This is a big milestone for me. This is my 100th post on The Retiring Sort.
In the ten months since I started this blog I’ve learned a lot about blogging. I really knew almost nothing before that. Before I started doing this, I had followed a couple of individual blogs written by friends, or that I’d found web surfing. But I didn’t understand about the blogging community.
I had no idea how many travel sites or photography sites there were. I didn’t know about writing or photo challenges or contests, or what kinds of assistance hosting services like WordPress and Google offer. I didn’t understand about awards and other recognition for blogsites.
What I did know was that I was about to be retired, and I wanted something to help me stay on track with some of my goals, and a place to record what I learned as my beloved and I planned for the next stage of our life. My daughter suggested I start a blog.
Armed with a blog title and a pile of projects to work on and write about, I did a little online research. I chose WordPress.com as my host, picked a graphics theme, and jumped in. The first few weeks I spent a lot of time looking at other blogs and reading blogging tips and technical info.
I finally started writing about my retirement and how I felt about it. I really wasn’t expecting anyone but a few friends to look at what I was saying, and for the first month or two, nobody did. Then two things happened that got me both on track and off.
The first is that I decided to try a photo challenge. The second was that my mom became ill, and I began spending a lot of time with her and my sister.
The photo challenge brought me a lot of hits. I got comments, I got a few followers, and I got hooked. Challenges and looking at other bloggers’ responses really began eating into my time. Retirement research took a back seat. My mom’s care also took my focus away from my other retirement projects, so I stopped working on and writing about those for a while altogether.
My blog became mostly photo and writing challenges, with a few travelogues and other items, usually centered around occasions, sprinkled in. In other words, I lost my original focus, but I met the blogosphere. We take the good with the bad.
Now, I’ve written 100 posts, and I’m at a crossroads. My mom passed away a few months ago, and although I’ll be helping my sister with a few related things through next Spring, I need to get busy again on some of my original retirement projects.
I need to finish up some research to help my husband determine when he will retire. I need to do more work on my house so we can sell it. I need to research a variety of potential places to live out our retirement. I need to finish archiving photos so I can get rid of all the hard copies. I need to continue developing a healthy diet and workable exercise regimens.
I need a new plan.
And here it is: I won’t frantically go through my archives trying to figure out how to respond to every single photo challenge. I’ll do the challenges that fit my original charter or make sense as part of my personal “ruminations.” I won’t spend hours struggling with writing challenges that I’m really not comfortable with (I never wanted this to be a current events opinion forum, for example.)
I will get back to researching (and reporting on) my lifestyle issues. And I’ll keep doing a monthly travelogue post. I will limit my online time better to allow for more of the “real-life” tasks I’ve been neglecting, but I will continue to follow other bloggers for a while each day.
Hopefully, I’ll manage my time a little better, and as a result The Retiring Sort will get better and stronger. Maybe in the new year I’ll even finally get around to cleaning up my categories and pages….
In the meantime, I hope you’ll stay with me as I tweak and find my footing again, looking toward my next 100 posts. I really love my blog, and the many other bloggers it has brought into my life. I won’t be giving those things up, just attempting to organize my life a little better to fit everything in.
Stay tuned for my continuing adventures… and thanks for helping me come this far.
____________________________________________________
Related posts:
- The Retiring Sort: On the Brink of Retirement
- My (Retired) Life so Far
- The Blogosphere – A Generous, and Slightly Random, Community
Picture credits: BLOG: © Alexandr Mitiuc – Fotolia.com.
The Retiring Sort 
Congrats on the milestone! 100 posts is extremely remarkable indeed – hope to see many more from you 🙂
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Wow, 100 posts. That’s a massive achievement. Love what I have seen so far, and hope to see more from you soon. ❤
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Thank you, Charlotte! 😉
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You are one of my great inspirations, and I admire you for taking a step back and revising.
You believed in me and nominated me for an honourable award before I had noticed that there was something like awards. I’m afraid I have failed on that one, so far. Like you say, there are many things to consider in life – and blogging – even if you love it, can become too time consuming.
I want to congratulate you on your 100th and on your decision to move on. I will be spending a little less time here too. It’s not possible to keep up good work in too many places. even if you have many wonderful friends in this world of bloggers.
Love and thank you – hope to hear from you in the future too!
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Thanks! I won’t be going away, just refocusing and writing about some other things, I hope!! I will still check in from time to time! I appreciate your kind wishes. 😉
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A new excellent adventure. Good luck! Have fun! That’s one of the things I wanted retirement to be. Fun. Adventure is good too. :-).
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The next adventure is figuring out the economics of getting my hubby retired without falling off our own fiscal cliff!! 😉
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Congratulations on your 100th post! Whatever you decide to do, I’ll support you. TY for being a blog friend. 😉
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Thanks, Elizabeth for your support – you are a wonderful blog-buddy! 😉 🙂 😉
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It always helps to have a plan. Congratulations on your 100th!! 🙂
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It does indeed! Thanks for stopping by and for your sweet comment! 😉
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🙂
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Happy 100! Looking forward to the next 100… on your schedule, of course!
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Thanks, Jeni! 😉
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I love what you write and can’t wait to see what you do next.
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Thanks so much for that lovely encouragement!
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It sounds like you have a good plan. Good luck to you and your husband and by all means, keep us informed.
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Thanks, Allan! I won’t stop following and checking in! 😉
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Congrats to you. A lot has happened since you started your blog. I look forward to your future posts. 🙂
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Thanks, AD! It has been quite a year! 😉
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CONGRATULATIONS! I understand how you feel. I think your plan is excellent. I try to let my photos tell the story of my retirement life which I am enjoying very much. I as well love the blogging community and how it has increased my knowledge and taken me to places I would have never seen. But it can be time consuming and planning that time is important to continue to be excited about participating. Looking forward to continuing to read your wonderful blog.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
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Thanks, Francine. You are always so supportive! 😉
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I look forward to hearing your stories of how you adjust to retirement. It wasn’t an easy adjustment for me – and that really surprised me. Now I am loving it and the primary reason is that I have found a creative outlet and a community with my blog. I happy that you are a part of my community.
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Thanks, Pat – I’m happy you’re part of mine, too! 😉
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Hey Retiring…Congratulations! 100 posts is a lot. I have been enjoying your stuff…thanks for sharing! 🙂
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Thank you!! 😉
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Congratulations! We all reach the point you discuss here…I understand completely. I created a new blog just to do photo challenges, but I still haven’t gone back to the writing I began with on my original blog…I hope you are better at managing your time, than I.
It’s been great following you and I hope to still see some of your beautiful photos!
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Thank you! I don’t plan to stop photo challenges – I just want to spend less time reaching just to complete every one. They’re a lot of fun, but are often a little “off task!” I hope you find some time to get back to your original blog, if that’s what you’d like to do. Thanks for your ongoing support… I’m sure you know how nice it is to see friendly faces in comments! 😉
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Sounds like a great plan! I wish you success in reaching your goals, and i look forward to your posts that will keep us informed and entertained! Z
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Many thanks, Z! I love the way you fold your art and your community into so many of your posts – including the challenges. I will continue to enjoy your work! 😉
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you are so welcome! like you, when i started wordpress, i had a basic idea of where i wanted to go, and that was to share my life in latin america and my art projects as well. i had no idea of the many photo challenges, etc, that pulled me into a pool of fascinating people from all over the world. it’s great meeting people like you, and i hope that one of these days some of us will cross paths in person!
z
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Wouldn’t that be amazing! 😉
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Congratulations! Love your blog! 🙂
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Thank you, Afterglow! I love yours as well! 😉
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Yes blogging is wonderful and addictive, but I know how much of a time eating monster it can become. You are doing the right thing by taking a step back and reviewing your priorities. Good luck with all your plans TRS. And congratulations on your 100 🙂
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Thanks, Madhu – you are a wonderful citizen of the blogging community – I really appreciate your encouragement! 😉
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congrats on 100 posts! I was much like you when I started my blog and learned as I went. and I agree with another comment above that blogs evolve. I too have many changes to make to mine that I haven’t had the time for. hoping for more time in the new year. I do need to check out some more of your retirement related posts. great job with your blog!! I’m glad to hear you’ll keep posting.
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Thanks, Toby! One thing I will make some time for is keeping up with my new friends’ blogs – I love following all of your thoughts and travels! 😉
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awe shucks, ain’t you sweet! thanks. I too need to make time for that 🙂
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Congratulations on your 100 posts. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I started my blog in much the same way as you….. with a focus. Because I have a ‘theme’ on my blog (the tech stuff), I have not participated at all in the challenges. They just don’t “fit” and I want to be true to my original purpose. So I completely empathize with your thoughts and plans for your blog. I’ll be reading! 🙂
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Thank you! I really enjoy your blog, and hope I’ll also keep better focus going forward… or at least not get too far into the weeds chasing challenges! 😉
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Congrats! I look forward to hearing about your adventures in life and to see what type of blog evolves now. I feel blogs are always changing and stay fresh that way. I wish you luck!
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Thanks – I hope my posts will feel fresher – I too am an ongoing project… 😉
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Congratulations! And many more as beautiful as previous ones to come! 🙂
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What a sweet comment! I really appreciate your visits and encouragement! 😉
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Congrats for making it to the 100 mark!! I enjoy your posts and look forward to the future ones.
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Thanks, Deepali!! 😉
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My sincere condolence on the loss of your mom. Congrats on this wonderful milestone!
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Thank you on both counts… it’s been quite a year!
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Meanwhile congratulations on 100th post and hope other 100 and 100.
But I wish you above all to complete your projects or otherwise live them calmly, without asking too many goals and living day by day.
I don’t know if in USA is use to say, but I wish you : Good Road (I hope you understand the mean
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I understand completely – Thanks so much – and a good road/journey to you as well! 😉
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I have enjoyed your blog and will continue to do so… when a post arrives in my inbox, I will be happy to see it, no matter how often…. I started my blog as a time filler and for fun, whilst I wait out our computer program that is being encoded for me… I’m semi retired I like to call it, and my blogging was a way of letting my family know what I had photographed… it has now become so much more, and takes a good chunk of my day… a time will come when things are finished, that I will slowly withdraw to a much slower pace, as business will take first option… but I have come to love blogging and like you, will just have to manage it slightly differently… but it is addictive… No way will you be abandoned, but I will still enjoy all your posts, as and when you post them…. enjoy..
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Thanks so much! And I don’t tell you often enough how much I enjoy your photos. Hope all is well with you.
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Funny how we all start a blog to keep in touch with family and friends, to share what happens on our road while it’s away from them so we can still be part of the same community. And then, there’s a curve, not that the blogging community replaces your family and friends, but the time you “spend” with them, with your blog, keeps increasing… and becomes addictive to the point where it’s hard to do something else. Other plans are good, are great, life is beautiful out there so we have something to say in here if we want to share those good times.
100 posts, you’ve done your share! ha! we’ll be waiting for the rest, but how often you feel is right for you.
Congratulations and keep having a happy retirement!
Cheers!
Jul’
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Thanks, Jul’! 😉
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Good luck as you move on. I look forward to your future posts and seeing the direction you end up taking.
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Thank you, Jill, for your visit and your support!
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Well done! I think the community aspect of blogging comes as a surprise to many people, but you´re right of course, blogging can be a real drain on your time. The beauty of it is that you can adapt as you go along, as you already have done 🙂
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Thanks, Marianne. I do so enjoy the community, but it is time for me to pay attention to some other things as well! 😉
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Congrats! It is indeed a milestone! I look forward to learning more From you.
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Thanks so much. I appreciate the encouragement!
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