Follow the yellow brick road

For the past few weeks I’ve been contemplating what to do about the blog. What to do in regards to how far I want to go with this. Sometimes I get into such a funk that I don’t feel like writing at all. Sometimes I get so busy that I feel guilty for taking the time to write. Though he would never say it, I’m sure Nathan is getting tired of hearing “blog this” and “blog that.” Blog blog blog blog blog.

Nathan recently told me, “You’d go crazy if you didn’t have your blog.” He’s right. This blog helps keep me sane. Those few long-time readers I have may recall several posts in which I grumbled about work. Those posts have since been deleted, but my feelings about the job remain. I am not fulfilling my life’s dream. I do what I do because I have to do it. I have to put food on the table. What I’d rather be doing is what I do here. I want to write. More importantly, I want to get paid to write.

Unfortunately I can’t quit my job and blog full time. At least not right now. I think that’s a possibility in the future, but we’re talking a few years down the road. That being said, I’m going to be trying out some new things here in the next few weeks, most of them having to do with monetization.

Monetizing a blog is a tricky thing. You don’t want to alienate your current readers, but you also don’t want to limit your potential out of fear people won’t like it. I talked to Nathan about this very issue last night and came to the conclusion that this is a fairly risk-free venture for me since my readership is so low as it is. I don’t want to lose any of you, but I’d also like to be able to spend some time with my kid before she graduates high school.

There are several possibilities I’m considering right now, from doing product reviews to adding more affiliate links, but one thing I know for certain is I will not stop writing about my life and my family. I’ll continue to be my dorky and candid self and write embarrassing posts about my social handicaps. The well will never run dry there. Trust me.

Anyway, I wanted to put this out there because you few, you happy few, you band of readers totally rock. You’re the reason I’ve kept it going for this long.

Thanks.

-H