Making a U-Turn

Coming to a realisation.

Photo by Jim Wilson on Unsplash

Well, I bet you didn’t think you’d be hearing from me here, did you? (Well, on this blog page anyway) That’s because I’m choosing to write my blog here again instead. I stopped writing here in late December as I didn’t agree with a choice Substack made and looked for another place to go. I decided to try Medium. I wrote one post over there called “The Unknown Citizen”. But as I was writing another post, it became clear that writing had started to become more of a chore, I got fed up after a while because I couldn't do half of the things I could do here when writing. I did consider putting my blog on my website, but I like neither the classic nor modern editor. From what I could find when evaluating my options, to get most good things I’d have to pay quite a bit if it was WordPress [which is where my website currently resides] and I had considered the self-hosting option too - while it may not seem expensive to some, I already pay enough every year for website hosting and assorted bits. That’s when I had considered coming back here. I had a nice domain [just my name, which is what I try to get on most platforms!] and I had grown my subscribers to over 180, which for me was the biggest platform I had cultivated for blogging. Lastly, it was a free place to blog and I liked the array of different tools it gave me for free.

I asked friends for advice on what they thought I should do. I had said I would stop using this and I was nervous that I wouldn’t be liked a whole lot if I went back on something I had seemed adamant about. [You can thank the people pleaser in me] In the comments, one thing stood out to me. One person commented that the best way to be active in it and call out the issues. So, that’s what I’ll say. No, I don’t agree with some of the decisions made by the leaders in charge of the platform, but this is my little corner of the internet and I’m trying to nurture it into something amazing. Be it a section for mother and baby home research, a mini-diary for me or talking about genealogy-related things, I just want to create something good.

I know some may disagree with my decision and I respect that, but I feel this is the best method and outlet to share stuff with you all. [That doesn’t involve relying on impressions and engagement on social media]

Ironically enough, I had started this Substack page this time last year! (I had started it on February 3rd, 2023.) So here’s hoping this blog will grow like it did last year! Bear with me, I will eventually get all my ducks in a row…