And it happened four days ago!
I was also a week before realizing I didn’t blog-celebrate Ruthie turning six months old, so forgetting my blogiversary should come as no surprise.
But here we are, a full year into it. I’ll be completely honest, I had no idea if I would follow through with writing this blog. Getting started, feeling really jazzed about the whole idea, then getting that Pinterest bump early on – perhaps a little too much instant gratification – well, it bore all the signs of a hobby that I would soon lose interest in.
Except I really enjoyed doing it. And I still do.
I made it through holidays and long vacations, a move, the daily grind and even the birth of our second child and a car driving into our house, and still I blogged. While I run ads on here, I make little more than the occasional beer money from them. Maybe one day that will change. Maybe not. In the meantime, I think I’ll keep at it regardless.
The Book of Jimmy is a constant evolution at this point and my emphasis changes regularly. Some posts have developed into series, while others didn’t quite fit what I’m trying to do here.
Things will continue to subtly change on the blog, but I have two parameters that dictate what I decide to post:
1) The topics must be about “domestic” life. That’s parenting, cooking, DIY, renovating and building and parenting some more. I write this blog, first and foremost, as a stay-at-home-dad. Everything revolves around and stems from that subject. I talk about city-living here quite a bit because it is where my parenting takes place, and is inseparable from my day-to-day. I also talk about drinking quite a bit for much the same reason. I started this blog to write about this somewhat specific slice of life, and I’d like to keep it that way.
2) The posts will only come from my voice and my perspective. Natalie noticed early on in reading the blog that we remember certain events…differently than one another. She hasn’t called me out on it in the comments section yet (though after reading my New Years Dog post she admitted that if I hadn’t fully copped to being a total punk in that situation she was going to speak up for the first time – luckily I was being honest with everyone about it). The point is, while I write about many experiences that Natalie and I share, even she (my own wife, the mother of my children) has a different perspective as to the details and feelings of the stories than I do (shocking, right?). I can’t write someone else’s version of life. I try to stay honest as to my perspective, and I try to stay true to my voice in telling it.
I feel like I owe it to myself and the many people who take time out of their day to read this blog to stick to those two guidelines. Otherwise, I have no idea what might grab my focus in the coming year or years. There will be more parenting. There will be more cooking. There will be more renovation projects. Always with the renovating…
Since I returned from our winter break two weeks ago, I’ve tried to work on being consistent and predictable when it comes to how often I post and when I post. Evidently that is a pretty important thing if you want to grow a readership. For two weeks now, I’ve posted on Mondays around lunch, Wednesday mornings and Friday mornings. I won’t always be able to do that, I may occasionally do more and sometimes less, but it’s worked well so far, and it has helped me manage my expectations as to the amount I need to stayed focused and committed to the blog.
I’ve also put a bigger emphasis and care on the writing and story-telling aspect of this blog. I’ve realized that I get the most gratification out of doing that part of it – it feels the most right out of everything I do here – and it seems to resonate with my readers more than anything else. I plan to keep that up. My attempt at maintaining something resembling a “schedule” as to when I post actually helps in this regard. I usually write most of my morning posts the night before, over a drink or two, then prior to posting, the next morning I add photos and, now clear-headed, edit, re-write and ultimately shape the final post before hitting the “publish” button. The rest of the time I try to actually live my life (and maybe do something worth writing about).
This blog is now a one-year-old. My daughter Ruthie is six months old, my son Loren is two years and three months old, Natalie and I both turn 30 this year. If it weren’t for ages I don’t know how we’d keep track of life.
Again, thanks for stopping by. I hope this clarifies this blog’s overall direction for you a little bit, and I hope you keep coming back.
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In case you missed it:
Monday I got back to working on our bedroom build-out, and was amazed at just how quickly this new round of progress is taking shape.
Wednesday I talked about getting out of the house, no matter the odds or tantrums, and gave a report from our trip to the not-exactly-kid-friendly-but-great-and-somehow-entertaining-for-a-toddler Hirshhorn Museum.
Also on Wednesday, as a bonus post, I linked up to my first big guest post which I contributed to SlowMama.com, where I talked about learning to slow down during even the hectic days.
Happy Weekend!
