The Blank Page: Around The Bonfire

I don’t know about you, but there have been many times during my stint as a blogger that an obligation to guest post has come right in the middle of a firestorm.

That’s kind of what happened to my guest poster today. Previously keeping up two very successful blogs, things are changing in her life. So I welcome ChiMomWriter to the bonfire.

When Gigi mentioned the Around the Bonfire series, I was excited to be included. With time getting away from me in the past few months and less time tweeting hashtags, checking in on Facebook blog support groups and craving time to write, this time with girlfriends was a much-needed addition.

And then, every piece of my universe shifted. I found myself in the middle of a divorce, accepting a job after four years at home with my kids and shuttering a blog I’d spent eighteen months working so hard to create.

The changes in my world made me question what role throwing intimate pieces of my soul onto the Internet really has in my life now.

There’s more at stake as we – both my husband and me, as well as our families and friends – process and grieve the end of a marriage. There is a heightened awareness of the permanence of the Internet and what my children can later read.

I questioned my friendships, because really, we’re just a bunch of strangers behind screens on the Internet.

Luckily for me, I had a blogging conference on my calendar, giving me a chance to get out of my head and onto an airplane.

I spent three days rooming with two dear friends who, before last year’s BlogHer conference, had been complete strangers to me. I reconnected with friends. I met people building incredible projects and found new, like-minded peers.

I was reminded how tangible and real the online relationships are that I’ve spent so much time building, and the importance they have in my life.

I did ultimately still decide to close down my blog (two, in fact). But instead of tossing the whole Internet platform out of the window, I recognize that with each new chapter starting, we have to adapt and streamline.

Although it’s difficult to start over in so many areas, both online and off, there are opportunities with the blank page. I don’t plan to leave the bonfire just yet.

I wish her all the best as she figures out how to fill in that newly-blank page, and I hope you do, too. You can keep up with her as she continues to write at one of my favorite sites, Just.Be.Enough.

ChiMomWriter is currently a blogger without a blog. Her previous sites were It Builds Character and Plight of the Suburbanite. You can currently find her as a contributor at Just Be Enough and on Twitter, and she hopes to one day get around to building the content at her central hub, ChiMomWriter.com.

Tagged as: around the bonfire