I started a blog on Blogger in high school. At the end of high school I swapped over to livejournal after accounts there were open for anyone to register (as opposed to register by invite only).
This year marks my 10 year anniversary of livejournal blogging. In those ten years the face of blogging has dramatically changed. Now bloggers promote lifestyles and create content and generate money on their writing. Back in the day I turned to journaling online as a great creative exercise and stress release. I made a couple online friends via livejournal. Blogging was not a way to make money though, and now that it’s shifted I feel a bit lost as part of an earlier generation of bloggers.
Don’t get me wrong, I read several blogs religiously and really enjoy the great photos, stories, projects, and recipes that bloggers share. It’s just a different culture. Maybe blogging used to be like a zine, but now it’s like a glossy magazine?
Blogging used to be a primarily anonymous art form. Nowadays the early stranger danger days of the internet have been replaced by the openness and greater honesty brought about (I think) by Facebook. Before Facebook I was a username, but now I am my own name. I’m not sure if the use of real names increases authenticity or just encourages individuals to more strongly brand themselves, but it has led me to a crossroads.
I’ve been revamping my online presence recently by cutting back on Facebook posting, hiding my old Twitter account, turning my old livejournal entries private, and creating a reworked online portfolio website. Though I’m not sure what I want to do with this blog.
I’d partially like to go back to the old days of blogging, when I’d write about momentary bouts of depression, good days, and off-the-top-of-my-head thoughts. But I’d also like to publicly claim this blog as my own, and to do that I feel it’d be necessary to more carefully curate the content that makes its way on here.
I think it’s time to say goodbye to purely stream of consciousness blogging/laying down bare words of vunerability, and time to say hello to a professional front and a curtains-open-only-when-appropriate blog. This doesn’t mean that my blogging will be any less authentic than it was in the past. Maybe it’ll even mean my posts will increase their depth of focus and thoughtfulness!
At any rate, it’s time to get back into the blogging game, and I think with this decision I can finally feel less frozen on this blog. Here’s to starting again, even in a new culture (of sorts)!
Illuminated Past 
I find it difficult to blog now adays. I thought I may be able to blog life events and such. Yes my stress relief. I also have a site that I wanted to make money on. With that site blogging may not be the answer. I enjoyed the article. It seems someone was thinking the same thing as myself.
I’ve never tried to make money from a blog, but from what I can tell as an outsider, the most successful blogs start with a writer who has a passion for their topic and consistently posts thoughtful entries without thought of financial gain. The money comes later after the blog builds a following and has a solid reputation. It’s probably a lot tougher to approach blogging from a financial standpoint at the outset. If blogging is your stress relief, hang in there and keep at it – it might not make you money, but its free therapy at least! 🙂