Tonight's Poet Corner: Introspection

While I can't say this was a decision long in the works, I think it's a good one. So here goes.

Friends and lovelies, today marks the tenth anniversary since I started this freelance writing. It will also be the last day I update it.

It has been a blast to write on this blog every single day. It has forced me to stay creative, produce writing, and share my work with all of you. I have been able to experiment with new styles and concepts with my poems, and disciplining my ability to write in a short amount of time or with a limited number of words has been eye-opening, to say the last.

It's also been exhausting at times to maintain this blog. When I started it in 2011, I was fresh out of college, working odd jobs, and still living at home while continuing a long distance relationship. Now I'm a self-published author, I'm married, I'm working a full time teaching job, and I'm planning on raising a family. I have written even more plays and short works (even though my short story game has alway been eh), I started my own online theatre company, I've dabbled in voice acting, and now I'm focusing on fantasy roleplaying and storytelling through Dungeons and Dragons. It is safe to say that I am and will continue to be prolific. Just not here anymore.

I will admit that it didn't help when my posts became hidden from my friends and followers, and the real icing on the shit cake was when Facebook flagged my blog as spam and forced me to change its URL, costing me a lot of views. As such, the number of people seeing my stuff has plummeted. As much as I write mostly for me, I don't always like linguistically shouting into a void. So I'm going to diversify how I promote myself beyond Blogger. It's been fun, Google.

I'd like to focus more on my work as an educator and prioritize my health, friend circles, and other creative outlets. I'd also like to stop forcing myself to write what I view to be just for the sake of writing. It worked in the past, but now, I think I can handle the larger projects I undertake and forgive myself for not always creating something wordwise. It's okay to take a breather.

So, on to other things. I will keep this blog up in order to preserve my work, while I'll be dictating entries like poems and ten word tales to handwritten journals for posterity. At first, I was going to simply take a year long break, but this feels more appropiate. Cathartic, even. The end of an era. The end of the twenty-somethings for Belinda Roddie. The end of the cardboard balcony.

If you'd like to follow me in my other endeavors, I'm on Goodreads, LinkedIn, and other forms of social media. I look forward to you joining me on my next adventure, whether you want to collaborate or just read my stuff.

It's been a pleasure, lovelies.

Have a great night and a wonderful tomorrow. Always.

Signed,
Belinda Roddie