Go Fourth

A History of My Life, in Haircuts BlogHer 2015: Just Stop

Go Fourth

You know how it goes when you’ve been in a relationship for a long time. You get a little sloppy. Maybe you start taking things for granted. You can’t keep throwing ticker tape parades for every little thing your beloved does.

Which is how the fourth anniversary of writing Midlife Mixtape came and went back in June with nary a card, a long stemmed rose, and definitely not a dinner out. It only even occurred to me because I leave tomorrow for BlogHer, and it was in preparation for my first BlogHer back in 2011 that I finally decided to have, you know, a plan for my blog. (Points to the first person who remembers the name of my blog prior to its rechristening as Midlife Mixtape.) (Extra points if you remember the name that was the precursor to that and also, possibly, the Worst Blog Name in the World.)

At any rate, we’ve been together four years now, Midlife Mixtape and I, and I’ll admit that forgetting the anniversary was probably not the first sign that things may have gotten a little too comfortable between us lately. If you are an email subscriber (and if you’re not, please sign up using the box on the right hand toolbar! And then skip the rest of this paragraph) and mistakenly received last week’s hairstyle post not once but twice, because I sometimes confuse Tuesdays with Wednesdays, you know what I mean. Lately there have been some WordPress hiccups that render the blog as a white screen. I’m as big a fan of minimalism as the next person, and I love surprise parties, but when you write a new post, it’s nice to show people the new post, rather than a scene of a whiteout. My beloved web designer has taken a full time job (the NERVE) so finding the right person to step into her shoes and stabilize the blog is time consuming. Enjoy the blizzard conditions until I do!

On the other hand, routine can be comforting, and as I learned reading “The Sweet Spot” by my friend Christine Carter, there’s a brain benefit to developing habits: the more you routinize your life, the more your brain is freed up to ponder harder questions. After four years I know that once a month there’s a book review, a concert review, and a Still in Rotation guest post, and that only leaves me 5 more days on which to creatively exploit my personal flaws for your reading pleasure.

Still, I know from being married for two decades that making an effort is better than not making an effort. That’s why I head back to BlogHer tomorrow, for the shot in the arm that being with 3,000 of my closest blogging friends (and this year, my sister who is coming along for the ride) provides. On Friday, I’m moderating a panel of luminaries talking about the topic of Personal Brands, and if the fact that since 2011 I’ve moved from being a nervous newbie blogger to someone who will strap on a lavalier mic in front of the BlogHer audience and say things like, “What about personas?” isn’t proof of the wondrous ways in which blogging has enriched my life, then I don’t know what is. I have made so many wonderful friends in the blogging world in the past four years. I’m deeply grateful to the readers whose support, feedback, and enthusiasm have propelled me along the way. I’m glad I have an excuse to go to concerts and obsessively catalog the behavior of the crowd around me, since I was doing it anyway.

What I’m saying is, I’m still in love with blogging. You know what? I’m gonna get Midlife Mixtape something nice at BlogHer, like an upgraded domain plan or something.

It’s the least I can do for the old gal.

Who’s playing the closing party at BlogHer this year? Do a little East Coast Swing while you work it out.