Happy Anniversary to My Blog

Dear Gentle Readers:

Today marks the one-year anniversary that I started this blog. Although my intentions originally stemmed from wanting to keep in touch with the Stewart girls, the blog itself has taken on a life all its own. This is my 131st post, which means that I have posted something on the average of once every 2.8 days. A feat I didn't think was possible for me.

In my whole life I couldn’t journal for beans. That is until I found blogging, something that I had previously turned my nose up at. Clearly I was mistaken. The experience of blogging has been a very positive one for me. In my heart of hearts I am still a drama queen. This forum has provided me with an attentive and active audience. I have a lot to say about everything, and I tend to say it most often here. I enjoy creative writing immensely and blogging has helped me fine-tune my skills. Practice has not made me perfect, but it has made me a lot better. Blogging has also given me a new outlet for creativity, as demonstrated by my photography, graphic design, cooking, decorating, and humor (yes, I do think being funny and unearthing funny requires a lot of creativity), which are constantly finding their way into my posts.

Blogging has made me notice my life in much finer detail. There is a little narrator in my head that is constantly working on the next post. Although the voice is my own, it still operates in much the same way that J.D.’s does on Scrubs. Not all the recitations make the cut, nor are they all remembered before I sit down at my laptop again, but roughly 50% find their way to the electronic page.

It is because this yearlong experiment with blogging has been so rewarding, that I feel I am outgrowing the personal medium a little bit. Although I thoroughly enjoy the comments I get from the small audience I have – which consists mainly of people I know from somewhere besides blogging – I am ready to go bigger. I am ready to expand my audience and write about a variety of subjects where I may lend some expertise. I am ready to generate some income by doing this. We’ll see how it goes.

I have learned so much, not only about the writing process, but about what the audience responds too. In the last six months I have become adept at knowing which posts will receive immediate and large responses, and which will not. So thank you dear readers, but most especially the dear commenters, without whose feedback I would have abandoned this project months ago.

Wish me luck as I venture out in to the big, wide world of blogging for profit. I will keep you updated as to how things are going. I plan to launch a separate blog from this one, without ties to anyone in my personal life, in an effort to protect people’s identity. I hope to be eeking out a small, but reasonable living by Christmas.

Thankfully Yours,
Ali

PS – I would be much obliged if some of my lurkers would come out and leave comments just this once so I can have a better idea of my true readership.