figuring things out. I miss that, and I’ve missed it for too long.
Why I’m changing now
If you’re reading this, you know the mess the United States is slipping deeper into. I don’t know what’s going to happen to writing, publishing, the internet, and expression in the future. I want to get my words out there, and I don’t want them to be surrounded by hate. I don’t want to be associated with hate. So, for me, it’s important to shrink back from traditional social media and put more effort into writing for the sake of writing, words for the sake of good, thought out words.
That means more posts here and more “social” time in a new space, Substack.
I’ve watched the migration happen, and I’m ready to make my move. I’m not sure how I’ll use the new space yet, but I’m thinking of using it to publish anything I would’ve shared on social media in longer-form. I’ll share blog posts there, too.
I encourage you to watch me here or join me on Substack, whether or not you’re fed up with modern social media, too. I have a lot of ideas that need to be written.