Why My Blog Needed a New Title

Since this article appeared, I’ve changed my blog title yet again to April Yamasaki, Writing and Other Acts of Faith. Read more about that change here.

Although titles appear first in a book or blog post, I don’t often start with the title, and I find that the best ones often emerge as I’m writing. My book title, Sacred Pauses: Spiritual Practices for Personal Renewal, came even later—after I thought my manuscript was finished–and I then went back and revised with the new title in mind.

When I started blogging last year, I started with the title spiritual practice, faith, and life. I really didn’t know what to call this new venture, but I figured I had to start with something, and I could always change it later. As you can see above, “later” has now arrived, and I’ve decided now to use my name along with the tagline “on faith and writing.”

I could change the title again some time—who knows, there may be another “later” for that — but here’s why my blog needed a new title at least for now:

• for consistency, since now my blog title matches my url https://aprilyamasaki.com.
• for simplicity, since I’ve discovered more people find me by searching for my name than by searching for “spiritual practice” or other known search engine terms.
• for greater focus, since over time, I’ve sharpened the focus of my blog, and the tagline now reflects my current content and direction. “Writing” wasn’t even part of my original title or tagline, but I now have a writer-related post every week.
• as part of claiming my identity and space as a blogger – what started as a tentative experiment has now lasted well beyond the lifespan of a fruitfly (which Caslon Analytics suggests is the lifespan of the average blog). My blog might well have been one of the 60%-80% of new blogs that are abandoned within a month, but I know now that I plan to keep on going.

So if you have spiritual practice, faith and life listed on your blog roll or anywhere else, please change it to April Yamasaki. If it takes you a while to get around to that kind of admin, no worries—the blog address remains the same so you’ll still find your way here.

For August and into the first week of September, I’ll be taking a bit of a blogging break. I have some book reviews and other posts already scheduled, but aside from those I’ll be doing a Retro Series with excerpts from one of my earlier books, Remember Lot’s Wife and Other Unnamed Women of the Bible. At the end of the series, I’ll also be giving away five complimentary copies. To enter the draw, just leave a comment on my blog between August 5 and September 5 — you can comment on the content or just let me know you’d like to enter the draw. For a bonus entry, become a new friend or follower on Facebook, Twitter, or email, and/or share the draw offer on your favourite social media site, then come back and leave a second comment letting me know. Have a great rest of the summer!

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