Oh Valentine’s Day. It’s ironic that that’s the day when I began this blog. 5 years ago today. How things change. How we all grow. For better or worse. Sometimes a little of both better and worse.
Many people start blogs. I’m not original in that. Some start blogs to make money. Some start blogs as a personal creative outlet. Some start blogs because they feel compelled to write and feel that they can’t help but do anything but.
Many blogs start off strong…or they start off weak…but they eventually fail. Forgotten by the wayside as their owner moves on to other things.
But yet, I’m still here. I’ve written numerous times over the years in confusion over the direction of this blog. I’ve gone strong into the marriage niche route – and then I pulled back some. I’ve written long, rambling, personal blog posts – and then I’ve done more salesy posts in hopes of making money. I’ve talked about family life in the entertainment industry – and then I’ve kept much of that side of my life quiet. I started off this blog defining myself as a ‘screenwriter’s WIFE’, finding my personal value largely in terms of my relationship to my husband – and I’ve grown in my own personal confidence & writing skills to the point where I’ve considered changing my blog name to something more personally validating (but I think I’m going to keep The Screenwriter’s Wife as it will always remains part of my story).
And yet. I’m still here.
I might always be here.
I feel compelled to be here. In this blog space. A voice in the sea of voices. I don’t know exactly where my blog will go in the next 5 years, but I’m pretty sure I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me. ?
As always happens with anniversaries, I’m feeling reflective. So let’s reflect. Since starting The Screenwriter’s Blog on February 14, 2014:
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I’ve gone from a mom of 1 to a mom of 3.
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I’ve gone from a being fulltime online Algebra 1 teaching job to being a stay-at-home/work-at-home mother.
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We’ve moved from a 700sq. ft. house to a 1400sg ft. home w/a huge yard.
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My husband,
KPKyle has gone from in-between-jobs-and-unsure-what-to-do-with-the-future to both re-establishing himself on a slightly different entertainment-related career path AND continuing to write scripts and pursue his dreams. -
Kyle and I wrote a script together, and *I* began writing my own scripts.
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Our marriage went from unsteady and often devolving into emotional fights that lasted for days, to more secure and better able to regulate our emotions and communicate more effectively so that our fights don’t last as long (we still have them of course. That’s just part of marriage. ?).
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I’ve become more confident in my own skin and of my own idiosyncrasies and my often stuck-in-the-middle perspectives.
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I’ve pondered social issues a lot. I’ve both become more open-minded in some of my beliefs – and more secure in defending some of my others.
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I’ve pondered spiritual issues a lot. I’ve seriously considered becoming more religious as a family – and I’ve also seriously grappled with the universality of religious beliefs and how I fit into the realm of spirituality.
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I’ve pondered current events a lot. I’ve vicariously immersed myself in other people’s stories I’ve read from afar. I’ve pondered life and death and disease and tragedy and success and failure and influence and insignificance.
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I’ve pondered the culture of marriage and family and how they benefit our society and why supporting them is good for humanity as a whole. I’ve seen friends go through difficult times in their marriages, some of which survived and some of which didn’t, with each of their relationships weighing heavily on and affecting my own marriage.
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I’ve lost good friends. I’ve gained good friends.
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I’ve discovered and gotten to work with cool new products and companies.
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I made some money with this blog.
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I’ve made some connections with this blog.
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It probably sounds incredibly cheesy to say, especially considering that I don’t talk about this blog to others in real life very often, but in many ways – I’ve found myself through this blog.
And so, I’ll probably keep on keeping on and keep blogging.
Also, side note. I’ve decided that it’s time to stop using the initials KP when referring to my husband. I originally did so because when I first started this blog there was a lot more insecurity on both of our parts. But since then we’ve shared a lot about ourselves here. We’ve shared a lot about our marriage. Good and bad. I’m not going to to spend the time going back and changing all my older blog posts, but from here on out, I’ll just go ahead and say it: My husband’s name is not KP. My husband’s name is Kyle. ☺
Five years of blogging. Here’s to five years more!
