Why do you still blog?
This is a question I get asked often in 2026, and I can tell you that I have been going through this process for over sixteen years, and I will likely continue on for a few more decades, no matter what new technology comes our way.
Currently, I am just under 2000 completed blog posts, and based on an average of 1000 words per post (some are way shorter, and some are WAY longer), that is the equivalent of anywhere between 20-40 full-length books in blog posts alone. From that process, I have independently written two books and co-authored several more.
Considering all of this, I never started my blog to “share” my voice, but through consistent writing, it has helped me find it.
Some of you might be thinking, “Really? Almost 2000 posts in, with consistent posting, and you haven’t found your voice?!?!?”
More on that in a second.
But where did this all start?
Well, with a single tweet.
In 2008 (that is almost 20 years ago… Oh my!), my brother Alec and I were at our family home in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, and he coaxed me to start a Twitter account because he found great value in the process. From what I knew about it at the time, Twitter was great for connecting with celebrities like Shaq and Tony Hawk, but useless for education.
Not knowing what I was doing, I posted this tweet:
That is not really how it worked, but I had no idea what I was doing, so I started.
Other than a few tweets after that, I didn’t touch the account for at least another year.
Then, in December 2009, as a school principal, I started again.
Fast forward to April 2010: I wrote my first blog post, and the sole reason I started was to create a digital portfolio so I could understand how to teach it to students at our school. How could I teach something to students that I had never learned myself?
As I share in “Forward, Together”:
It is often said that one of the best ways we can demonstrate our ability to learn is to change our minds, especially when new information is available. If we want our students to grow in their learning, they have to see it reflected in the adults.
I wasn’t trying to become a speaker or anything similar to what I am doing today. I just wanted to figure it out so I could help our school community.
Appropriately enough, my first blog post was titled, “Leading by Example” and shared that “The vision is that students and staff would be able to learn from my own practice, with both the success and failures, to develop their own portfolios.”
When I started writing in this space, Instagram wasn’t a thing, TikTok wasn’t even Vine, and AI was a basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers.
But the more I wrote, the more I loved it.
It not only pushed my learning, but it also opened doors for me that I had no idea existed. I titled my blog “The Principal of Change” (many people tried to correct my spelling on the blog title, not understanding how hilarious I was or that I was a school principal), and I became enamored of the entire process.
To this day, I can tell you that there has been nothing better for my professional development than writing in this space. Knowing everyone can read what I share makes me think more deeply about what I write. Isn’t that the hope?
And yes, this space has opened up doors for me and led to opportunities I couldn’t even imagine. Which is why I still advocate using this technology in some form with students, and even yourself. I want to help students intentionally find opportunities for themselves that I stumbled upon by accident. But as much as this space has given me an opportunity to share my voice, “finding my voice” is what still connects with me the most.
In July of 2025, I saw a tweet (is that what we call them now?) from a teacher that immediately inspired me to write my latest book, “Forward, Together: Moving Schools from Conflict to Community in Contentious Times.” The book has deeply resonated with audiences, and the reviews have been amazing. I am so proud of that book, and felt such inspiration while writing it!
People are shocked when they ask how long it took me to write the first draft, because the answer is two weeks. The same was true for “The Innovator’s Mindset.” That book has often been in the top 100 of Educational Administration books on Amazon over the last decade, and it took me two weeks to write.
And yes, the first draft of each took me two weeks, but in reality, I had been writing about them for much longer.
In January of 2025 (6 months prior to writing “Forward, Together“), I wrote a post titled, “Do we need to de-emphasize memorization in education?” In a conversation with a friend of mine, I pointed him to that post and re-read it, and I was both surprised and unsurprised by some of the things I wrote. Here they are:
So, instead of focusing on the idea that we should “de-emphasize memorization,” which may push people apart, where do we bring people together while, perhaps, moving them forward?
And then this:
Together and forward. That is the goal.
I had started writing a book I had no idea I would ever write. As I look back at many more of my posts, I realize that I have been writing this book for years.
In 2016 (yes, ten years ago from the time of this post), I wrote a post about “Education and Brown M & M’s” and a story about the band Van Halen on this blog. Remnants of that post made their way into “Forward, Together,” released in January of 2026.
The more I just sit down and write, the more I learn.
Sometimes I write to share my learning, but more often I write to learn. I find what I am interested in before I even start looking.
When people approach me about writing a book, the first thing I tell them is to write a blog. Write consistently in that space, and you will find your book.
Meghan Lawson and Lauren Kaufman are two people who took that advice (I gave them what I like to call a “gentle shove”) and eventually wrote their own books. (Meghan’s book is here, and Lauren’s is here.) But what I appreciate about both of them is that they didn’t stop their blog once their books came out. They continued because they know the value it provides for their own personal growth.
I still hope others will blog, and maybe, like Barnes & Noble, it will make a comeback! (#BookTok seemingly revived the company to open 60 new stores in 2025!) Maybe I should start #BlogTok, which will probably be as effective as my first tweet!
And yes, blogging is a great way to share your voice, but finding your own voice and your own way through the process is what I see as the biggest benefit.
If you jump in, who knows what that first post will inspire you to create? Knowing what I do now, I would have never hesitated to start in the first place. Sharing what I know with you might inspire someone to take that first step.
