Everything changes. It’s written right in the Laws of Physics, which I obey.
I’m making some changes to Visible Monday. I think of VisMon as my “baby”, as it started with a short post I wrote back in June 2011. I talked about how aging had made me feel invisible, and how I wanted to change that. We are all Visible and deserve to be seen.
In the beginning only a few bloggers participated, including Pam of Over50, Feeling 40, Une Femme d’Un Certain Age, Paula of Fashion Over 50, and some dear bloggers who’ve retired from the scene. I am so grateful to them for supporting my baby idea with their creativity.
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| Une Femme, a stunning brunette before she was a stunning blonde |
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| I miss you, Debbi! |
Two-plus years later, the community has grown to over one hundred regular contributors. That amazes me and keeps the joy in blogging. I love the assembly of women who take part in VisMon, all ages, styles, shapes, and philosophies.
Everything changes. I am making two changes to our Visible Monday get-together and I hope these will go down easily with you:
- VisMon will go to an every-other week schedule. I’ll give you plenty of notice via my blog posts, Facebook and Twitter, so you don’t have to worry about remembering which Monday is off and which is on.This change will free up some time for me to develop fresh ideas, and to give every contribution time and attention. I have felt rushed through the process and I don’t want to rush. I want to read and reflect and respond to all your posts.
- I may or may not do outfit posts as part of VisMon. This change has been percolating inside my head for a looong time. I have a small-ish wardrobe, I repeat my clothing a lot, and I am trying not to shop so much.I’ve found that creating a fresh, new look every Monday has added stress (will this look good enough? did I just wear this last week?). I’d like to diminish my stress by only occasionally posting a full outfit. Fear not (or be afraid!), I still have plenty to say/show about Visibility. ☺
I hope you’ll all join this coming Visible Monday link-up – it starts as usual on the Sunday evening before. We’ll be live at about 5PM EST on Sunday, September 8th. It’s a party, all are welcome and it’s a place to meet other fabulous bloggers.
Please come, and keep coming! We are Not Dead Yet.
I read some good marketing advice recently in relationship to content creation (aka blogging): you own the microphone. Which means it's totally OK to publish as often as you want, whenever you want. Far better to enjoy it than come to resent it!
As for outfits, I think one of your strengths is demonstrating that being stylish *doesn't* require a large, constantly changing wardrobe. After all, few of us have that luxury! Far more helpful and realistic to see how to mix things up from what you already own. (If that makes sense?)
Patti, I thank you for your creation and I admire that you are able to change when needed. I will miss the weekly gathering, but more importantly, I celebrate that you are caring for yourself, so as to be here for the long haul. I am very happy that you will continue with an every other week schedule! I wouldn't miss the party!
Patti, Yay, I love change so this sounds fun to me. I agree with all the others, bless your living heart for all the time and love you put into this get-together. I've often wondered how you find the countless hours to devote to Visible Monday. I would love to see and hear all sorts of things from my blogging friends, which I'm sure you have some great ideas brewing in your head.
Patti, I totally respect and am inspired by your ability to go for balance. Change is a good thing. xo
Good for you because I imagine that although it is such a wonderful blogging event to participate in it must be so much work for you. Playing hostess and getting round to 100 participating blogs weekly must be nigh on impossible. And dressing certainly shouldn't be a stress! I always think you look amazing and don't notice your repeats!
Whatever you say… I will follow. I recognize the stress. I will diminish my outfit posts soon too. Starting with a lot is not that difficult. But I cannot go on at this rate haha.
Greetje
I can't thank you enough for all that you've done for me, Patti! Your Visible Monday truly HAS made me visible to an amazing group of ladies and spawned my "Roll Model Roster" I can certainly understand you wanting to dial it back. I feel as if I don't give all of my blogger friends the attention they deserve, either. I will keep; trying, though, and will still be a part of all the VM's I can.
Alicia
Anything you do that will make it easier for you is fine Patti. I just love visiting your blog.
Hi Patti – sounds like some well considered changes. Although I don't always participate, I do always read and enjoy your outfit posts. I love the visible monday philosophy and will continue to support you fully! xx
Good to know, Patti! I love your blog and appreciate what you do!
Here, here–you totally deserve to rethink the scheduling of this event. I know that I am immensely grateful for what you have done via Visible Monday. It made us into a community and coaxed others out of the shadows.
Happy Anniversary VisMon! I remember when it was a little thing- and I didn't want to commit to a weekly "thing" and then it felt like a fun party with all my favorite ladies visiting- so every other week works GREAT for me. And I love the feel of community Visible Monday has been. Can't wait for the next one!
Better to make changes than to burn out! It finally dawned on me that blogging and reading blogs should be fun and if I can't do either as often as I 'should', wel,l the world won't collapse. I'm all for whatever eliminates stresses. Thank you for being such a superb hostess!
Great idea! I would imagine that there is a lot of responsibility on your shoulders putting this on every week. Twice monthly makes it more special and fresh and will definitely free your time up to write about other things, which I look forward to!
Thank you for all of your hard work, Patti!
xo
Those changes sound really wise dear Patti, and very understandable for your sake. Let's embrace the change, and I do hope it takes the stress off you.
I can understand your decision so well. Good that you take care of yourself. I enjoy being part of the visibible ladies and I will continue taking part from time to time. It is tempting to look for an extraordinary outfit every week, but it is also time consuming and costly to find one.
Thank you for going on with this great idea!
Sabine
http://achtstundensindkeintag.blogspot.de/
Great idea Patti! I too can't come up with outfit posts every week. I've cut down on my thrift shopping (being furloughed to part-time half wages).
You are the bomb!
Hi there!! I love the whole concept of Visible Monday and I hope to be part of it as often as possible, however and whenever you host. It's totally understandable to host every other week to keep new ideas fresh and forthcoming! Have a good weekend xxx
You aren't leaving the scene are 'ya? Say it ain't so!
What you need to do is really best for all of us! (Glad you're doing it this Monday, though. It's a special one for me… more Monday!) I'm guessing you will continue to encourage bloggers to post on whatever inspires or challenges us in terms of our visibility in an age-biased culture. That's the best thing for me … ideas! Sometimes they come with outfits, sometimes not. Is this what you have in mind? Love your outfits, always, but I also often am fired up and interested by your more concept-y pieces.
So glad you're here at all!
And we all miss Debbi … she introduced me to you all. Hello Debbi, if you're still out there!
I applaud your decision to make the changes that work better for you. When it starts to feel like work or you are getting stressed about the number of posts or wondering if your outfits are "blog worthy" it is time to pull back, take stock and change.
Visible Monday is very much your creation, Patti, and you are a wonderfully generous hostess. It's entirely up to you how you play it, and fortnightly is just fine, it that makes it feel better for you. I always appreciate the fact that you unfailingly comment on all the participants' blogs, which is quite some undertaking when there are over 100 of them. My wish for you is that VisMon continues in as stress-free and enjoyable a way as possible, including posting outfits when you like and not when you don't, and that everyone who avails themselves of your hospitality is polite enough to leave a comment. After all, we wouldn't accept an invitation to someone's home and not say thank you, would we? I always look forward to joining you, Patti, so I will be there for the next link up! xxxx
Visible Monday is such a brilliant idea Patti & I am ashamed not to have uploaded more pics. I completely understand what you're saying about outfit posts though, and having more time to be creative – very much looking forward to what you come up with next!
I can only imagine the amount of work involved in hosting a link up party. I always appreciate being able to join your party Patti. I've missed you this summer as I was involved in a project that didn't involve a lot of visibility on my part. {Although in a way, I was more visible than ever before. 🙂 It didn't occur to me that there would be the added stress for you of putting an outfit together for the camera's eyes. I know how that can feel; sometimes the pressure of a deadline makes it all the more difficult. I mean, we do generally wear clothing everyday…Looking very much forward to this coming Monday!
Patti, I appreciate Visible Monday so much. Visiting and commenting on 100+ links is a huge task that you do with grace and style. Thanks for everything!
I have enjoyed (and I think participated in) every Visible Monday – you do what you need to do to keep it fun for yourself, Patti! I know the stress of feeling like you have to "keep up." Don't let that spoil it for you. 🙂
Change is good! I am a new-ish follower but will of course continue to join in! I hope you will continue to enjoy doing Visible Mondays as much as I enjoy participating.
I've always wondered how you manage to keep up with responding to all the posts at the beginning of every week! You deserve to have more time to yourself, and every other week will be just fine.
I agree with you on the outfit posts. Even if my outfit is a new combination of old items, I don't always get around to taking photos. I'll read your posts with or without photos!
No problem Patti, blogging should be fun, not stressful! I realised that posting twice, maybe three, times a week suits me and not more than that. I am so grateful for VisMon and the bloggers you have introduced to me (and me to them) xx
Excellent self-care toward balance and keeping it enjoyable! I miss Debbi too!
Patti, changing things up helps keep us fresh. Good for you!
Sounds good Patti. I so appreciate the Visibles and all you've done to bring it into being. I know you've made a real difference in my blog life! And yeah, make it fun on your part, stress-free. But I gotta say, your ensembles always look cool and chic. Thanks for it all!
Thank you Patti for all your work. I completely understand the change and think keeping blogging fun is the goal. I think it's amazing that you get around to everyones blog and post a comment. This is so generous of you and generates the sharing attitude of this link up.
blue hue wonderland
Will always be there, Patti! We appreciate all you do to make this happen and stress should never rob your joy of doing something. I have seen that most of us have lowered the number of OOTD as we blog longer. Feel no pressure…you are much appreciated in this community!!
Thank you Patti! I really look forward to participating and agree that because there's so many wonderful ladies taking part, I don't have the time to respond. But I'm so sorry you feel stressed presenting your outfits – I love your style! For me the only difference with the Vis posts and ordinary posts, is that I now try to add more details. Thanks again for all your hard work and initiative!