Time Flies

Hard to believe that it has been a full 365 days since my brother suggested I start a blog, and I actually took him up on it. Yep, one year ago today I wrote my very first blog. Said post was about stupid people, a subject I still feel stongly about. But a year ago, I think the only people who read it were myself and my brother. A lot has happened in that year.

Initially, I would complain to my brother that this was stupid, because no one even READ my blog, except maybe him and his softball buddy, Fig. Every once in a while, another of his softball buddies read too, since I was linked on his softball site. He told me that I had to find other blogs I enjoyed, and comment on them, and then maybe they would read MY blog.

So I tried. I went to my blog and hit “next blog.” And hit it again. And again and again and again. “There are no other blogs that I like!” I lamented to my brother. He laughed at me, and told me I had a bit of an arrogance problem. But that really wasn’t it, I just wasn’t finding anything that really grabbed me. Finally, I noticed Fig had a link. To something called “Shady Dreams.” I read it, and I LOVED it. I commented, and Timmortal read my blog and commented. Then I looked up one of Timmortal’s commenters, Amber. I read her blog, and guess what? LOVED it! And commented. So now I had some links to put on my blog, and I started getting more into it.

Thanks to Fig and Timmortal and Amber, I started getting more hits. And comments. I LOVED (and still do) getting comments, whenever I would see an e-mail in my inbox with the blog as a subject, it would TOTALLY make my day. Because, as most bloggers, I thrive on the attention and recognition and online support. I mean, really, who doesn’t, right? I remember when Amber first started reading my blog regularly, and commenting regularly. I was so excited, because someone who didn’t even know me, and who lived clear across the COUNTRY, no less, enjoyed my writing. And let me know. My brother started teasing me, saying that he didn’t want to comment anymore, because he felt he would intrude on my “conversations” with Amber. And that’s kind of how it went, for a while. I could count on Timmortal, and Amber, and my brother, and my hit counter slooooooowly crept upward.

Then somehow, things started to snowball. Through a link on Amber’s blog, other people “found” me. And they LIKED me!! They were COMMENTING!! And I read their blogs, and I commented, too. Suddenly, I had a sidebar full of links, and found myself linked on several other blogs as well. A great honor and privilege, to all of you who felt my blog worthy enough to link, I thank you. Especially since I have been somewhat lazy in my posts lately. But I’m working on that.

Anyway, my blog has become pretty special to me. And my blog buddies even more so. My mom once remarked how it was kind of like 21st century penpals, and I guess in a way, it is. To me, it is an outlet. I mean, writers write. That’s what they do. And to have a forum that can be shared and to receive feedback is like the ultimate. And “TBOTE?” Something I always wanted to do, but never had the discipline. It’s hard to just stop in mid-story when you have people waiting for more. (Yes, I know, I know, I am working on the next chapter. Having difficulty gathering my thoughts.) So this blog has helped me to strive toward a goal I have had for as long as I can remember. (Of course, it wasn’t until I met Kevin that I had a reallllly good story to write, but whatever.) And this blog has helped me to get through gloomy times. And this blog has helped me step back and take a look at certain aspects of my life I needed to re-examine. This blog has been AWESOME. (The blog itself, not the contents, I’m really not trying to be conceited.)

But honestly, I guess it’s not really the blog, is it? It’s the people who read it. And the people who comment. And even those who don’t, because that’s ok too. I have made a lot of friends in cyberspace, and some have even crossed over to IM’ing and phone conversations (or at least, ATTEMPTED ones – YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!). I’m looking forward to meeting some of you – hell, if I had my way, I’d meet ALL of you – in the near future. But even if we never meet face to face, I will still count you among my list of friends. Heck, you can’t share as much as most bloggers do and NOT be friends, right?

So I hit a one-year milestone, and have also reached 10,000 on my hit counter in that year. Which I am proud of and think is pretty cool. I figure if I get back on track and write more regularly, the sky’s the limit! (heh) And I also figure if I don’t write more “TBOTE” I may wind up LOSING readers instead. So that will be high on my priority list.

Again, thanks, everyone. Even if you have never commented, your visits mean a lot to me. (But in all honesty, I’d love to hear from you too!) It’s been an interesting year, and I hope that the next one is even better (i.e. filled with interesting things to blog about)!