Yes, I'm Ending This Blog Forever

Yep. Change and Cherish Blog is over. I'll do one more post after this, and then it's over.

Before you ask "But why?" hold up.

Change and Cherish Blog's successor, Veritable Fountain (located at veritablefountain.tumblr.com) is now live! If you'd like to see the response to this week's Thinkjoust Tuesday, as well as the other introductory posts, click the links below!

Welcome from Change and Cherish!

About Zachary James

Why I Hate War (And Why I Love It, Too)

How I Feel When I Ask People to Follow Me

So if more posts is all you're looking for, check it out!

If you'd like to know why I'm ending the blog, stick around.

When I first started writing this blog, I named it Change and Cherish to reflect the structure of the original posts. The first half would describe a mistake I made in the say, and the second half would describe something for which I was grateful in the day.

The blog is, today, unrecognizable. The purpose of my posts--to be introspective and spiritual--has evolved into a platform where I basically talk about anything and everything I want to. The thoughts I wouldn't reserve for my novels are blasted into the blogosphere on a schedule, complete with artwork and occasionally videos.

That last paragraph basically described why I'm ending the blog.

1.) Need for a re-brand

Change and Cherish stands for something different than it originally did. Instead of a pure focus on uplifting others, my posts can wander along topics from writing to politics to camels. The reason for this is because I started writing what I wanted to write, without much concern for what anybody else wanted to read.

This caused problems. Many people became hard-pressed to tell others what my blog was really about. It used to be the thoughts of a returned missionary; now it's the thoughts of an opinionated loudmouth who's aware and proud of it. In order to represent this change, once and for all, the re-brand had to take place.

2.) Too much time

Remember when Change and Cherish was a daily blog? I stopped doing that in part because my other responsibilities were too great for me to handle. I couldn't keep producing quality material every single day without needing a break somewhere in there, and so I used what became unpopular features (like Thursday Throwbacks and Sunday Snapshots) to give myself that rest.

Eventually, I realized that I just needed to give up on the 'daily' thing. I cut four days of the week, leaving only my most popular features. I stopped with the actual photography and made art from my computer. I only had to write one day, and draw the next.

But even that takes time. I spend an average of nine hours a week on this blog, nine hours I could be spending with friends, family, or even other pursuits. If I didn't hold myself to a schedule, this might have been manageable. I could have let a few posts here or there slide. But no. I couldn't do that.

3.) Too restrictive

Even before my new full-time job at Future House Publishing, having to work on a scheduled blog post every day became too much to handle. Sometimes, I had to run errands or spend time with loved ones or resolve a crisis, and the blog couldn't be a priority. But then I'd feel guilty, like I was letting you guys down, and stay up way too late to finish what should have already been done.

The thing was, the quality of these late-night posts would suffer, leaving a less-than-enviable product for you guys to read. This lowered your trust in me as a blogger, which explains the diminishing views over the past couple of months.

So, I'm done.

In order to give you a quality product, I'm moving my blogging to Veritable Fountain. There, I won't worry about artwork or scheduling. I'll actually write what I'm thinking, not worrying about pictures to say words for me. I'll only blog when I have something to say, which means you'll always know my posts are quality. And you will be able to tell people what the heck this thing is you keep reading.

So, if this is devastating to you, I really am sorry. But I really do think you'll like Veritable Fountain if you give it the chance.

After all, it is Change and Cherish's baby.

I'll see you over on the other site!

I love you!