The other day, I logged into my blog hosting account to find out when my next payment is due and how much it will be. When I saw the bill due later this year, I gulped and said to my husband, “Do we want to spend so much money on a site that’s often slow or offline because of a problem? Do we have that much money? Perhaps it’s time to delete my blog.”
Andy reminded me that my blog represents years of my work. How would I feel if all my stories disappeared with the press of a button?
“Perhaps there’s a way to save my posts,” I said. “I’ll save my stories and then delete the blog.”
So, I started researching WordPress export plugins. But before I got far, I stumbled across a word that distracted me: microblogging.
Did you know Instagram and X are microblogging sites? They were designed for short posts. I guess that’s obvious. I just hadn’t heard them described in that way before.
I enjoyed writing micro-stories and sharing snippets of unschooling on Instagram. I just didn’t like the social media side of the experience. All that following, liking and trying to work out the algorithm made me run away.
I wondered if there was a way to microblog without social media, and eventually arrived at the micro.blog site. For a few dollars a month, I could have an account on a platform that’s free of ads and likes. I could post a photo with a caption, a link, a micro-story, a video, and even a longer blog post-length article. I got excited. Could I swap my expensive blog for a microblog? I signed up for a free trial account.
It’s really hard to write a first post when you join something new, isn’t it? All that white space. After a dozen false starts, I posted a photo I’d taken recently and added a micro-story memory of my kids from a long time ago. I looked at the post, standing alone and conspicuous in my freshly created account. What would people think of it? Then I realised that it didn’t matter what the post looked like because no one would read it. I didn’t have any microblog followers. No one knew my account existed.
I searched the platform for people to follow, but couldn’t find anyone who shared my interests. Perhaps microblogging wasn’t such a good idea after all, because what’s the point of writing stuff in a public arena that no one will read and engage with? My microblogging adventure came to an end when I deleted my account.
I returned to my blog, the proper, expensive one that causes me endless problems. I scrolled through page after page of my stories and knew that my blog is my place, and despite the huge hosting fee and the many critical errors I’ve had to fix recently, I don’t want to delete it.
After some more thought, I remembered a big idea I’d had recently that might save my blog. What if I turned my blog content into a series of ebooks? What if I shared them in a Buy Me a Coffee shop? Would anyone want to exchange a coffee donation for an unschooling ebook? Is it possible to raise some money to pay my blogging expenses?
Not so long ago, a kind and generous friend sent a large donation for my blog directly to me. Other brilliant readers have bought me virtual coffees. Perhaps I could add to these funds by selling some ebooks (epub and PDF).
The other day, I began work on a sample ebook. Its working title is Christian Unschool Love, which I like, but does it sound too much like Radical Unschool Love? As you’ve probably guessed, it will be a Christian unschooling ebook. Dipping into my archive, I was surprised to find many stories to add to this book.
Of course, there’s nothing stopping readers from also diving into my archive and reading most of these stories for free. Some of them are already in my unschooling books. But is there still value in gathering them together in a document of their own? I suppose if my blog ever gets deleted, ebooks are one way to save its content. But is the content worth saving for anyone but me?
Christian unschooling may not be your thing, but how about younger unschoolers? Or teens? Or starting unschooling? I could publish my whole blog, year by year, as a series of ebooks. What about stepping a bit away from unschooling? I could create an ebook on grief, ageing, or womanhood. There are lots of possibilities.
Image
This is the photo I posted on my short-lived microblogging account. And here’s my microstory:
On Sunday, Andy and I walked around the shrines at a local monastery. We hadn’t done that for a while. As I said to my husband, “The shrines and chapels have multiplied since we were last here!”
One shrine that I remember from a long time ago is the one honouring St Stephen. We attended a Mass at the monastery when it was first built. Our names are on some kind of document associated with the shrine. Or maybe our names were added to the shrine itself. I don’t remember the details.
I do remember how Duncan and Callum served at the St Stephen’s Mass, wearing red albs. There were a lot of altar boys, all clothed in albs made by my friend, Esther. Esther is one of those wonderfully creative people who can make anything out of a bit of inexpensive fabric, no pattern needed.
I saw Esther yesterday. I ran to catch up with her as she was approaching the church with her husband for Mass, my feet sliding out of my slides. I called her name, and she turned in my direction. When she saw me, my slides in my hand, my feet bare, she smiled widely. “Sue!” We hugged.
Years after that St Stephen Mass with the many red-clad altar boys, I’m glad Esther and I are still good friends and we’re still meeting up at the monastery. How would we get through life without the love and support of our friends?
So, what do you think? Are you interested in ebooks? Would you consider buying one to support my work? What ebook topic appeals most to you?
Why not stop by? We could chat about blogging, microblogging and ebooks.
I wonder, will ebooks save my blog? I guess that depends whether anyone thinks it’s worth saving.
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Dear Sue,
as a long-time reader I would like to add my two cents.
When I began reading your blog, it was a cozy, family-centered blog, telling stories of Saint Josef’s sofa, brushes with kangaroos, strange treks to places I never heard of, Faith, Thomas, childish mischief, what’s for dinner, teaching and learning … in short all the ups and down of a normal, unusual family far away.
Later on “Sue Elvis Writes” disappeared, and with it a ton of all those stories I returned to read now and then.
The focus moved sharply to homeschooling. Later on … I don’t know, you went to vlogging, to e-books and lost me. I came by your blog occasionally, when the title sounded like it could be interesting.
Today a notification of this post came to my in-box and my immediate response was: No! – it still is. Not for me at least. I am not into e-anything and never will be. I love reading! And I long for the days when blogging was a free sharing, telling of everyday life, the good and the bad alike.
I know I might be old-fashioned and – just old – but I loved your original blogging best, and have only sporadically followed your new endeavors.
I know the world have changed – we have changed – but I do think that the world and we still need lighthearted yet serious stuff.
Charlotte,
Hello! It’s lovely to hear from you. Thank you for reading my post and stopping by even though you no longer enjoy reading my blog like you used to.
I enjoyed those earlier days of blogging very much. I loved the friendships and swapping of family stories with its ups and downs. The reason I moved on to blogging and speaking about unschooling was because I was asked to write more about this subject. I share my stories and ideas to help parents who want to live this way of life. Yes, the world needs lighthearted stuff, but I think there’s a place for this kind of blog too.
It’s lovely that you remember the name of my old blog. Sometimes I dig out an old story from Sue Elvis Writes and repost it here or on my other blog Wholy Souly. I was thinking about St Joseph’s Sofa the other day. Maybe I’ll hunt out that story and find a place for it somewhere.
I understand about sharing blog stories for free. I’ve done that for many years. But this kind of blog, unlike my old Blogger blog, isn’t free for me. I’ve invested a lot of money in it. Selling books and receiving kind donations helps cover expenses, but this isn’t a paid membership site where I expect readers to pay to access all my content. I’m grateful whenever anyone wants to help support my blog, but as long as my blog is online, anyone can come by and read my posts.
It’s been good to chat and remember the old blogging days. I hope all is well with you and your family. God bless!
Charlotte,
I’m still thinking about your comment!
Why do I blog here about unschooling? Why don’t I focus on the lighter-hearted stuff? I am often tempted to leave this blog to go do something else, maybe write just for fun, but I keep being drawn back. I don’t think it’s because I want to share the practical details of unschooling because I’ve already done that. What brings me back is the message of unconditional love which I feel is at the heart of unschooling.
Unconditional love is so wrapped up with God, the source of love, and our faith. It’s not exclusive to homeschooling but speaks to everyone’s hearts. Maybe not everyone likes and responds to my love stories, but I feel a need to write them, to thank God for the unconditional love He gives to me.
Although we hardly ever connect as bloggers any more, I’m grateful for your friendship and the days when we blogged together. 😊
Dear Sue,
first of all – I love your blog, it helped me so many times to keep going. To see your happy children and teens develop over the years gives strenght and faith.
And now to your money trouble – you do make it hard for people to help you ;-), do you realise it 🙂 ? You should ask yourself why :-). I can’t even find the “buy me a cofee” button anymore. But as long as it was there I couldn’t pay you anything as I didn’t have any of the (very few) offered payment methods. I bought at least one of your books but I doubt this helped your blog. Please, do look for various ways of crowdfunding so that many (!!!) different payment methods are included – Paypal for example). People from all over the world read you blog :-).
Open a shop – offer small payed stuff as 1 to 10+ page worksheets for homeschooling lessons (with solutions) – make a print and digital use possible (coloured for digital use only and black and white version for saving the printig colour). Reminder – these don’t need to be perfect 😉 – just do something – about Australia for example? Or biology (and Australia) – you did study it, didn’t you? You read so much – make sheets about books you read. ( Example – We must have portfolio with writen “proofs” of learning – so we love multiple choice tests. Authorities need to see we did the work and this is an easy and fast way for us to do it – everybody is happy ;-).) Write short texts in easy english for learning english or learning reading (all these speciall australian animals, great barrier riff, uluru, native inhabitants …).
Please – sell your amazing photos and AI generated pictures or combine both! As digital (printable) postcards for various occasions (birthday, anniversaries, motivational cards – very popular today, challenge cards – this would go so well with your book, tracking tables for something – all this is so popular …) – add some quote from you blog or from the Bible … There are tons of this in the internet, true, but someone who likes your blog will choose to buy it in your shop to help you, especially if you make it clear at the end of each article, that it is necessary to keep the blog online.
People love to help and are willing to spent some small amount of money as 2-30+ dollar, especially if they get some small recompense for it, you just need to make it easy for them to help. Leave the possibility open to pay for digital cards either the minimum of 2-3 dollars or adding more as a donation. Ask your readers for more ideas about crowdfunding.
Visualise you succes 🙂 – I wish you a good luck 🙂
M.
M,
I’m glad you like my blog!
You are right: my Buy Me a Coffee button has disappeared from my home page. I deleted it a few days ago because it was causing problems. I’ve had some critical errors on my blog which I’ve had to fix.
Until recently, I also had a PayPal button on my home page. I remember you requesting this method of payment so added the button. It disappeared when my blog crashed and I haven’t yet replaced it. But there are still Buy Me a Coffee and PayPal links in many of my blog posts.
Thank you for all your suggestions for earning some money. I love how you said that people love to help! I will think more about all your ideas.
Thank you so much for stopping by!
I only recently found your blog (linked from another unschooling blog). If I remember correctly, I clicked because you were listed as a Catholic unschooler (I just finished reading through A Little Way of Homeschooling for a second time). I’ve been homeschooling my kids from the beginning (13 & 15) and have mostly been a “relaxed homeschooler”…you know, the kind that leans towards an unschooling philosophy to education but still requires a bit of intentional math, reading and writing daily. Well with teenage boys there are lots of thoughts swirling in my brain (and research being done) about allowing for and encouraging more autonomy, independence and control of their own lives, and realizations that I never really had the control in the first place, so I might as well loosen my grip 🙂 All that to say, yes, I would be interested in e-books or whatever else you come up with about Catholic homeschooling, homeschooling teens (unschooling math, especially!!), and trusting our kids (and the Lord!) with their education. I have been reading a lot of kindle books lately, but using the Libby and kindle unlimited. Perhaps if you put one of your e-books on kindle unlimited, it would encourage people to seek out your others to purchase?
Ashley,
Thank you so much for sharing some of your family’s homeschooling story. Oh yes, I understand about things like maths. We used to be ‘unschoolers except for maths’! Then my teens protested and we battled. Like you, I realised that trying to control my kids wasn’t the answer.
All my unschooling maths stories are here on my blog, but they are set out better in my book, Curious Unschoolers. They’ve been edited and arranged in a more logical way. Maybe an unschooling maths ebook would be a good way to tell our maths story.
I smiled when you mentioned A Little Way of Homeschooling. I have very happy memories of many email conversations with Suzie. Suzie and her books used to be part of my blog until she created an online home of her own. I wrote my first unschooling book because of Suzie’s encouragement.
I had a book or two on kindle unlimited for a long time, but removed them fairly recently because I no longer want to be tied to Amazon. I can’t sell my ebooks on other platforms, including my own, while they are part of the Kindle Unlimited program. But yes, when we can borrow books and we like them, we often want to buy the next in the series.
So good to chat! 😊
Ashley,
I’m adding this in case you’re interested…
All my Suzie Andres posts are on this page:
https://www.storiesofanunschoolingfamily.com/?s=Suzie+Andres+
Some of the posts just mention Suzie and her books, one is a longer story about The Little Way and homeschooling, and there’s a post and book list written by Suzie.
Yes! I’d love ebooks!
Wonderful! I shall create a couple and see if you and other readers like them. Thank you so much for your encouraging comment!
I have bought all your physical unschooling books and would definitely buy one specific to Catholic unschooling, physical or ebook.
Thank you so much for buying all my books! You are a wonderful supporter of my work. I will finish putting together the Christian ebook. I hope you will like it! 😊