Passing the Torch

Day 309

We are nearing the end of our year of buying nothing new.   We have about two months left, the proverbial “home-stretch”.  Tired clichés aside—WE’RE ALMOST DONE.   In a couple of months, I’ll be able to say I have finished talking about this chapter of my family’s story.  And, I don’t think I will write about it anymore.*  I don’t want to be the Brett Favre of the year-long project.  I want to finish in my prime, injury free, if you will.

I have said enough.

But, have you ever stumbled onto a blog that hasn’t been updated for a long period?   I find it sort of sad, like a decaying Olympic Venue or a nearly empty strip mall with only a Chinese Buffet, and a We Buy Gold store.  The once vibrant and cared for, now abandoned.  I recently read a blog post that likened year-long projects to one trick ponies.  I can’t remember who it was, but I do remember narrowing my eyes and taking a defiant stance over my keyboard.  Why I oughta…

Do You Have a Simple Year in you?

I have an idea.  I’ve decided to try to find someone else to take over this blog.  Yes, never before attempted without a net, THE BLOG HANDOFF!  At the end of April, I’d like to pass this blog to someone who can tell the next chapter in this story, someone who has their own idea for a Simple Year project.  Their project doesn’t have to be the same as ours, it just has to be some sort of attempt at simplicity.

What I Can Offer

I started writing this blog to tell our story, give me a creative outlet and keep me honest.  I figured at the end of the year, I could print out all of the posts, staple them together and keep them for my children.  For the first several months, my family and a few of my friends kept up with our story.

Then Joshua Becker at Becoming Minimalist mentioned The Simple Year in this post. (Thank you by the way) and then Bill Vogrin wrote this article in our local paper, and all of the sudden people that I don’t even know started reading about our daily trials and tribulations.

So far, I have had over 130,000 page views and have somewhere between 550-600 subscribers (email and RSS feeds).  While those numbers aren’t going to be crashing any servers, I think they are a respectable start for a blog that is less than a year old.

The person who takes over this blog (if anyone wants to) will have the unique opportunity to start with an audience and hopefully continue to grow this message over the course of their tenure.  You may lose a few of my family members, but hopefully you can add your own.

Here is What I Know Now, that I didn’t Know Then

Most successful, and by successful I mean read by people other than the author’s Facebook friends, blogs are put out there by people who do it for a living (or aspire to do it for a living).  In other words, to grow an audience, it takes quite a bit of work.  It can be a full time job, optimizing your search engine, networking with like-minded websites etc… Tasks I didn’t know existed ten months ago.   But I think that there are many people out there that might have great stories to tell that aren’t “pros” in the online business.  So maybe this blog can become a platform for them, people like me, the average Joes or Josephines.

So, if you are interested at all here are the details, If you are not interested, but think it sounds like a good idea, please share with your friends, you can use those nifty Twitter and Facebook buttons below.  You never know who might be a perfect fit.

 

Blog, not Dog

Blog, not Dog

 

*Although, I suppose it is worth mentioning that we hope to continue this lifestyle, or at least a version of it, indefinitely.  The truth is after the initial adjustment, our lives haven’t been worse, just slightly different. Although my youngest seems to hold a grudge that she doesn’t own a Furby, but whatever.  I’m sure I’ll have some more to say about this in the next couple of months.