10 Lessons from 10 Years of Blogging ✏️
Over the last decade I’ve written over 500 blog posts.
I’m time blind so I only just realized that I’ve been blogging for 10 years.
And I’ve been a resident of the internet for waaaaaaay longer than that.1
I really do see Substack as a return to blogging even if we’re calling it something different these days. My definition of blogging is writing and publishing long form content for an online audience. And that’s definitely what we’re doing here.
After years of playing around making websites I created my first blog to market my wedding photography business in 2013. I’ve been writing online in one form or another ever since.
Over the last decade I’ve written over 500 blog posts.
This week I’ve pulled together 10 lessons that blogging has taught me. You may find different lessons or different approaches to writing online and that’s bloody brilliant!
10 Lessons from 10 Years of Blogging
Blogging IS art. Ignore business advice and focus on developing your style.
Multipassionates grow slower than trendy niches, but your readers are more loyal.**
You don't have to shower people in free stuff. The writing itself is a generous offering of your time and creative energy.
Don't over deliver. It’s a trap.
Pay attention to your energy levels. Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD.
Some people won’t resonate with your work and that’s actually a good thing.
The more you let yourself be yourself (especially in the ways you feel like a weirdo) the easier it is to find kindred spirits.
Blogging is an ecosystem. It’s not a billboard. Focus on connecting with other humans. Read posts + write thoughtful comments = make friends.
Kindle your curiosity. Investigate the things that light you up. 🔥
I feel like #9 is really important as we build a culture here on Substack. I love that we can have ongoing discussions and build a web of interconnectivity here. It feels old school and counter cultural and I am here for it.
* No idea what Geocities was? Click here. The image alone will tell you everything you need to know. Want more? Here’s a quick history of blogging. I used Geocities, Blogger, Livejournal, Wordpress, and Tumblr over the years.
** This was my big takeaway from finally taking Hashtag Authentic. To be honest it felt like an expensive lesson to learn. If anything taking that course encouraged me to shift my energy away from Instagram right here to Substack.
Update: This part was previously for paid subs only, but as I am no longer using a paywall for my paid tier this post is now unlocked for everyone.
Buckle your seatbelts and hop into my time machine!
We’re taking a whistle stop tour through 10 years of blogging.
The Wedding Era (2013-2014)
I started blogging to promote my wedding photography business, Sarah Shotts Storytelling. I built this website from scratch doing HTML in Adobe Dreamweaver.
The “branding” was inspired by old books and storytelling. I wanted to appeal to quirky couples who wanted laid back wedding photos. (In retrospect I definitely wanted to appear to neurodivergent folks, but I didn’t know I was autistic at the time.)
My logo was a typewriter with two S’s entwined into heart. I made this in Adobe Illustrator based on a typewriter my mum gifted me for the wedding.
My bio. (Sorry the text can’t be clearer, but I think you get the vibe.)
I also had a second blog called The Nerdlyweds about my own life as a nerdy newlywed. It was on a free Wordpress site and I can’t find any images. I wrote about “unlocking achievements” like gardening, carving our first pumpkin, and recipes.
I named my main blog Tidbits, Tales & Tea. (I have a thing for alliteration which you will see.) I alternated wedding content with posts about the local area.
Love Letter to Adventure (2015-2017)
Pretty soon I realized I wasn’t blogging to potential wedding clients at all. I found myself writing about “everyday adventure” reimagining Julia Cameron’s concept of Artist Dates as micro adventures. I ended up with readers from all over the world many of whom I’m still connected with today.
I see so much of this through the frame of creativity now, but I still have that adventure spirit inside of me.
I created Bag End logo for my blog in 2015. The Treehouse was a free Facebook group where I hosted my first virtual camp session. (It was similar to this one.) I designed the black part of these logos in Adobe Illustrator, painted them with watercolors, and scanned them back in.
I also notice I use the same Gandalf quote here as I recently used to launch The Companionship. I completely forgot doing this, but sometimes the same things just keep bubbling up.
Shoutout to my friend Tamzen Bryant for taking these adventure headshots. Knowing what I do now I question the pith helmet (and whether it gives off colonial vibes), but at the time I just saw it as a symbol of adventure.
I “Quit” (2017)
During a period of intense burn out and depression I went nuclear and completely deleted my blog.
If you’re curious about why you can watch this video.
I archived all of my blog posts and shifted my energy to YouTube.
I don’t regret it and found this process essential to reconnecting to my creative voice. I keep my domain name and used a free version of Wordpress to build this landing page. You can see I was shifting identity from “blogger” to “artist”, but I still had a long way to go.
Even though I wasn’t “blogging” anymore… I kind of was. I was just doing it on Patreon. Every month I wrote about the things that were inspiring me. I called this series Of Shoes & Ships & Sealing Wax which I still use as a section of my Down the Rabbit Hole posts.
I also made a lot of printables and YouTube videos during this time.
Kindle Curiosity (2018-2019)
I started a podcast called Kindle Curiosity in 2018. (It is archived here.) When I set up the podcast website I imported some old blog posts and found myself blogging again.
The Artist Era (2020-2022)
Between 2013-2020 almost everything I created was with the internet in mind.
After Davy was born I felt a lot of clarity in what I wanted to make. And it didn’t involve hours and hours of podcast editing.
I felt drawn to making visual art outside the lens of the internet.
What would I make if I didn’t create for the Instagram square?
This reframe changed my creative direction in a huge way.
I started a body of work called This is My Brain on Motherhood. I imagined a pop up art exhibition (something I am still working toward) and made work for that context. In the end, I found I could share that work in an Instagram square, but the thought experiment had already turned my process inside out.
In 2022 I redesigned my website bringing in a typewriter font which felt very full circle. Here I am as me. I’m making art about my lived experience.
The Substack Era (2023)
Last week I changed the “Blog” on my website to point to Substack. I do consider this my blog. Maybe it makes me an old fogey, but I get all the cozy nostalgic vibes.
What’s your blogging story?
How long have you used the internet?
Let’s chat.
P.S. This tour was made possible by The Wayback Machine via Internet Archive.
Before I started blogging I kept a Tumblr called Inquisitive Wanderer. It was a gateway to blogging. I don’t consider it a blog really because I didn’t write it for an audience. I wrote it for me and for my mum.
Mindblown and oh my I just want to read all the cute stuff!! Coming back for a re read later!! 🤓