Coming Clean: A Brief History of Blogs

Remember Xanga? Facebook Notes? Yeah, I wrote those. I had a Blogspot account under my maiden name in college. Who didn't?

The summer after I graduated with an English degree, my perspective about blogging shifted, perhaps along with most of the cyber world. The church in which I grew up let me write a blog for them. As it turns out, not many 50-year-olds read blogs in 2010. Nevertheless, the account was already set up and paid for, so after it flopped, I claimed it as my own and called it Tree of Grace. That site felt more like home than the spaces I'd had before, and  although its domain has been overtaken by a clothing line, I hold it dear.

A few years ago when teaching on the college level and newborn twins were the newest loves of my life,  I started a website called The Country Professor in hopes that it would shift gears to become academic and offer some of my tutoring services as well as a personal blog. I had hoped it might give me some extra income since we'd had an extra baby in one pregnancy. It did, but it also became a learning ground for me rather than for my students. I studied what worked and what didn't. Meanwhile, a mental breakdown convinced me that my site was too business-like for my lifestyle.

During my graduate degree studies before I started teaching, a mentor told me how many writers omit the first paragraph or stanza of each piece because it only worked as a sort of clearing of their throats before the better quality work could exist. All that typing in Xanga and such is lost in cyber world now, and let's agree to keep it there. It was purposeful. I cleared my throat; now my voice is ready. This first post is more of a clearing the air. I’m a new person — or becoming more of who I was all along—and this is a way to see that in writing. I’m so glad you’re here.