This entire year, I’ve been going through a major blogging identity crisis — as some of you may know.
I hit my five-year blogging anniversary this past September. Five years! For more than four of those, I was exclusively a book blogger. I loved it. I met amazing reader and author friends, got opportunities I never dreamed of (hello, BEA 2011), and received hundreds of books in the mail, including coveted ARCs. In those early days, I’d finish a book, flop onto my parents’ couch, and immediately start typing up a review because I couldn’t wait to talk about it.
But after more than four years, burnout crept in. By January 2014, I tried to balance things by calling myself half book blogger, half personal blogger. The truth is, that balance never really held. These days, I’d call myself a personal or lifestyle blogger who still sprinkles in books — but not half and half.
Don’t get me wrong: I still love to read, and I will always be a bookworm. Books will always be part of my life and will show up here, too. But the pressure I put on myself — to review every book, meet deadlines, keep up with goals — sucked some of the joy out of reading. Reclaiming my reading life meant letting go of the rules. Now, I review when I want to, how I want to, and only as often as I choose.
The other big shift? Life itself. In the last couple of years, so much has happened: I lost over 100 pounds, ran races (including a half-marathon), met Jerry, planned a wedding, got married, bought a house, started tackling home projects — and, oh yeah, I'm having a baby! These are milestones I wanted to document, and sticking strictly to “book blogger” never felt wide enough to hold them. I also just plain love to write, and opening up my scope has given me the freedom to write about it all.
A few weeks ago, I asked for advice about my “identity crisis” and realized I already had the answers. The blog name stays. Steph the Bookworm has been mine for more than five years, and I’m still a bookworm through and through. But the design is changing, along with a new tagline that took me ages to settle on: “musings on marriage, motherhood, and my life between books.” The same talented designer who created my current look is redoing it, and Jerry (sweet man that he is) has been picking up overtime to help cover the cost of the new design and hosting plan.
Part of the redesign also means reorganizing. I’ve started building new personal pages at the top — like “Our Love Story,” and ones for my weight loss and the baby. I’ve reorganized categories, too, to reflect what I’ve really been writing about. My longtime book blogger and author friends mean the world to me and I hope they’ll stick around, but I also want the design to signal to new readers that this blog is about more than just books.
And honestly? I’ve found my passion again. Inspiration hits late at night and I’m back to jotting frantic notes in my phone. I’m tweaking and improving my blog constantly, like in the early days. I’ve rediscovered the thrill of seeking out and reading other blogs, and I’m excited to make new blogging friends. For a while, blogging felt like an obligation — something I kept doing out of habit. Now I do it because I love it again.
So here we are: this blog is officially a general blog about my life. Books will always be here, but so will everything else — the milestones, the everyday stories, the little details I don’t want to forget. Thank you for sticking with me through this shift. I hope you’ll keep reading as I step into this next chapter.
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