At a cross-road – a change of direction?

“You are definitely having your surgery this afternoon Heather.  You can now text your daughter so she can confirm her flights and come on over.”

Those were the words I received a couple of hours before I was wheeled off for open-heart surgery.  Those words were a relief.  As I had been talking to another patient that morning and their surgery had been postponed twice!!  And, it had taken at least two years to finally get to this stage – bring it on!!

Writer’s workshop

On Saturday my good friend Denise and I attended a Hamilton Book Month’s Agile Writer’s Workshop here in Hamilton.  This workshop was conducted by Charlotte Glennie a renowned New Zealand journalist (now based in Sydney). She recently published her memoir “Every Second Counts“. Charlotte is a very interesting woman and has many stories to tell and tips to share.

Denise and I have attended many different workshops over the years.  We enjoy meeting and communicating with the variety of people who attend.  We find these workshops motivating, a great way to learn new skills, and they inspire us to continue on our writing journey – always trying to improve and work towards a higher standard.

The prompt to making a change

I have been struggling for a couple of years now to find a purpose and direction for my blog and myself. This has mainly been the result of my heart issues, thus a lack of adventures and sharing of those stories.  I have also lost a lot of my physical abilities and confidence as a result.  Having my mitral valve replaced, atrial septal defect (hole between upper chambers of heart) closed, and partial ablation the surgery has improved my heart functionality but I still have atrial fibrillation – not the heart racing type.

During these last few months I have been trying to identify how I can pivot my blog into something more valuable for myself and my readers.  This process has lead to extensive self-reflection.  Which, incidentally is still a work in progress!

After talking to a woman at the workshop on Saturday she helped me clarify some issues I had shared with her. Hence I am looking at a change of direction for my blog in its current format. After all it has been happening for eight years, time for a change.

You may or may not have heard of Substack.  It is a relatively new platform for writers depending on how it is setup and used.  And, it is free (at the moment). No date has been set for when this change will happen.  But, it will be before end of year as that is when my current blog hosting subscription ends.  And of course I have much to learn about Substack.  “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” will be my approach!

I will still happily share other peoples adventures when the change takes place.

This leads me to my next point.

Do you still want to be on my subscriber list?

With Substack I can export all my current blog subscribers into Substack.  In WordPress (current blog setup) I cannot delete your details, that is something you have to do.  So, here is your opportunity to opt in or opt out.

If you want to remain a ‘subscriber’  you don’t have to do anything.  If you no longer want to be a subscriber click on the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the top of your email OR please enter ‘unsubscribe’ in the Comments field.  Thank you.

Your thoughts/suggestions welcomed

I would appreciate hearing your thought’s and/or suggestions about my change of direction.  ‘A problem shared, is a problem halved’ is my current thinking.

Tell next time, take care out there, Goldcard Gal.  🙂