I love this! I also recently posted a similar story here about why I was revamping my own website. And everything you say about doing that is true. You've got to get your Wordpress skills back in gear, and deal with all the updates that make you cringe. The only difference is, I found blogging from my website to be unproductive. Hardly any interaction, in stark contrast to Medium. However, I too believe a website is necessary, if only as a landing page for introduction, and of course, to promote the books one has written. But man, did I ever pare it down from what it had been, and I am much happier with the result. I wish you the very best on yours, and certainly hope you'll share the link when done.