One Year Anniversary

It has been one whole year since I created my blog.  My first post went live on May 6, 2015.  Since then, I have posted fifty-three blogs.  Similar to the check-in I did at six months, I wanted to take the opportunity to look back at what I have accomplished.  I want to revisit the original goals outlined in my first blog as well as some of the tasks I set for myself at the six month check-in.  At the end, I will discuss the future of my blog for this coming year.

The first goal I gave myself was to write more.  I definitely write more than I did before starting the blog.  I have maintained the weekly blog with only a few weeks that were “non-blogs”.  I have also been a little bit more consistent with journaling this past year that I was before.  I am not sure if the two are related, but overall I am happy that I have been writing something, anything lately.  I have done no more work on the novel or any other kind of creative writing.  Mentally, I just do not feel able to devote the time and energy needed on a project like that.  I have been considering whether a different type of writing project might be easier at this point in my life.  I have considered expanding to other blogs, such as travel, entertainment, and food.  Entertainment I have already incorporated into this blog as a regular feature, although in the future it always possible to separate into its own project.  Food I have been discussing with a friend to do in the form of a challenge blog which I think might fun.  I have also considered trying to write short stories instead attempting a full-length novel.  These I could either post online in blog format or I could look into submitting them to some type of publication.  At times, it is a struggle to keep up with just this one blog though, so I may just have to delay writing more until I am in a better place professionally and personally.

In my original post, I indicated that I may use the blog in a journal-like manner to explore the inner workings of myself.  In my six month check-in, I backed away from this goal.  I found it difficult to be too personal in my blog because I fear retribution from those close to me and I fear asking myself the tough questions.  I think I still have not done much deep soul searching in this blog space.  I am working with a therapist to overcome my anxiety about life in general and my tendencies to bury myself under the expectations of others.  In time this may make me comfortable being more open online.  For now though, I think this aspect of the blog is probably defunct.  I have found my rhythm writing more observational and event driven blogs about the things that touch my life.  While some of it might be a bit personal, it probably will not delve into a journal-like quality any time soon.

The final original goal was to entertain others.  I have no way of knowing for certain if any real person has ever read my blog.  It seems unlikely.  My number of views per blog has risen slightly since the six month check-in as I now receive 6-11 reads on most of my posts.  However, I will continue to assume these are search engine bots until I see some evidence of actual human consumption.  The fact that I do not have a readership is still not a surprise, because I have done nothing to promote my blog to others.  I have not told any family or friends, I do not post to other blogs or forums, and I do not advertise in any way.  To be honest, I am a little scared to put myself out there for a real readership.  So until I find my courage, I will have to be satisfied with mostly writing to write.

When I look at the tasks I set for myself at the end of the six month check-in, I find I have not made much progress on them.  I did say the most important thing was to just keep writing.  I have done that and made it the full year.  I also wanted to do better at giving the blogs the time and effort they deserve, and I have not done that consistently.  Some of my blogs are exactly what I wanted them to be, and I am happy with the results.  Others I have written from the start to finish in the hours before posting, which does not give me much time to edit and improve.  Plus, I have done a number of cop out blogs that are not real writing projects.  I wanted to learn more about the Blogger site and what features were available for me to use.  I have learned how add pictures to my blog, but I have not done any more investigation than that.  I also wanted to set up my Google+ profile, and I have not done it.  I definitely made no progress on my bonus goal that involved getting my blog out to the public in some way.

So where does this leave me for the coming year?  I definitely plan to continue the blog.  My posts will probably continue in the same vein that I have been using for the past couple of months.  I will start with the update on the Front Room Project, post two to three lifestyle blogs, and end with the month’s entertainment reviews.  I will try to do better about not skipping weeks like I did this past year.  Obviously things come up unexpectedly, but a number of this year’s misses were work related which I usually know about in advance.  I will work to make sure content is always the best that I am capable of producing.  I am going to poke around the Blogger site like l said I would six months ago to see if there is anything there to improve my blog.  Aside from blog content, I am going to focus on building my online presence.  I will work on my Google+ profile as well as determine which other social media sites it might be beneficial to join.  I am pretty proud of what I have accomplished in my first year, but I know I can do more and do better.  Hopefully, year two shows some improvement.

Here is to a successful year of blogging.  See you next week!