Yesterday, I was working on what I think will be one of my final posts for this blog. Sad, but true.

ReinventingSandyB came about during a time when I needed just that – to reinvent my life for this next chapter ahead – “Chapter 30″, if you will. People used to make fun of how often people like Madonna or Prince or Oprah changed their look and vibe, but they were on to something, I tell you. On to something big. Reinvention is the source of inspiration and inspiration is the spice of life. Well, that and a good class of wine – that helps inspiration, too.

But this particular stage of my life is coming up on its deadline – August 21, my birthday – and, although I don’t want to collapse the blogging, I wonder if this particular blog will have a purpose beyond this year.  In fact, July 25 (five whole days ago) was my “one year blogging anniversary” and I didn’t even remember until the last few winks before sleep last night (this was my first post.)

I’M HUGE ON ANNIVERSARIES… HOW COULD I MISS THIS ONE?

And then it hit me – this blog isn’t the project, I am.

There are so many things – both awesome and not – that have happened over the last year, few of which I’ve written about here. I mean, I haven’t held back with my thoughts and the details of my daily life, but there have been some exceptions. Some things were just too tender to be shared… just yet.

Number seven on my List is “Finish Chapter One”, something any writer can relate to. I’ve started the first chapter of a so-called book more times than I’ve made chicken for dinner (and that’s a lot, by the way.) There are some authors and writers who are just able to pump out books like suburbanites pump out babies, with almost annual releases and ridiculously lucrative book deals and for-movie proposals. The only difference I can see between them and me (or you) is that THEY’RE ACTUALLY FINISHING THEIR WORK, which, if you’re a writer, is the battle in a nutshell: Finishing the work.

I bet you have at least a dozen partially finished pieces in a drawer or on your desktop somewhere. Don’t you?

That said, over my french press coffee yesterday morning, as I was writing what might just be my final post on this blog (due in about four weeks or so) I realized that I have been writing Chapter One… all. year. long. And you, faithful supporters of this little ole blog, have been my best audience; my muse; my motivation to keep writing, even when I didn’t think I could or wanted to.

Your emails and comments (most of you email me, by the way… comments are light these days) have made me take a good look at myself – your feedback has helped pull me out of some dark moments when I thought, surely, I wasn’t meant to write a damn thing at all. When I needed most, an email would appear in my inbox, telling me that I inspired you to create a Birthday List, to start a business, go for that goal or wear your wedding dress on your birthday. Like, wow, people, just wow. And thank you a million times.

I’m still on the fence about the future of this blog, but I’m no longer on the fence about that first chapter: It will be about me, it will be about this year and the things that made the growing pains worth going through, but most of all, it will be for you.

Send out good vibes, if you please, that my little story hits a bookshelf near you… someday soon. And if it did, would you read it?