I used to author blogs. A lot of blogs. Several times a day I would research, write, and then post articles on a range of subjects as diverse as mental health, hardware, software, and security, for a group of companies based in New York. ‘Thought Leadership’ in action. I would push SEO optimised content out on schedule across all available channels, and measure the metrics so I could report back to those I was writing for. Fun stuff, for the most part. Highly challenging and highly rewarding in equal measure.
That changed a couple or three years ago, for a variety of reasons I won’t bore you with here. My productivity dropped. Off the map. I have redirected myself into other channels. Simply, been too busy with other challenges: I run a host of training platforms, manage servers and Sharepoint document repositories, and keep things ticking over for a dozen web sites with thousands of user accounts. Busy times. Since that change of pace I write blogs infrequently.
Blogging has become a personal activity rather than a commercial one, and almost dried up completely. In many ways I was and am glad of the respite. I have nobody to answer to. No deliverables to meet. No stats to analyze. No metrics to report. The constantly hungry beast that is corporate social media no longer needs to be fed. Well, at least, not by me. And I can use the Oxford comma to my heart’s content which gives me more joy than you can imagine. Neither the AP nor Chicago Style Guides now dictate my output. Which means I am free to spell optimise the way the English language intended it, with an ‘s’, and ignore that red underline with a smile.
I took a sabbatical. And it was fun.
I’m now feeling the need to express myself again, this time purely for myself. I have opinions, insights, knowledge and fun things running around my head, and a new-found hankering to share them.
Perhaps it’s the warmer weather. Perhaps it’s Spring Fever. Perhaps I just want to do something. Whatever combination of reasons are responsible, they have conspired and combined to drive me to the point of finally picking up paper and pen (monitor and keyboard?) again to write blogs.
So here I am.
Time to write. The void shall be filled. Onward.