January 25, 2008

Isabel Is No Longer a Writer For This Blog

I came to the conclusion that it would be best if I was the sole writer of Survive High School. I had been pondering the issue for awhile, but finally made the decision while I was in class today. We weren't doing much today, so I took out a piece of paper and began to write her a letter. I wasn't planning on sending her the letter, but felt it would be best to figure out my feelings before I confronted her. Writing has always been the best way for me to express my feelings. When I speak sometimes my words get taken wrong.

The two main issues in the letter were lack of time and passion. I completely understand that she doesn't have much time due to her hectic extracurriculars and demanding schoolwork. Her lack of passion for the project really hit home for me when she told me she'd type up a post she was late like it was an afterthought.

I had worried from the beginning that Isabel was being part of the blog, because she thought she was doing me a favor. It turned out to be true. There isn't anything wrong with not being passionate something. It is just her personal preference, so I wouldn't judge her for that. If Isabel really didn't want to post for me than she was being selfless. But it actually doesn't benefit me, her, or the readers.

It isn't fair to the readers, because they are spending their time reading posts that are halfheartedly written. It hurts her, because she is doing something she doesn't love. And it doesn't benefit me, because I want this site to thrive and I want her to do things only if she loves to. In the end her no longer contributing to the blog is for the best and most importantly the confrontation didn't hurt our friendship.

I know you are curious about what will be changing about the site, so here it is:
  • I am going to be the only writer/owner of the blog and I will not be finding a replacement for Jessie.
  • The posting frequency will change to once every two days. I'm doing this, so my posts won't be rushed and will be better quality.
  • I need to come up with a new tagline, so any ideas will be beneficial. Before it was "two high school girls sharing everything". Before that it was "two girls surviving high school and sharing everything."
  • New entrecard 125 x 125 image.

Have you ever parted ways with a business partner or blog contributor? Was it mutual or was did it turn ugly? And any ideas for a new tagline?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was actually supposed to run my finance blog with my brother. That's how I came up with the name "Money Relations". He was supposed to be the expert while I played the noob. But when he was late on the intro post, I took over from the beginning. I wasn't going to nag him for a post and I didn't want our relationship to deteriorate for the sake of a blog.

I can understand where you're coming from. Good reasoning and decision making.

Selene said...

That is exactly how I felt. I didn't want to have any hard feelings, because of the blog.

Chungyen Chang said...

I think that this is a good decision, and i'm glad it didn't affect your friendship.

I've had a similar problem also. I asked three friends to help guest blog on my blog about music, and two of them haven't posted at all, while the third can be a little...too enthusiastic sometimes. He makes really long posts haha. So I've ended up editing them post-production.

Good luck with wherever you go in this blog. :) If you ever need a guest blogger, I can help.

Selene said...

Thank you for the offer and I'm glad you agree with my decision. Doing business with friends can be so tricky and easily lead to conflict. I believe ending it was the best decision, because it probably would have ended up hurting our relationship in the long run if I hadn’t said anything.

blogger said...

This has happened to me several times. It sounds like you are handling it very well. Whenever I've been passive in handling a problem, it blows up eventually and there are hard feelings! Looks like you both survived Surviving High School.

Selene said...

I believe action is the best way to solve problems and being passive will only make the problems grow.

Anonymous said...

how would a blog affect a friendship?

it's just a blog.

Anonymous said...

Good decisions! It's sometimes necessary to continue on your own, and leave something behind!

Selene said...

@ Anonymous
If the blog leads to hard feelings or arguments than it is hurting the relationship. It is not the actual blog that can hurt the relationship, but the feelings the blog creates. Fortunately, we didn't have any arguments about the blog, but there could have been.

Anonymous said...

sometimes, separation is good...

how can 2 walk together if they cant agree...

hope u can find someone else to write and wish u all the best!!

^^

Anonymous said...

If I'm to take blogging seriously with a regular schedule and all, I'll prefer to have guest bloggers instead of regular blog contributors. That way, I'll work them into my schedule only after I've seen their guest articles.

My experience with people offering their help is that a lot of times, it's just lip service.