I first started blogging almost a decade ago, when I was fresh out of high school and Xanga was cool. There were a lot of pictures and song lyrics back then, because it was 2004 and that’s what one did. When I started that blog, somebody told me that there was no way I would keep it up every day; I was determined to prove them wrong. I didn’t blog every day, but I blogged very consistently for four or five years. Xanga was a beautiful community and we wrote mountains of words and overshared about everything and loved it. Then Facebook came along and ruined everything.

Last year I decided, on a whim, to jump back into the game. So I threw together this WordPress blog and hammered out a bunch of words about “Christianity: Relationship or Religion?”. I called the blog “Redemption Pictures”, a name I had used on a few student films back in college. I had no plans or ambitions, just a few things I wanted to say.

Writing isn’t like riding a bike, at least not for me. After about five years away from blogging, I had a hard time finding that sweet spot where the good words flow easy. It’s taken me a full year, but I feel like I’m finally getting a feel for it again, remembering my voice.

The past few months have been really fun. Through the magic of Twitter, I’ve connected with a whole community of writers that I really respect and have been inspired by the stuff they’re saying. Thanks to a few retweets from Rachel Held Evans, this little blog has had a huge leap in traffic in the past two months. As my words have found their way to various eyeballs and hearts, many of you have sent incredibly encouraging bits of love. That just makes me want to write more, and so I do. Like I said, this is really fun.

I’ve spent the last few evenings hunched over my computer, with Spongebob Squarepants playing in the background, mashing together codes and widgets and hoping that my whole blog wouldn’t disappear as I’ve transferred the whole mess to another server. Yesterday was particularly sketchy, because all my links stopped working for an hour or so. (This is never good.) Fortunately, I think I’m near the end of the process.

Hopefully, what we have here is a new and improved Redemption Pictures that will make it easier for you to read and share and comment on stuff. (I’m still working on setting up Disqus, but all the old comments should be showing up here in the next few days.) I might still tweak a few things as I get used to the new look, so tell me what you think in the comments.

This community is a gift, and I love it. If we haven’t connected yet, please hit me up on Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest. I’m really grateful for you reading my blog and letting me share these little fragments of my journey with you.

[ Image: Brian Matis ]