First blogiversary thoughts

So. It’s been a year. A whole year since I wrote shaky-handed e-mails to a couple of bloggers asking what the heck to name a blog and explaining nervously that I wasn’t sure about writing on the World Wide Web. A handful of ugly templates on a Blogger site and 160 posts later, here I am: I’ve got my own fancy-schmancy domain and functionality that seems wildly luxurious. It’s a little crazy. I’m a little speechless.

Oh, and welcome to the updated site! Yay! A few housekeeping notes:

• Now, I can respond to comments in the comment field, so that others can benefit from knowing what breed of dog JG is hunting, among other important information. Also, I can get back to people without scouring websites for an e-mail address – woo!
• Everything looks its best in the newest version of Firefox, so try updating if anything seems wacky. If you must use Internet Explorer, it’ll be okay, I guess.
• My next project is to update internal links so that they don’t redirect to the old site, but that might take a while.
• I’ve sold a bit of my soul to some hopefully-unobtrusive ad space in the sidebar.

When I wrote my very first post, I posed a series of questions to revisit a year later and see how this whole experience has felt to me. Here we go!

Did I update as regularly as I wanted to? Maybe 3 times a week?
I’m happy to check back to my obsessive spreadsheet tracker and note that, yes, I managed to write with an average of 2.30 days between posts. Of course, the standard deviation is 1.29, so that number probably needs a grain of salt to go with it.

Did anyone read this other than me and JG?
To my surprise, yes! More on that later.

How do I feel about writing in general?
I’m really pleased that I feel much more practiced in writing after having had this blog and I like to think that I write more and better than I had in the past. I was accustomed to building literary-type analyses in college, but this blog has challenged me to view my life through a story-telling lens. I enjoy the quest of showing, not telling, what’s going on in my life, and while I don’t think I do a great job all the time, but I really like having a forum to experiment and try different forms. Starting this site also opened up the opportunity to write for 451 Press and that experience was very constructive in my learning what my style is and how I best operate in writing structured pieces. I never thought I could make a living off of writing, but at least now I know I can have a good time with it.

Have I met anyone new?
Yes! I am always amazed at the interactive comments that funny, thoughtful folks leave on my posts. I went for so long without comments due to my feeling self-conscious about self-promotion that my first comment (thanks, Janet!) was quite the surprise. In a blundering way, I’m trying to say, “Thanks!” For commenting and conversing with me about so many different topics. For encouraging me to do things like join Indie Bloggers or giving me the thumbs-up when I started the job hunt. I may write to exercise myself, but I don’t do it without you in mind, and it means so much to hear that things I’ve written may have touched you or made you laugh. So, thank you.

And, if there is anyone out there who hasn’t said “hi” yet, I would love it if you would. I’m nice, I promise! Hi!

How often did I get writer’s block?
I can’t remember a specific incident, but I definitely started out with a slower rate of posts than where I am now. Although I’d like to keep up a good clip of posting, I don’t like to crank something out for the sake of it, so I’ve become more resigned to times when I’m just too busy. So maybe I’m just lazier, rather than less susceptible to writer’s block.

What’s my favorite part about blogging? Least favorite?
My favorite part of blogging is seeing a line that is exactly how I thought it in my head and actually represents what I intended. It’s an added and wonderful bonus when someone else lets me know that they feel the same way. My least favorite part of blogging is knowing that the only way to grow the site is self-promotion, but the thought of a conscious marketing effort makes me feel weird.

What have I learned?

• The internet makes the world much smaller.
• A blog can supplement a written journal, but shouldn’t replace it.
• I should be grateful that JG is such a willing subject of my posts. I am, by the way.

Am I looking back at these questions and thinking, “I can’t believe I thought that was a good idea…”?
Not at all! It’s interesting to me to look back at what I thought I might do or not do. After a year, I still enjoy keeping up with writing, I’ve made friends, and I’m going strong. Year #2 is looking pretty good, don’t you think?