A New Year, A New Direction

WOW! There are only five days left in January and this is only my fourth post of the entire month. Whaaaaaaaaaat? With the super cold weather we've had over the last 4-6 weeks, my brain has been mush, mush, mush. My kids and I have been stuck inside a whole bunch because of snow and sickies, which has contributed to much laziness and junk food consumption. So, sort of sad to say, blogging has barely crossed my mind at all.

Even though I've been MIA in blogland for most of the month, I still have to mention and CELEBRATE that my blog hit the one year mark on January 1st!  Woo hoo! That's crazy, right?! It has been quite bizarre to go back through my old posts (all 189 of them) from each month, reliving and reminiscing about whatever was going on with my life at that time. And I do have to admit that there are more than a few posts that make me cringe and reach for the delete button. But, hey... that's just part of the blogging journey, I guess.

So, as another calendar year is now in full swing and I begin another year of blogging, I've decided to implement some major adjustments. Over the last six months, my posts progressively took a turn to where I began taking opportunities for financial and personal gain, instead of sticking to my original intentions for this site. Sure, I made some money and my site traffic and Alexa score improved quickly and rather dramatically. But I've recently come to the realization that those opportunities just aren't for me or my faithful readership.

With that being said, there more than likely won't be many more book, movie or product reviews, very few (if any) sponsored posts, or giveaways on this site. I'm aware that I will lose followers and feed subscribers, but I'm totally okay with that. When I look back on this space many years from now, I don't want the posts to be empty or irrelevant. I don't want my blog to morph into a series of random advertisements and vague self promotions. I want to WANT to contribute to this site, not dread it like a chore or lousy job. It's time for me to stop judging the worth of my blogging time by a random result from Google Analytics. No more letting a score from Alexa.com make or break my day. (Sounds silly, but it has happened...)

There you have it, my friends! Goodbye to company badges, site meters, and SEO tricks. Hello to keeping it real! ; )

XOXO