Compost Studios

September always energizes me, encourages me to take stock of where I am and look ahead and set goals.

Professionally, I'll be working with a marketing group to build and manage an online community for a client and hopefully breaking new ground on some other projects. Personally, I'm searching for an organization to volunteer with. Right now I'm thinking about working with groups promoting literacy. Artistically, I'll be submitting work for an exhibit in October and, if time and finances allow, seeing if I can take private lessons from an established artist who works in mixed media. At home, I will be doing what I always do--keeping the household running smoothly and being present for the people I love most in the world.

One area that I'm uncertain about is Compost Studios. What is its future?

I began this blog five years ago, when blogging itself was just beginning to catch on. I was living as an expat in Europe and couldn't get a work permit. I saw blogging as a way to continue writing during my hiatus from professional work. It challenged me creatively, kept my writing skills sharp, and provided a way to share my experiences as I navigated different cultures and countries. It gave friends and family at home a simple way to check in on my life, and it introduced me to a wide range of people that I would never have encountered otherwise, some who have become my very closest friends. I loved writing and reading blogs and interacting with commenters. It opened up a whole new world to me.

In the beginning, my blog was personal, often funny, sometimes emotionally raw. It had an ongoing story line and a strong following. Sadly, after three years, I began to regret telling my story. There were a few personal attacks, public and private, and I began to feel overexposed and uncomfortable with my blog format. My expat years were drawing to a close and I decided it was time for a change.

As I headed back to America, I renamed the site and took the blog in a whole new direction. I buried my archives and began posting about my newly discovered passion for art journaling. I posted poetry (both mine and others'), dabbled in fiction from time to time, shared photos, and only occasionally wrote about my family or my day-to-day life. The blog became a series of snapshots capturing moments and thoughts.  The story was gone, the narrative moved behind the scenes, but the truth of my life was present.

The new format gave me a way to communicate ideas in art that I hadn't been able to write about, but it also changed my online voice and presence. Compost Studios was more serious than its predecessor, seldom wry or funny. It simultaneously became more personal and less personal as I experimented with different forms of expression.

Two years later, I feel I'm at a turning point again. Facebook and Twitter have siphoned attention and social interaction away from personal blogs. Both bloggers and readers are pulled in a lot of directions on the Web, and I think personal blogs have far less impact now than they once did. The social media market is saturated, and at this point it seems everyone has staked their claim, told their stories, made their confessions, defined their lives.

I have written thousands of posts over five years. These days I delete more than I share. There are topics I feel are off-limits for a lot of reasons, and other subject that I feel I've covered ad nauseum. I bore myself and worry that I'm boring you all too. There are things I've considered writing about, but this isn't the forum.

In the last few months, I've been pondering what to do. Shut Compst Studios down or reinvent it?

Sometimes I think about starting over anonymously somewhere else and giving voice to all the things I can't say as V-Grrrl.

Sometimes I think about jumping into fiction and creating a blog that is nothing but character stories and small vignettes.

Sometimes I think about making it all art.

Or in true compost style, just letting things sit for a while and wait and see what regenerates.

What do you think? Is personal blogging relevant anymore? What makes a personal blog interesting and engaging?