Guilt. Honesty. Starting over.

I don't post here often enough. I know that.

I'm lucky that I started my blog so long ago (has it really been 8 years?) that it was fairly "established" before a gazillion blogs populated the Interwebs, fighting for everyone's thinning online attention.

I'm luckier that fine folks like you still read it. And that this blog still draws a lot of traffic.

I have about 400 posts here and sometimes I discover one that makes me think: "I wrote THAT? Huh. I should read some of this to remember what I know." :)

I feel guilty that I don't write here more. That I'm not GIVING enough anymore. And I thank you for sticking with me.

Why don't I post more?

Probably much like you, my online time is simply more spread out than it was 8 years ago. I'm most frequently on my personal Facebook page keeping up with my kids and grandson, far-flung friends, and business people whom I've come to adore—even some of whom I've never met IRL (Joel Ungar) but would welcome in my home like family if the opportunity arose. 

And I'm on Twitter a bit, not nearly as much as I was before Google+ came on the scene.

Funny, I almost never use Google+ (hate it, actually) but its very emergence caused me to pare back from Twitter as I realized Facebook—where I have more real relationships—was my priority for online social. Have you made similar choices between platforms to try to control your life a bit?

So now, instead of short posts here to share cool articles and links, I mostly use Twitter and my Golden Practices Facebook page or Social Media Strategies Facebook page for that stuff.

As for the longer stuff, I divert some of my writing time of bloggy-sized articles to publications like CPA Practice Advisor magazine for whom I'm a regular columnist. 

If you'd like to see any of those articles, have a complete list with links to all my publications on this page, newest articles on the top (just under the books).

Oh. The. Guilt.

Do you have a blog? Or another content hub where you mean to share your brain more often than you end up doing? You are so not alone. 

My dear friend Debra Helwig has been living the guilt hardcore. For two years, five months, 14 days.

Can you make a comeback after that. Hellz yes. But probably not without a battle inside yourself. Just like Debra's.

I thought about starting to write again. But it had been SOOOOOOOO LONG. “Who would care anymore?” whispered my inner demons. I had started something good and let it die. I was embarrassed, so I pretended it didn’t matter anymore. But it still tied my guts in knots every time I thought about it.

I am just so thankful that she couldn't find her login until after she'd realized she shouldn't hit "delete" stealing her wisdom from us forever. Because of damn guilt.

Debra's Starting Over post is one of the best "I'm back" posts I've ever seen. Honesty is so precious. And rare. We thirst for it, don't we? 

Never too late.

If you've left your word garden somewhat untended, it's not too late. 

Just. Come. Back.

Give us what you can when you can. We all understand. Really. 

Comments

[JoelUngar]

Rich back at you. You're family to me too.

[Jim Caruso]

Michelle, glad you see you are back, as I had been checking here often to get your latest insights! I am not very big on FB personally, spending my time sporadically on Twitter and, more recently my own blog - which I emailed you about recently to try to get included on your Accounting Blog List! Hope you saw that and will get me up there soon! :)

[Debra Helwig]

Wow. All I can say is that your encouragement over that dead space in my writing life is a lot of what gave me the courage to come back. You never know when the seeds you plant will germinate, my friend. Keep sowing seeds! (And I adore the analogy of the word garden. LOVE.) You are brilliant! Can't wait to see your new thoughts here and elsewhere on the interwebz.

[Tom Jesson]

I think if it wasn't for facebook we would all have more blog posts. It's important to keep up with family, good for you!