Happy Birthday to Me… and This Blog

Today is January 15 and the fact that it’s my birthday is beside the point. The bigger celebration, as far as I’m concerned, is that it’s the birthday of this blog, too. One year since I sat in the St Pancras International hotel lobby and refused myself permission to leave the premises until I finally pressed the “publish” button for the very first time.

I was terrified.  Out of my element. Keeping a blog involves so much more than simply writing, as I quickly learned. I see the past 12 months spread out before me like a route on a Waze map, with the the starting point pin positioned at one year ago today. That route is dotted with all of the things I’ve learned along the way, things I didn’t know only last January. Here is but a partial list of those things:

How to use hashtags and categories

How to work with search engines

The difference between a logo and a header

The difference between a domain and a server

The importance of high quality photos

*What a widget is

How to use hyperlinks

That other, more established sites will publish your work if you’re brave enough to ask

What a gravatar is

How validating it is when someone says that my content is relatable.

And that writing fills a deep creative need of mine like nothing else does.

The learning curve has been steep but worthwhile and there is much more I want to know, so I’m going to get back in that metaphorical car and see where the next dot on that Waze route takes me via my blog and other creative outlets. And I hope you’re right there beside me along the way.