WordPress just informed me that I started this blog nine years ago today.
And I thought it was a good time to tell you, my lovely readers, how much I appreciate you visiting, liking, commenting, and occasionally actually reading my posts all the way through. Thank you for sticking around all these years. For those that left the blogging world a long time ago–I get you. I do.
Sadly, I’m one of those desperate bloggers still holding on to the WordPress life raft, the waves of mediocrity relentlessly crashing down on me. Should I just give up? Stoically vanish into the dark abyss of nothingness and the sea like George Clooney in A Perfect Storm?
Why do I keep hanging on? I try to give it up and a few months go by and that ol’ familiar itch surfaces once again. Here’s the stark truth: Blogging is like a bad rash.
Some more things I learned about blogging after 9 years:
- You can never please every reader.
- You will never please most readers.
- One reader will be pleased. This is who you write for. (I’m looking at you, cousin Kim!)
- Make your blog your own, and to heck with people who don’t like the way you dot your t’s or cross your i’s. I’m not a “writer”. I have never taken a single writing course in my life. (What–you say you can tell? Shut up) But I do read a ton. And what I write is what I am. This is me. Love it, kinda like it or leave it. I am getting too old to give a crap anymore.
- Don’t worry about anything. Just write. This isn’t a doctoral dissertation. For God’s sake, have fun!
Along with this 9th bloggy-versary, I’m also turning almost 50. Something strange has happened. A gnawing unsettling feeling. Yes, that plate of nachos has something to do with it…but it’s also telling me that I must write more. I have to write more. I need to write more about my life and the truths I’ve discovered along the way. I’ve been reading the book Writing Down the Bones and it has stirred something locked inside. I need to stop being so insecure and just get it out. All of it.
Stay tuned, will you?
She's A Maineiac 
Yes. Stop being insecure and just vomit it out. That’s what I usually do. Glad to see you’re still around. Last month I hit ten years and my happy blogaversary post sits in my drafts folder. Still waiting for my brain to come back online a bit more. I definitely resonate with never having taken a writing course, not being a “writer”, but just plain having to write. So write on ye plaid wearing, java sipping Maineiac!
I get what you mean about turning 50, it somehow sparks an urgency that can’t be a bad thing – I’m moving to Maine soon 😊. Cheers and keep sharing your thoughts !
Thanks, Sam! Yes, facing down 50 has lit a fire under my ass like never before. I just can’t comprehend how fast my life is going lately. Thanks again for reading!
And see, your writing is seriously good,–all the time! It’s insightful, vivid, engaging…like I’ve told you before, you need to write a book about your experiences!
But yes, I hear you when you say “waiting for your brain to come back online a bit more”. I have been so out of the loop lately with most things online. I think what I need to do is just start writing again and keep doing that with much shorter “breaks”. I have forgotten my voice!
I’m so glad you’re still at it. I’ll stay if you will. Dagnabbit! 🙂 MJ
Yeah! We can do this!
“bad rash?” if so, please keep scratching that itch! i always look forward to your posts.
Thank you for such a kind comment! It’s readers like you who keep me going, even when I’d rather just sit on the couch, eat chips, and binge watch Netflix.
9yrs is bloody great, congratulations
I write for me usually about not that exciting stuff
I have been doing so for 15yrs more or less
Congrats to you! I think the not exciting stuff is the BEST stuff to write about.
Happy blogaversary! Keep on doing it, I love it and can totally relate!
Thank you! I had a feeling most of you would “get me”.
Please keep blogging, Darla. I miss those days when you or Peg or other writers I no longer hear from, would win FP!!! Remember that hysteria? I was always so psyched for my sister. And, you. Think I’ll check out the book you mentioned. And, not yet 50? Pshaw, you’re a youngin!. Just sayin’ 🙂
Hey, I know you! This is like the old days. 🙂
Peggles! Does this mean you’ll come back to the bloggy dark side?? Hmm???
Aw, thank you, Tar! I do fondly remember the good ol’ glory days of FP…sigh…So happy you are still here and reading. 🙂 I miss you, Peg and everyone else, too!
I think you’ll enjoy the book. I just finished it and it only took a few days. She gives some of the best advice for writers. She uses her meditation background to help us free our “monkey mind” and get to the real truth of our lives when we write.
Now all I have to do is the hard part: write.
Good to “see you” here again!
I’m in. Since my husband’s death I haven’t, cant…whatever. But I miss it. I miss the bloggy community. Dammit…i might even have to start up again.
Do it Katie!
I would be so happy if you did!
Happy Blogaversary! You’re such a talented writer, you should totally go for it. Totally.
Thanks, Peg! I wish I believed that, but maybe it’s time to shut up with the insecurity and just do it. I have nothing to lose, right? But then writing is so damned time consuming. Maybe I’ll just write once a month, instead of once every 6 months. Go slow.
“Sadly, I’m one of those desperate bloggers still holding on to the WordPress life raft, the waves of mediocrity relentlessly crashing down on me.” Hahahaha. Me too, me too. Congratulations on nine years. That is a real achievement.
Thank you very much. I wish I could crank out more posts like I did in the early years, but at least this is a start.
🙂 In that case, I would like to wish you a happy ninth blogging anniversary.
May continue to blog for many more years to come!
Thank you!
That’s a great book. If it’s inspiring you to write, WRITE!!
Isn’t it though? I just finished it and she has really lit a spark. If anything, writing will help me discover myself again. I think I’ve become lost under the shuffle of work, kids, parents, life.
Your longevity pleases me. Dunno how long nine years is. I went backwards on mine and couldn’t find a beginning. It must have been put away by my mom.
I have no idea how long nine years is, either. Lately, time zips by me in a blur. Years are seconds. But I’m still here somehow…
Happy ninth! I just had my eighth, contemplated blogging about it, and went “Meh, nah” – mainly because I couldn’t think of anything to say. I guess that extra year of experience engenders wisdom, because your comments resonate with me. Also wanted to say, I’m glad you’re still around. I too go through many long dead patches and keep coming back because … something. I think we relapse. Not sure whether the blogging or the not blogging is the relapse, however.
You described how I feel perfectly. I’ve had long dead patches of several months and say to myself, “I am DONE with blogging forever! Why should I bother?” then inevitably I come crawling back. I love to write and to chat with readers. I just miss it, I guess.
Yes, I LOVE the chatting and connection! The writing is good, often helps me make sense of the craziness if I take a step back and view it as blog fodder. But I’m working on a book and really that’s where I need to be putting my writing energy. What I love about blogging is the feedback.
Good luck on your book! I want to write a book, but it’s just starting that first line that’s stumping me…
You have to understand, the first line will be shit. Start with whatever blurps onto the page, get traction and keep going. You can fix it later. Good luck!
Oh, I love that advice! Thank you! (writing shit comes easily to me…ha!)
Congratulations! You are so right about blogging for yourself AND the handful of people who really do want, need, to read what you have to say.
It is great to see some bloggers (pop up in your comment section) who have been off the radar for some time. I always wonder what has happened to people who just suddenly stop blogging.
I had a communications discussion with my two sibs yesterday. One prefers to talk on the phone. One prefers to text. I prefer emails. It is no wonder that we have trouble ‘doing’ a three way message! Anyhow, what I like about emails and blogging is that I can start out on one trail, discover stuff along the way, loop back to add and edit, and wind up at an ending that I had no idea was there when I started.
Looking forward to reading your truths!
I love how you described that! That’s what I love about writing. For me, I have an idea, then just let it flow and run with it. I always end up somewhere new. I find my best writing is when I silence my inner critic and just go for it. Thanks for sticking around and reading, Margy!
It’s interesting for me to look back on the periods in my life when I was most productive as a writer. For me it’s much, much easier to write a lot than to write a little. When I have deadlines and a schedule and a community my brain is trained to look for ideas and metaphor, and suddenly all of life becomes funny and poignant and full of portent. And then I get busy or go through a personal rough patch and can’t write as often, and the ideas stop, an entire year will go by without writing anything significant. How could an entire year go by without anything interesting or funny happening to me? I feel like writing is the one thing I do that makes me slow down and take a look at the world around me.
I think maybe it’s time to get back to writing, Paul! (or blogging…??!)
I can relate. Once I’m out of that “groove”, the ideas aren’t flowing as fast. If I take a few months off, I honestly feel like I’ve forgotten how to write a single sentence. In my daily life, I’m still observing everything deeply like I always have (and finding the funny in everything), but I don’t take that next leap and write about it. Lately, something deep down is telling me to write my ass off before it’s too late. (old age kinda lights a fire under your ass…) Good to see you here again, Paul! I certainly have missed your blog!
Congratulations!!!!
Thank you!
Like you I have stopped and started and stopped and started again over the years. I decided that I will write about my world and when I read it again in 2, 4, and 6 years from now I will remember my state of mind, my activities, wishes and unspoken words. My blog is my gift to myself. Happy Anniversary to you!
I love that, a gift to yourself! I have gone back recently and reread some of my posts from the early days and I’ve noticed I either cringe at how terrible my writing is, or I laugh at my own jokes.It’s fun to reminisce though.
The other thing about reading my writing from yesterdays is that often I can remember where I was at the time and what I was thinking. (OK, sometimes I am totally clueless too!) But, if I think about writing it for me, then I have a platform that I can satisfy. Hooray!
Congratulations for 9 years!!! It is incredible. You write well, continue with your love.
Thank you!
Are you trying to tell me that my blog is not a life’s worth of pure unsullied art? I’m pretty sure people are commemorating my every word in some archive deep underground, where my words will last for the next thousand years. A thousand years of Trent Lewin! Sounds funky. But wow – nine years. I’m younger than you, but you’re funnier than me. So I’ll stick around and hope that you do write more.
Ha! I love that — “A thousand years of Trent”. I often wonder if in the future some alien will stumble upon this blog and decipher posts like “I Broke My Ass” and think “Explains why the human race died out.”
Congratulations on your 9 year anniversary! (It’s probably a mere coincidence that this comment is 9 days late. 🙂
Aw, thank you, X!
I’m catching on to this train nine years late but glad I caught you. I totally get this as many of my favorites have moved onto other things, leaving WP, but like you I’m still white knuckling it and clicking away at the keys. Thanks for the book suggestion. 🙂
Welcome and I look forward to checking out your blog. Enjoy the book!
I discovered you this week while looking for inspiration for naming my new blog. Nine years is amazing, and 9 is the number of completion, so there’s that. As an over 50 writer it’s true that you hit an age where suddenly you stop carrying about what others think. It’s freeing! One of the best books i’ve read on writing is If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland. Written in 1938 but, timeless. I have a feeling you would relate. You are are writer if you feel the urge to write. It’s what wants to come through you. The form doesn’t really matter. Hope to see your book one day!
Oh, I love your definition of a writer! It’s definitely an urge, (almost like a purge as well…) You just have to get it all out. Thanks for such positive encouraging words, I appreciate it. My dream is to write a book. Just one. Or one chapter. I’ll take any progress at this point.