I was gone from blogging for almost 9 months. There were lots of serious personal events in my life that contributed to this. I’ll talk more about these at a future date.

Another reason I took a blogging hiatus is I was struggling with my blogging voice. I started this site to talk about HR, Management and Leadership … These days, with all that’s going on in my world and the world around me, I wondered and worried would my audience accept, hear and enjoy these other things? Eventually, I just kept all those thoughts locked in and hit a point of inertia. My creativity withered.

As I get back into blogging rhythm, I’ve decided not to worry about being accepted.  In the Year of the Savage, I cannot concern myself with this. And as a writer and (dare I say) artist, I know if the work is authentic, good and sincere then my audience will ride with me and ultimately grow.

To challenge myself,  I started looking for a blogging challenge. I’ve seen several friends join these challenges where they blog every day for a month or more about pre-determined topics. There were lots of great ones out there — but none that gave voice to the things on my heart.

So, with the help of Keirsten Greggs and Janine Truitt,  I created my own.

Introducing the #BlackBlogsMatter challenge, starting February 1st.

February is Black History Month. There’s no better time to address head on many of the topics surrounding race than that. And no better challenge for me.

My hope is I won’t be alone in this challenge. I want others to join with me.

• I don’t care whether you’re Black or not.
• I don’t care if you’re a traditional Blogger with a website or if some other social media medium is your thing.
• I don’t care if you do all 28 days or just pick and choose the topics you’re most passionate about.

Everyone is welcome who wants to share positive thoughts and engage in thoughtful conversation … so if divisiveness and trolling is your thing, go make your own challenge. This one is for savages only.

Because we will never get beyond these issues if we don’t have the courage to talk about them.

Are you up for the challenge? Let’s go.