I have been blogging within several decades. Blogging is dead blah blah blah…
Before “blogging” blogging, there was a site called CollegeClub (RIP) where I moderated an LGBT interest group – maybe this was more community management than actual blogging but we didn’t have a word for that yet and its online format was the precept for what would shape my identity in writing online. I would eventually build a personal site on Geocities, writing about my life. Then Blogger became a thing and enter Mel-o-Dramatics, which apparently still exists within Blogger’s cyberworld (and is apparently wiped aside from one redirect post?). There was a short-lived Dink Blog that I started with my boyfriend-now-husband after we moved in together. 30-something Therapy, when I was having an age identity crisis… which became Ultra Fun: 30-something Miles during my next identity search. And my legacy: Life, Liberty & Pursuit of Your Boyfriend. The blog that I adored and subsequently blew up (and allowed the URL ownership to lapse) after ten+ years of unabashedly putting myself out there. I turned that online presence into a small web copywriting and blogging business which served me well… until it didn’t.
Recently, I had a group chat within a Patreon community that I’m a part of – moderated by the ever-awesome Nicole Antoinette (you should be listening to her podcast!). She asked an interesting question about where/who we were a decade ago, anticipating the new year/decade. Timehop also likes to remind me of all my prior misgivings from Pre-husband/boyfriend/AB. But that pre-AB era was 2008. In 2009 though, I was blogging and my identity was firmly implanted as a blogger. I was blogging before blogging was cool and now I’m blogging because blogging is no longer cool. I am both an early adopter and a late bloomer while also being a contrarian.
It’s 2019 – and while not as often as I would like… because imposter syndrome – I am still blogging. Look, I cannot peak at age 28. And this site will very likely morph into something different this year. I also might start blogging about my thesis research project on my professional site (which is woefully under-used).
*Part I is lost to the Great Zip Drive Death of 2001
Extra Credit:
You killed the (old) Internet! {via Buzzfeed}
What happened to CollegeClub.com? (via Erich Stauffer}