You know that saying, about how old dogs can’t learn new tricks? I say that all the time.
Because, you know, I’m 41 years old. (Much, much older than the darling girl in the above painting. And the painting is not only lovely, but also happens to be in the public domain, so nobody can sue me for using it. Winning!) I’ve been married nearly 21 years. I have eleven children. By this point in my life I pretty much know what I like, and what I don’t. What I’m good at, and what I’m not. If I’m used to doing something a particular way, well, I’ll probably keep doing it like that. And leave the latest! and greatest! to the younguns. (I am, technically, a Millennial, but barely. And I’m not really sure what that means for me or why it matters, but I thought you should know.)
Once upon a time, I had a blog. I was a blogger. But no more. I do still have the hosted website, but I took all the content down because I wasn’t writing there anymore, nobody really reads blogs anymore, and my teens’ friends were looking me up and finding the blog. Which was chock-full of content related to my children when they were younger, our adoptions, and openness to life in marriage. And somehow I didn’t think my kids would appreciate their friends reading about such things. (Although, hey, if it gets some teenager to rethink the birth control pill or consider a conversion to Catholicism, then I’m all for it.) The truth is that the blogosphere is part of a mostly-bygone era, and those days were good, but the kids featured in those posts are growing up and the moment has definitely passed.
I am, in fact, still writing, though.
Around the time I stopped blogging, I was offered a freelancing job for Townhall. It was something fun and new, was limited to current events and politics, and thus was a good stretch for me. I had to be a bit more disciplined, and write quickly, both of which were good things for my development as a writer. After about a year, though, I decided to move on, and stopped writing altogether for awhile. I was burned out on writing and just totally uninspired—and what does one write about when the essay-style post of yore is no longer really a thing?
But at some point along the way I decided I didn’t want to give up writing altogether, and got back to my work at National Catholic Register and Denver Catholic Register. So I’ve been doing that. I also have a project in the works that, hopefully, I can share more about soon! It’s a strange place to be because, on the one hand, I think there is way too much “noise” and social media dwelling in our modern culture. It is my opinion that people would be much better off grabbing a Jane Austen novel or meeting friends for coffee than hanging out on places like Instagram or Facebook. At the same time I think the world needs more art, beauty, and goodness. We need writers, and storytellers, in our modern age. I think most of our lives ought not be lived online but in the flesh, in person, with all of the beauty and challenges and messiness that comes with that, but I also believe that the internet can be used to facilitate or cultivate such things, somehow. And if you want to write and tell stories, well, that’s where some of the conversation is.
Substack is new to me, but in many ways it is reminiscent of the early blogs, with its simplicity, ease of use, and potential for connectivity. So, I’m giving it a try. I hope you’ll consider subscribing! I love to write and talk about good books, motherhood, religion, and culture. It would admittedly be fun to have these sorts of conversations online again. I’m hoping to get something up every week or so, but we will see. (For whatever reason, I’m launching my potentially ill-fated Substack at the beginning of what is always a very full Holy Week, which maybe isn’t the best idea, but then I never had a good social media strategy, anyhow. I was never even able to get Google Ads to work on my blog—yes, I really was that bad. I can write, but I cannot internet.)
All of this is simply to say that I’m giving Substack a try. So far it’s not going too well because I can’t, for the life of me, figure out how to publish this post. There is presently no publish button showing on the page. Maybe it doesn’t matter anyway, because no is subscribed in the first place. But I refuse to give up and, if you’re reading it, I guess I figured it out!
Maybe old dogs really can learn new tricks, after all.