My good friend Wendy has an expression - it has something to do with challenges, hard decisions, and new ideas - its called “renting space in your head.” There has been something that has been renting too much space in my head lately - and that is the purpose, direction and function of this blog.

When I first started this site 18 months ago, it was the “personal” side of my professional blog, Essential Keystrokes. I picked the title Casual Keystrokes to reflect that, however, I was new to blogging and didn’t really have much of a plan. I thought I would I talk about parenting, balancing working from home and life, and anything else that came to mind.

For a while it really worked, but as I learned more about niche marketing, blogging, and making money online, the harder it has become to define this site.

This week the issue really started taking up head space and became a source of distraction. I consulted two of my mastermind friends to talk things through.

Gayla had a fantastic idea (which I am going to keep to myself for now) that involved rebranding this site, giving it a new focus, and giving it potential for growth. I may pursue this direction in the fall.

Wendy, on the other hand, listened to me talk about some of my other web properties and the opportunities they hold in the near term and gave me completely different advice. Knowing that we only have so many hours in the day, she advised that I scale back my posting here and kind of let this site coast for awhile so I can free up head space to focus on the opportunities at hand.

And while there is part of me that feels an obligation to keep this site going (it has a PR5, afterall), the opportunities over the next 6 months are just too good to let slide by.

I know I have quite a few regular readers - I really value our relationships - so I would like to invite you to join me at some of my other sites. Don’t feel like you have to visit them all - just what interests you. Here is where you can find me:

• Essential Keystrokes - Monday Motivation will be moving to my professional blog, along with more posts on working from home, running a business that is based on the Internet (web design, affiliate marketing, blogging, technology trends), tips, tutorials and social media.
• Weary Parent - Once I got my B5Media gig at Weary Parent, I found that most of my parenting stories, advice, and thoughts started going there. My co-author, Christine, and I talk about a HUGE range of topics for parents who are dealing with the challenges and joys of raising our tweens and teens. Never a dull moment over there - I promise!
• Raising a Healthy Family - Menu Plan Monday, recipes, ideas for green living, my weight loss journey, and the daily drama of cuts, scrapes, sniffles and other childhood ailments are just some of the topics I deal with at Raising a Healthy Family. Yes, I could deal with all of those topics here, but the domain name and focus just isn’t as good.
• Sports Girls Play - I have 20+ years experience coaching girls gymnastics, three athletes under one roof, and am a huge advocate of kids sports. With the Olympic games this summer, I really plan on ramping up the site even more. Also, if you are parent of an athlete and would like to share stories, pictures or advice, just let me know - I’d love to get more viewpoints.
• Doll Diaries - We are having a lot of fun on this niche site these days. The focus of the site is everything dolls - from American Girl to Barbie and everthing in between. With the first American Girl movie coming to the big screen this summer, I know this site will be hopping!
• Printables4Kids - My fun site for free printable activities for kids (most of which I create) is really taking off. I am working on a redesign for the site, pursuing some exciting sponsorship opportunities, and getting even more great activities ready for those long summer months ahead of us.

I won’t abandon this site completely, but I am not going to be posting here nearly as often as I had before. It has been a really tough decision to make, but I just needed to evict this conflict from my head.

If you have read this far, you deserve a big hug!! Thanks for your support and understanding. I look forward to continuing our relationship on another one of my sites.