Sunday, December 02, 2012

Happy Blogerversary

Tonight, as I tried to think of a subject to write about, it occurred to me that I wrote my first blog entry on December 2, 2005. So tonight I celebrate my seventh bloggerversary.
You can probably tell by the name that the blog started out as an extension of my work on www.dorahighschool.com.
It's an alumni website for my old high school and I thought a blog would be a great way to write for the people who frequently visited my website.
As it turns out, it quickly evolved into a personal journal where I shared my goals, dreams, and other stuff that happened to me from day to day.
At first, only local people visited. But then something interesting happened. I picked up followers in Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Canada, and all across America.
I'm not positive, but I think most of my followers now are people who live in places other than Walker County, Alabama.
The longer I wrote, the more confident I became, so I approached the local daily paper and asked to write a weekly column.
The editor at the time was kind, but he wasn't very encouraging. He said the papers had tried local people in the past without much luck. "Most people are excited at first, but after a few weeks, they usually begin missing deadlines, before long, they quit altogether," he explained.
He told me that writing a weekly column took a great deal of dedication.
I'd anticipated his reluctance and was prepared. Since I'd been writing a daily blog for over two years, I had a year's worth of columns written. I took 10 samples for him to look at.
He called the next day and told me they'd give me a shot. That was in January of 2007.
My first book Remembering Big was comprised of 50 of the best columns. My second book which hit the market in September of this year has 50 more columns.
I wrote all this to say that blogging is a tool. Whenever an aspiring writer comes up to me and asks how to get started, I always tell them to blog. Blogging builds discipline, and hones skills.
Of course you have to also study the craft, and read the work of people who are better than you. It's a tired cliche', but writing is a journey. The more I learn about the craft, the more I realize I don't know squat.
But here I am, on my seventh blogerversary pecking away on my keyboard. On my phone, I'm listening to "The Successful Novelist".
Looking back I can see that I've come a long way, but when I look ahead I see I have a long way to go.

5 comments:

  1. A long way to go? I'm not sure about that..you do great and I enjoy your musings of daily life and your thoughts and feelings. Congrats on your blogerversary and cheers to many more years!

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  2. Congratulations! Your readers love you because you capture the details of daily life so beautifully.

    Love,
    Janie

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  3. Yay!! Happy blogoversary!!! It's amazing how blogs evolve and find their feet and even more fab when it attracts bloggers from all over! Take care
    x

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  4. Yes happy Blogerversary! I'll hit that 7th year myself in June. Mine started as therapy, to vent on loss and happenings in my life and has evolved to something I'm not sure about but it is still a going! Congrats! Carla

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