Three hundred posts and five years ago today, I created this blog. At the time it was something fairly new and I had heard a few reports of these things called blogs on the news. At that time, they had hardly come about to be the media force they are now. A few activist blogs had begun to be taken seriously by the media and some newspapers were sensing the threat as they laid off reporters who went straight to competing with them through the resources available online.
Now people make their living by blogging.
Not me.
Three hundred posts in five years = sixty posts a year = five posts a month. Averages don’t mean a thing. The first month had two posts and then there was a gap.
A significant gap.
Until I became so bored in my job that I was craving some kind of creative outlet again and the posts picked up to a regular pace.
Then I got a new job that took all my creative energies.
And there was that second Masters degree in the middle of it all.
But through it all, there was also the chance to get to know some people I now call friends. I’ve met some on trips to different cities and there was the one 24 hour round trip to New York to meet a bunch of bloggers on a hot-as-hell roof for the bar’s Sunday weenie roast.
It has been fun to look back on old posts over the years as I’ve tried different formats and tried to come up with regular features. They were all a bit forced and not the natural way I wanted this blog to flow. I re-read some and go, “what were you thinking!” and look at others and go, “I’m proud of that writing.” Before I started typing 3/4 of the posts in word or pages prior to posting them, I look back and see the number of typos I made as I typed directly into the blogger platform. The photos represent some of the fun I like to have and present my one visual artistic bent.
The overarching observation about my blog is that it represents me. In reading it, you know who I am and I’ve been able to demonstrate my serious side, my love of cooking, and gardening. My favorite posts though have shown my quirky sense of humor as I sometimes read labels a bit too seriously (jerky, shampoo, margarita mix, insurance envelopes). Life is best when well rounded.
I now confess, that I’m the author of three blogs and have two more in development as I’ve come to rely on the opportunities for education and communication they present. I actually teach a class through one blog as the platform there allows me to post text, video, and audio. Another is a professional blog in the question/answer format on yet another platform: people ask a question, and I provide the answer.
Little did I know, five years ago, sitting on the balcony of my apartment, just how much that yearning for creative expression would pull me into the online world and a new community of friends. I could not have imagined that what I publish here would go out on twitter and then pop up on Facebook. I certainly did not imagine that I could type an email on my phone and publish it to the blog.
I really have to stay away from the iPad or I’ll be dangerous and never get any of my work done!
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