Over the last 2 years, I’ve worked tirelessly on creating a website that I could use to promote my writing. It started out small, but as I learned how to operate WordPress, it quickly grew into several pages. I now had an about page, a blog page, and over time, promoted a business (that didn’t last long). I did this all on my own, with no help from outside sources. If I did nothing else, at least I could be proud of that for myself.
But I didn’t stop there. I put in effort every single week to produce a blog post that was personal and told something important. Whether I was spilling out my feelings for maintaining a long-distance relationship, or giving communication tips, I put in a lot of effort. Slowly but luckily, I grew busier with work. My job at the postal service wasn’t too hardcore and provided me ample time after work to write. But then I moved to Houston, and lots of things changed.
For the first couple of months, I enjoyed sharing stories about my new, unemployed life. I got a cat, who is the most precious thing to me in my entire life. We helped out a stray kitten, which was an experience worth talking about. Over time, after finding a job, and then another, and then another and quitting one of the old ones, I grew too busy to write on a frequent basis. I work on average 50 hours a week, and that doesn’t permit me enough time to put the 100% effort I want into every single blog post. Hence, why I moved to making posts about video games, something I’m well-versed in. The effort would be less than I would hope, but at least I would be posting somewhat regularly.
In my little free time, I do try to write, but it often goes towards larger projects, like a short story collection I’m currently working on editing, and a novel that I started in July 2024, and has almost surpassed 200 pages. While I would love to dedicate hours of my time to research topics and present intricately written articles about various subjects, I just don’t have the time. And to write about my personal life would be very dull. It would look something like: “Today, I went to work, same as yesterday, same as tomorrow. I came home, ate dinner, watched a show, and went to bed.” *Mostly* no one would want to read that.
And so, with the new year coming up, I’ve made a tough decision both financially and ethically, to stop my subscription to the editing software for this website. I have decided to keep my domain of “natehoodwriting.com”, which was significantly cheaper. As someone working two jobs, I just don’t earn enough to pay over $100 in fees for this website. And with such limited time, I feel the majority of that payment would go to waste.
I thank everyone who has decided to come by and read some of my blogs, if not all. It means the world to me and gave me a reason to continue when I felt it to be hopeless. Perhaps once I have a project completed (short stories, novel), I will kick the subscription back up. But for now, it’s been fun while it’s lasted. I hope to see you guys soon.