Autumn changes to come

The leaves are falling from the trees: crisp deep red and purple, soft golden yellows and browns, crunching beneath our feet as we go on about our day shuffling from one task to the next. The days are starting to grow even shorter, after beginning to slow their length on the summer solstice a few months ago.

The season of autumn portrays many different meanings to many of us. For me it means a host of different things: decluttering and cleaning spaces much like I do in the spring season. Planning projects, making lists, and setting goals for the season. It means switching our summer vegetables and fruits to more seasonal autumn ones like squash, pumpkin, pears, apples, greens, and root vegetables. 

It also represents a season of letting go and acceptance. Embracing the cooler weather outside, acknowledging the fact that there will be a shift in our daily activities along with the weather and daylight changes. Settling in with the idea that a more restful season is approaching (well, after the holidays, that is). The changing of the seasons can be viewed as therapeutic when they are embraced. 

One very spontaneous change I’m going to implement into my blog is coming also. 

I’m going to start writing one additional post for my blog each week, though it may be a little different. 

If you’ve followed my blog over the last year, you know that I write many how-to posts, including recipes, home DIYs, craft project tutorials, decorating and gardening tips… But something feels like it’s missing when I only post these sorts of blog posts. 

Although a short introduction is included in each post, I always have that voice in my head saying 

This feels so cheesy. No one reads the introduction. People tease bloggers about writing full-on background stories for how-to posts and recipes. 

(Though I promise there is a method to our madness–part creative and part strategic. Hint, hint: Google may just have something to do with it.)

I have to be to-the-point, concise, and write in a certain way, with lots of specific keywords, all written in a particular structure for search engines to pick up what my post is about (so they can show it to readers like you). That, along with changing the readability of posts to suit most online web searchers (who statistically read at about a 7th-8th grade level), definitely feels less authentic for me. 

Sometimes I just don’t want to write about certain topics in-depth and in such a methodical way. I know that’s what people on Google and Pinterest love the most, so I keep writing these kinds of posts. They are informative and creatively inspiring to homeowners trying to make positive transitions in their homes. They give others information they are seeking out from ordinary people like you and me. They perform well because of this, too.

However, it feels right in this season to listen to my instincts and practice writing in a more creative (and less business-like) fashion. I am holding onto this sense of authenticity because I think that’s what “creative frontier” is about. Exploring those creative places we aren’t so familiar with yet. Not having rigid expectations. Branching out to new areas. And overall, staying open to whatever happens.

Allowing myself to write more openly and get a little more personal by adding one extra blog post to my website each week will be transformative for me. And it will also allow others to get to know the real me, the Tara behind all the DIY posts and decorating ideas, even better.

I have a free-spirit, there’s no secret there. Giving myself permission to do this will only feed my creativity more and help keep me more engaged, too. 

Here is my vision…

My usual how-to, informative posts will continue to publish on their usual schedule: Every Sunday and Wednesday morning. However, beginning this week, every Friday a third post will publish that goes a bit deeper than surface level.

I plan on writing whatever I feel like, which I know really doesn’t tell you a whole lot.

I was recently thinking about how my blog is different from other home & garden and homemaking blogs. After much thought, I realized my blog is specifically written for homeowners and homemakers who are creatives. They are innovators and makers in other areas of their lives, too. My readers are hands-on people who want to do things the right way, efficiently, but who also need to put their own spin on what they craft. They are everyday people who at their core know what they want, but need a bit of guidance on bringing their ideas into fruition. I am simply guiding them.

You probably recognized that many of my recipes on here are customizable. My decorating inspiration posts are just that: inspiration, not hard and fast rules. My DIY tutorials are methodical, but allow some wiggle room for how you want to do it or what works best in your home. 

You are a maker of your home in your own way. This is why my blog is for those creatives who don’t fit in any single box. Not a single one of us is the exact same.

I plan on Friday posts to focus less on the hows of projects and more on the whys–crossing that border into personal and other home or creative pursuits. I want to write about what I’ve had on my mind that week, how things are going in our home or in my personal life, and what I’m currently excited about. 

I’ve been pursuing some creative hobbies outside the world of blogging and want to talk about those things, too, specifically. Some of them may still be applicable to homemaking, yet they’re still a bit differentiated from my usual how-tos. And I can write a little more freely without sticking to using specific keywords x amount of times, structuring my posts a specific way, and writing shorter sentences with less variability in vocabulary. (These are just a few rules I have to abide by in order to drive traffic to my blog from different search engines.)

I got so excited yesterday when I sat down to map out some future topics for Friday posts. I love making lists, so after about 20 minutes of intense brainstorming I had acquired nearly 30 ideas. 

I instantly felt invigorated.

This list includes personal narratives, fun topics such as what my favorite color palettes are at the moment to what inspired me that week, and even advice on how to hone our inner creativity when we’re feeling less than inspired.

So many exciting topics to explore. 

This is going to be a very good transition. You will still get all of your usual how-to posts, and I get to be as creative as I want with my writing and what I share on here. You may even get to know me a bit more in the process. 

I hope you’ll stick around. I’m looking forward to writing many more posts like this as we move into the future.