From 2008 to 2017 I had a personal blog called Allison Writes. It was initially allisonwrites.blogspot.com, until someone convinced me to buy AllisonWrites.com. I did, and I blogged thrice a week for many, many years, until it fizzled out. To be fair, “fizzling out” coincided with having a toddler and my dream job, so blogging didn’t seem as vital as it was in, say, 2009, when I was an MFA student in a new city desperate to connect with someone, anyone. Or in 2011, when I was traveling alone and wanted to keep everyone updated about my whereabouts (oh, and safety) so I didn’t have to email them directly.

A year or so ago, I thought I might take up some form of personal blogging again. I had been book blogging since 2014, and, let’s be honest, for a writer and booknerd, book blogging is pretty damn close to personal blogging. But I yearned for the heydays of blogging, ala 2008-2012, when you could be open and honest because no one you actually knew would read unless you sent the link personally. (And sometimes, not even then.) I typed in “AllisonWrites.com” to see about renewing the domain, and was alarmed to see it was going for over $2,000. (I used to pay $100/year for the privilege.) True, I had a few sponsorships in my day, and well over 100 (did you gasp?!) subscribers. But having my trusty ol’ domain name was not worth the price, so I pushed blogging to the wayside and did… whatever I have been doing for the past year or so.

Cue writing a book (did you gasp?!) and having it published and getting active in conference life once again. I was again thinking “Maybe I should blog. But not personally. Professionally.” AllisonWrites.com was still too expensive, though as I look at it today it is a mere $395 (via Huge Domains.com, which made me snort), though I’m not sure if that’s ownership or rental. Still, I figured I would start somewhat fresh with the more professional AllisonRennerWrites.com – using the last name shows that I am no longer a 20-something blogging about the attractive plumbers that came to my apartment and drinking beer flights in Minnesota. No, now I am a published writer, a “grown-up” who merely thinks about the attractive plumbers that come to her home (see the callback to ownership vs rental) and pretends that a six-pack from Kroger is as exquisite as a beer flight from another state.

If any of you have found me here from the glory days of AllisonWrites.com (stalkers), you will be pleased to know that I still love listening to music, taking random adventures, and find myself to be funnier than I actually am. If you’re new here, then Hello! Please disregard everything you’ve just read, and stay tuned for more “grown up” writing to come.