Saying good-bye to blogging

I have not been happy with my blog posts and writing for a while.  I thought it was because I was disconnected with the title of my blog (hence why I’ve switched blogs twice).  But as I have really thought in depth about how to make my blog better in 2013 I’ve realized that isn’t the route I should take.  Instead I should say farewell to blogging.

Why?

My first reason is time.  I have spent the last few months really narrowing down what I spend my time on in order to devote the time I need to my family.  But even as we’re paring down we are extremely busy.  Nate works hard at his job putting in 50+ hours a week.  Plus he is in a Professional MBA Program which of course requires him going to classes and doing gobs of homework.  I’m just about to become busier with my new job as the program director of a great little nonprofit.  Plus my two girls keep me on my toes constantly.  Not to mention managing all of Skylynn’s therapies (which is like a part time job I swear).  On top of all that is maintaining our house, having time to spend together just Nate & I, and doing fun things as a family.  My time is just so maxed out I don’t have time to dedicate to blogging.

My second reason is about my audience.  My blog has grown to be read by those in the autism community; those in the disability community in general; average everyday people; and even legislators; lobbyists; and the like.  With such a diverse crowd reading my blog I have started attempting to write my post to keep EVERYONE happy.  This is just impossible and has led to me writing blog post without any real substance.  But I see no way around this.  I can have one on one conversations about these same topics with all of these different people and disagree respectfully, or we can enlighten each other on our own diverse opinions.  But I can’t do that on a blog.  And I have too much too loose if I irritate the wrong person.  It could affect therapy for my daughter, my ability to help rally a large scale grassroots movement, or even affect funding that the nonprofit I am managing receives.  I take all of these possibilities very seriously.

My third reason is there are LOTS of better autism blogs out there.  In my heyday I think I had an interesting opinion to add to the list of autism blogs.  But I don’t believe I am adding much to the conversation anymore due to how much I censor what I write.

The last reason is I feel it is just generally time for me to move on.  I enjoyed blogging while I was at my peak.  But that time has come and past and it’s time for me to say good-bye to blogging.

So big thank you to all of those who have followed my blog, and given me loads of encouragement.  I love the autism community.  You are like part of my family.  I’m proud to be part of you.  I will leave my blog parked at Autism-Island.com... where it belongs.

Again thank you for reading - and farewell!