Friends, we’ve come to a fork in the road for Simply Stephanie Blog. Our site name expires on July 21 and we can either choose to renew it or let it go free to the universe…aka to one of the many Simply Stephanie blogs that now exist.
Until recently, I was leaning towards renewing it. The fee is nominal, and the ability to freely write when my brain feels like it (which is infrequently of late) would still be a possibility. I do love being able to share things with you like life events, recipes I love, or just thoughts to ponder.
A writer friend of mine told me they think my life is interesting, which I thought was fascinating seeing as the majority of time right now I’m toggling between work, classes and wedding planning. If anybody else out there enjoys reading the tales of Stephanie, thank you for giving me an ego boost.
The dark side of SSBlog though has been unfortunately the determining factor in my decision to part ways with writing. I suppose putting oneself onto the web and sharing all that I have has naturally exposed me to the risks that can come with the nature of the game. Seeing people searching for my address, other personal information, and then having certain individuals follow my blog after stealing my personal pictures and using them in inappropriate ways (you know who you are) is more than what I bargained for. Granted the VAST majority of you are amazing, supportive followers that have helped me to grow SSBlog to what it is and have encouraged me to accomplish writing goals that I had set like this year’s paid travel writing adventure. For those memories I am and will remain incredibly grateful.
I will leave Simply Stephanie Blog up for recipes, past stories, and perhaps an occasional toned-down check in, but will no longer be writing on it on a regular basis- at least for now. Should I embark on another blogging adventure, I will take the lessons learned from SSBlog and start a more private version of this blog under a pen name and without personal information. My strongest suggestion for other bloggers, old and new, is to really be very careful with what they share with the world on the web. One of my weaknesses is liking to assume that everyone on Earth is a wonderful, honest, and innocent person with 100% good intentions. Unfortunately it’s just not the case.
In the meantime thanks for the support, and cheers to all our future endeavors!
Until we meet again,
Stephanie
