…sometimes…

If the Twitterverse is any measure, this is a chorus that is getting louder so permit me to join in before it becomes a total cacophony (I sing alto).

I have been a blogger since 2014. That year I pinched my nose and dived into expressing myself publicly mainly because it was a gnawing idea and I was encouraged to share my unique perspective (that as far as I’ve seen) had never been done before. Blogging was a wonderful outlet which allowed me to reveal myself and my thoughts to take up a little space in the world.

Even though my blog posts could stand to be a little more frequent (I have only written 135 of them), I’m proud to be part of the blogosphere and that I’ve put my writing out there and I’m especially happy for the connections I’ve made and all the people who have taken the time to click and read.

These days however, sometimes I feel like powering down.

Life Gets in the Way

As the name of my blog suggests, my life is such that I’m in the middle of every damn thing. I have a 16 year old, 13 year old and 6 year old and my plate is filled trying to navigate the three of them with some sense of normalcy. In any given work week I (try to) teach a foreign language to over 100 of the nation’s teenagers who learn at different levels therefore I manage the challenges that come with that. I am also a wife trying to keep a marriage alive and prioritizing the associated duties of family life, trying to stay healthy and sane, being social, maintaining good skin, drinking water and minding my business. There are many topics jotted on paper and filed in my brain, from both considered perspectives and lightbulb moments but lawdddd, the time to sit and express it adequately…Wordpress remains ignored.

Writing into a Void

I’ve never been one to write for an audience, the truth is I don’t even think I have ‘a niche audience’ pinned down. Many of you are WordPress bloggers new to a Trinidadian perspective while some of you have been sent here via connection through my social media which has been good in terms of raising my profile. I welcome all of you who read, peruse, ‘like’ and engage with what I’ve written. The feedback doesn’t happen all the time especially from a wider Trinbagonian audience, the visits and views can be abysmal and I would be lying if I said that this hasn’t caused me to ponder the worth of it all. Although this isn’t the sole purpose of writing, it can be very demotivating. This feeling doesn’t last too long with me but it is still a feeling to recognize and validate.

The “Extras”

In 2014 I had no clue about the extra stuff in terms of getting my blog posts to be ‘seen’. If you are a blogger now, not only is what you write important but how you write it, keeping the extra stuff at the forefront of your mind. So monitoring your SEO (search rankings), managing posting times, creating links and backlinks, cleaning up your previous links, optimizing your photos, maximizing your stats, tying in and keeping up with your linked social media, engaging and maintaining your follower count….all of this for your work to ‘matter’. Trust me I understand the ‘why’ behind it all but lemme just write nah…

One More Thing

We live in a time where visuals have higher precedence than words. One only has to look at the battle of the top giants Instagram and Tik Tok with the world of doom-scrolling, content creators and influencers while Twitter hosts bloggers who battle ‘writer’s lifts’ and ‘pin for pins’ to rack up followers and readers. There has even been some discussion on how to tie in the visual platforms to our writing to get views our way. Honestly, I find this to be a lot (read: too much) to deal with.

These are just my immediate thoughts on why (sometimes!) I don’t feel like blogging anymore. It doesn’t mean that I am ready to follow through and fold up but I felt it important to acknowledge and maybe identify reasons as to why you may have noticed that I haven’t posted in a while. I’m sure some of you who are bloggers have felt the same way at one point or another. Please feel free to express in the comment section below, I would really like to hear your views on the matter even if they diverge. Feel free to also follow me via joining my email list, like and share this post as well to fellow bloggers!

Blessings

TMIDM