If you want to keep going long-term, like 10+ years, and can find some enjoyment in really owning the tech (blogging takes only a very basic stack), I recommend

If you want to keep going long-term, like 10+ years, and can find some enjoyment in really owning the tech (blogging takes only a very basic stack), I recommend self-hosting. There is nothing like being in total control, back to front. I took a windy route to get to that point myself though, and still have an old blogger blog that lives on long after I decided to self-host. So it may be worth considering that this is a platform you are picking, but the platforming process is also a journey in which you discover your personal likes/dislikes. I've run blogs on these platforms: WordPress, Blogger/Blogspot, Joomla, ModX, Textpattern, ProcessWire, and a bunch of other FOSS blogging platforms, including static blog software and forums with blogging features. These days I have a bit of a platform on-roading process where I go from LibreOffice HTML (personal framework) -> HTML framework -> PHP + HTML Framework -> Textpattern Section or ProcessWire page-section. Depending on how serious it's getting. :-) (BTW: Textpattern is still freakin' amazing for how quickly you can create an endpoint and some output combined w/ any logic and any mimetype, and do that in your browser without touching PHP, after installing the CMS itself. I used it to tie a food distributor's online marketing & sales websites & back-end sales PDF tools together, and in this leverage point it still has few rivals. Especially in the lightweight CMS space) Good luck & hope to see you writing soon.