Learning to Trust Myself Again

Hello!  Take a seat, I can see on your faces I have some explaining to do.  I am not sure that I will have all the answers that you want, but I will give you the best, most honest answers that I have.

Yes, I am the editor behind A Petite Princess.  Yes, it has been ages since that site was updated.  As the piles of work just got higher and higher and I got farther and farther behind on articles that needed writing…that my heart just wasn’t in it any longer.

There are several things that led to this decision and I’d be lying if I said it was any one thing or that any one moment was the one that pushed me over the edge.

I haven’t been happy for a long time.  Sure, my cat cuddling me or seeing my niece or friends makes me happy…but only for a few hours and then I return to my bed physically and emotionally exhausted.

I don’t want to give up running a blog, I love the friendships and connections I have made far too much to do that.  But, I can no longer do the full-time royal blogger thing.  The vitriol between camps and the surprising ease with which one can become a target for abuse is becoming far too much.  Especially for someone who already has other issues with which to contend.

I was thinking of making this change since last November, but recently a few things pushed me over the line so that I knew it was the right decision and the right moment.

1. The joy of blogging about the Royal Family is just not there like it once was.  It’s hard to say just put you head down and do the work to pay the bills…especially when the site itself is not paying the bills and is a drain on resources.  I could have funded two more trips to London with all I poured into the site.
2. After being gone for so long, jumping back in at A Petite Princess just seemed rather pointless.  I’ve lost the clout that I had in that realm and there seems no hope of getting it back.
3. When all the Royal News for October came out I knew that my schedule would not be my own and would be completely flipped…thus ruining the sleep rhythm that I have just started to get a grip on in the last six weeks.  I have friends that will tell you that the grip I have on that rhythm is tenuous at best, easily broken.
4. I just can’t handle the stress of being a royal blogger that is expected to do the job without the benefit of Press Releases, Tour Briefings, and Operational Notes.  All of the things I have just mentioned may not take out all the stress that comes with reporting on the Royal Family and their charitable activities, but when you are someone who was taken seriously enough to cover the visit to your town of the the Heir to the British throne and yet you are not taken seriously enough to get Press Releases, Tour Briefings, and Operational Notes on a regular basis…it’s frustrating and depressing.

So, Trisha, we just don’t get it!  You left one blog, just to start another?  What Gives?

Like I said before, I don’t want to leave the fun of blogging behind.  And besides, I think that with this site I’ll be able to touch on all sorts of topics that are important to me…without having to make it an Editor’s Note or find a way to attach it to the work that the younger Royals are doing.

My first 8 posts are on a variety of topics: 3 Book Reviews including this one on Influencer by Brittany Hennessy and this one on The Creative’s Guide to Starting a Business by Harriet Kelsall, a Royal fashion find post, a post about sleep issues, a post on self-sabotage, a post on two of my hobbies and this letter.  All that ground would be hard to cover on a blog focused solely on royal fashion.

Trisha, are you going to be covering the Royal Family at all from now on?

The short answer is YES!  I’ll just be doing it on a schedule that works for me and my stress levels.  Sometimes an event just will not get covered and at other times I’ll get to the article when I have the time and energy.

This really feels like the best move for me going forward.  I hope you’ll join me on this chapter of the adventure that is my life