Thursday, December 24, 2009

a whole year of blogging!

so today . . . is the first anniversary of my blog.

last christmas eve when i wrote my first blog, i had no idea how blogging was going to affect my life. i started with the intent of just documenting the funny or strange things that happened to me, but along the way i found that i was also recalling childhood memories, learning things about myself, and writing not just to document, but also to entertain. i tried to write every single day, and i did for a while. but i found that there is a reason that newspaper columnists only publish two or three columns a week--it is hard to be creative and funny on a deadline.

i wanted my first anniversary blog to be amazing--knock your socks off amazing! i was going to have it redesigned with new colors and pictures. i was going to write a retrospective of the year that would have you laughing until it hurt. and then i was going to end it with a bang!

and then i got sick and my brain turned into cottage cheese . . .

so instead, i am going to offer you a first anniversary top ten list.

TOP TEN THINGS THAT HAVE CHANGED SINCE I STARTED BLOGGING

10. i go to bed later. i tend to be a night owl anyway, but now that i blog, it is getting ridiculous. many nights i do not even start writing until 10:00, which is when i should be heading toward bed. it has been suggested that i start writing earlier, but oddly enough, i am not as funny earlier in the day.

9. mini chocolate donuts. actually, the mini chocolate donuts haven't changed, but their role in our family has. we now refer to them as "devil donuts." so do a few of our friends. but to diandra, they represent her mother wrongly accusing her of theft. and she can't seem to let it go. if you ask her about my blog, THAT is what comes to her mind--not all the wonderful, brilliant things i've said about her, but how i thought she ate the devil donuts (hey-it was a reasonable assumption given the information that i had . . . )

8. "you should blog that." i hear these words from my family quite frequently now. when we are out together and something unusual happens, one of them will say, "you should blog that." i am glad that they enjoy my blogging and appreciate their willingness to participate--whether it's by giving me ideas or just allowing me to tell stories about them.

7. my mind is learning to think kinder, gentler thoughts. i try to avoid offending or hurting anyone when i blog. this means that sometimes i can't just write straight out of my head--i need to edit my thoughts before i write them down. and as i have done that over the last year, i find that my thoughts don't need to be edited nearly as much as they used to. my initial reaction to my world is more forgiving and more tolerant, and i think that makes me a more contented person.

6. people know things about me that i don't know they know. sometimes i forget who reads my blog, and when people come up to me and reference something from my past or something that happened at school, it is always surprising to me. and i look at them and think, "how did you know that?" it sort of makes me feel like a celebrity for a few minutes. and then i remember--loyal blog readers.

5. the first thing i check when i go online is my email. why, you ask? because i am always hopeful that someone has commented on my blog. i love to blog, but i love your comments even more. i can see how many people are reading by looking at the stat counter, but your comments show me your reactions to what i have written. the possibility of reading your comments is what keeps me blogging on those days when i think i just can't do it.

4. i think in blogspeak. i will be going about my day, minding my own business, when an idea will come to me for a blog, and suddenly i am not thinking like i normally do. suddenly my thoughts will have a certain rhythm and cadence. i will discard a particular word in favor of a more descriptive one. and i will know that in my mind i have switched from real world thinking to blogspeak.

3. anything can be a blog--not necessarily a good blog, but if i think about something for a little bit, i can usually relate it to something that has happened to me, or something i have been thinking about, or food (a favorite blog topic!) in fact, this has just given me a great idea for a blog . . .

2. my family is the best! ok, so this isn't something that has changed--i've always known this. but blogging has shown me why. my family is funny, and they are not afraid to show it. we like to make each other laugh, even if the joke is on us. and we love each other and get along and enjoy being together. yes, i am a lucky duck!

and the #1 thing that has changed since i started blogging--
i don't type in caps anymore. i started doing that because it was just easier and faster, and i decided it would be part of my "style." but now that I have been doing it for a year, it is affecting other areas of my writing. i sent an email to my doctor the other day and thought i should use capitals. so i did. for the first sentence. while i was thinking about it. yes, now i have to think about hitting the shift key. it is no longer an automatic response.

and there it is--the first anniversary blog. i just want to say how much i appreciate each one of you who give up five minutes of your day to read my blog. as much as i enjoy writing it, i probably would not put in the time that it takes if no one was reading it. so thank you! you give me incentive and purpose to continue . . .

happy first anniversary!

1 comment:

Wendy said...

Nice blog Julie! I think tolerance comes with age too! I know that's one thing that's changed for me over the last year too! Maybe the best year of all for us! 50 rocks! Merry Christmas to you and everyone in your family! Love you Julie! Wendy