My Blogging Life
When I imagined retirement, I pictured endless hours of leisure, with plenty of time to dedicate to blogging. Well, it turns out I was a bit wrong about that. While I do have more time now, it’s not the vast, uninterrupted stretches I once expected. I used to laugh when friends said they were busier in retirement than ever, but now I see exactly what they meant.
Retirement has given me the freedom to shape my days around everything I love - catching up with friends, staying active, reading, genealogy, gardening, and yes, blogging. My life has become a series of enjoyable moments, each one dedicated to a different passion.
Last weekend, I focused on planning future blog posts, to make the process smoother, and I also dedicated a good amount of time to thinking about upcoming changes.
With four separate blogs on my plate, I realize I might be overdoing it a bit. I know I could consolidate them into one website, but there’s something about keeping them separate that just seems to fit with how my mind works.
Looking ahead, I’m planning to publish a monthly ‘One Month of Blogging’ post to keep all the links in one place. It might seem like a roundabout approach, but it works for me, and that’s what matters!
About My Blogs
Tracking Down The Family, my family history and genealogy blog, began its life in September 2011 on Wordpress. It's hard to believe that what started as a personal project, has grown and evolved over the past 13 years. What began as a simple way to document and share my family stories, has become a vital part of ensuring that they live on long after I'm gone.
Over the years, this blog has connected me with cousins from around the world. These connections have led to incredible collaborations and meaningful relationships as we pieced together the puzzle of our shared history.
And now, I’m very excited to announce the next chapter. A few days ago, Tracking Down The Family was launched here on Substack. Since I have been here, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how welcoming the platform is and how relatively simple it is to use. I was surprised and very happy to discover a thriving genealogy community here, which makes it feel like the perfect place for uncovering and preserving my precious family stories.
I am a very keen reader, and started Best Bookish Blog in 2018, to write about and discuss all things bookish, to review books, and also track the books that I have read. Through the blog I have made connections with readers, book bloggers and writers from all around the world. I value these connections and the book recommendations they give.
Haverfordwest History is the blog for my One Place Study, where I research the history, culture, and daily lives of the people who have lived in this town. My 2x great-grandparents were born there and lived in Haverfordwest until they left to settle in Australia in1840.
This post is linked to the Wednesday Words & Whimsy linkup hosted by Min from Write of the Middle. I’m more than happy to be on Min’s Team - #TeamWWWhimsy
Also linking to Natalie's Weekend Coffee Share
Oh wow! Four blogs can definitely keep you busy through retirement. I am in the process of downsizing and that's one major step towards doing a sabbatical. I intend to do it at the end of the academic year. The hard part is the planning and talking about it to people. Though I am nowhere near retirement age, something tells me I should do a sabbatical and I've been saving and planning really hard. Others imagine that my sabbatical life would be me vacationing for an entire year. Thankfully, I do have a tiny group of people who are doing career breaks and I can turn to them. They definitely seem just as busy when they were working.
Hi Jennifer, It's great that you maintain four blogs and they bring you joy. The freedom in retirement can't be beat and there's never enough time when one has many interests and curiosity. Thank you for your weekend coffee share.