The Driving Force Behind My Business and Why I Write This Blog

Over the last almost 14 years I’ve blogged my way through growth and development as an artist and a person.

I started writing on Blogspot in October of 2010 after moving from Ohio to Wisconsin to live with my Mom and help get my parents’ hobby farm started.

I’ve blogged through bad times and good. Through a move back to Ohio and then another back to Wisconsin again. During that time I’ve said goodbye to four cats and three dogs. I‘ve built a business and planted gardens. I’ve had dreams fail and dreams come true.

I’m still dreaming.

And still blogging.

In July of 2018, I stopped writing on Blogspot and started a new blog on my website. At that time I published blog posts once a week. In January 2023 I decreased the frequency of my blog to twice a month.

I’ve written about blogs and blogging many times over the years. I’ve asked you what you’d like me to write about and tried to foster a sense of community. I welcome and respond to comments and have written a series of Reader Conversations posts as another way to include you in this space.

I teach a blogging class on Skillshare and in it I share that the first step of starting a blog is defining your own personal WHY. I’ve distilled the why for my business into the phrase “instigating creativity and joy.”

My blog is part of my business and instigating creativity and joy is what I hope to do here, too.

Looking back at the blogs I mentioned in my blogging class and in my posts about blogging, I see so many that have faded away or disappeared altogether. It makes me sad. But things change.

Just this week I learned that Taproot Magazine is ceasing publication and Lisa Estabrook is letting go of Soulflower. Although not blogs, they are creative business ventures.

Don’t worry, I’m not announcing the end of my business or my blog, but both of these endings have me thinking even more about the sustainability of what I do.

Last Saturday I sent my beginning of April Joy Letter to my subscribers. In it, I wrote about my why for the Joy Letter and asked my readers to share why they subscribed.

In case you don’t know, the Joy Letter is my version of an email newsletter. Right now I send it on the first and third Saturdays of the month, alternating with the publication of this blog (which goes up on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays).

Unlike my blog, the Joy Letter has a set format. I start each note with seasonal thoughts and observations, often mentioning recent projects and offering encouragement to my readers. Next, I share a creative prompt inspired by something I’ve been working on or thinking about. I then share a list of interesting and inspiring links. And end with some closing thoughts and encouragement.

Although I email the Joy Letter to thousands of subscribers, I imagine it as a personal note I’m writing to a friend. It has a “view in browser” option but it does not live as a web page. Unless you’ve saved all of my emails, you can’t go back and read what I wrote last August or January five years ago. I can link to one of my notes, but you can’t find the messages with a Google search.

I email my blog to subscribers, too (10x as many people are subscribed to my Joy Letter as subscribe to my blog), but my blog has a permanent home on my website. Anyone — subscribers and non-subscribers — can read my posts. Right now this post from two years ago about self-seeding annuals is getting a lot of attention (search “annuals that self seed” into Google and you’ll see my post is near the top of the results).

What’s “popular” on my blog changes all the time depending on what people are searching for (it’s one of the reasons a blog is generally better for reaching people than social media. On social media your posts, if they’re seen at all, have a very short lifespan — but that’s part of a different conversation).

Perhaps I’m digging a bit too deep sharing the inner workings of my blog and newsletter here with you today, but how and why I run my business has been in the front of my mind lately and I’m considering ways I can shift what I do as I continue to develop and grow.

Two years ago I was thinking about all of these things and wrote:

I’m always considering little tweaks to how I do things. For a while I’ve been dreaming of creating a private space in which to share with a smaller audience (in a way that will help support my business financially), but I don’t want to commit to it unless I know I can sustain it.

…

I never want you to feel like I’m pressuring you or that what I do here is all about making money (it’s not!). I want to share freely with you. It’s important to me to share freely with you. Here and in my Joy Letters. I’m not going to stop blogging and I’m not going to stop sending out Joy Letters, but I need to make sure that everything I do as part of my business is sustainable and that I have enough time and energy for all I want to accomplish.

I feel the same way today.

I’m still figuring things out. And I want you to be a part of it.

I’m curious to hear your thoughts about my blog if you’re willing to share.

• Why do you read my blog?

• What first brought you here?

• What would you like to see more of? Less of?

• Are you subscribed to the blog (get it in your email)?

• Are you subscribed to the Joy Letter?

• What other blogs do you read?

• What other newsletters are you subscribed to?

• What online communities are you a part of?

• Do you write a blog or newsletter?

Thank you so much for being here. I’m excited to bring you along on this next part of my creative journey.