The Elusive Post #400

Thinking back on it, I started this blog with very few expectations. In fact, the primary reason was just so that I could force myself to write every day. I feel so much better mentally and emotionally when I can write on a daily basis, and I have accomplished that goal so far. Since November 1st of last year I have written every single day, sometimes a lot of words each day, but always something. And I am very proud of myself for that. Am I a hundred percent satisfied with every single thing I’ve written? No. I’m a perfectionist (aren’t most writers?) so I know there are many things I can improve upon. One of the good things is that since this is a personal blog and not a professional one, I don’t worry too much about those things. I just want to make sure I write about things that interest me, and I stay true to myself. Both things I’ve done so far. Of course somehow I also realized I can be prolific. I quickly passed the 100 and 200 post milestones, then when #300 came, I was just as surprised as anyone else. Now, #400 is here, and I’ve decided to reflect on the entire process to this point, the pitfalls, and the promise.

#1 – The biggest surprise to me was being Freshly Pressed. Out of the blue I received an email from Cheri Lucas saying I was going to be Freshly Pressed for a blog entry that was sort of an afterthought, at least to me anyway. I had recently begun a series of posts about my life growing up as a Seventh-Day Adventist, and I decided at the last second to include one about being a preacher’s son, about all the expectations inherent therein. Apparently, though, it resonated with her, and as I was soon to find out, with a lot of other people on WordPress. The outpouring of support and understanding was incredible. I will never forget it. And to think I almost didn’t even post it in the first place.

#2 – Another interesting thing I learned about the blogging world is that people can be fickle. For the first two weeks I was blogging, it seemed like absolutely no one was reading what I wrote. I treated it like a regular journal, and I think that helped me to get my bearings. Then, like a faucet slowly being turned on, people started to arrive and interact with my posts. Before I knew it, I had what I would call “regulars,” a group of people who definitely read and reacted to my posts. And it was then when I realized I had been welcomed into the community. And I love it.

#3 – It finally hit me that I could do the Daily Prompts when I felt like it, that I didn’t have to do every single one just because they were there. Some of them honestly didn’t inspire me, but I thought I was stuck in a black and white situation, either I did all or none. It was a revelation to see that I didn’t, and it helped to open my blog up into more than just my opinions on things. It was all about perspective, and how I interacted with the prompts themselves. That included photography (or phoneography), which introduced me to a whole new aspect of myself I never knew existed. I really like focusing on subjects and capturing them for eternity on my camera, then sharing them through the weekly photo challenges and just for fun. Indeed, the post with the second most views and likes is my phoneographic journey through the town in which I live. That is amazing.

#4 – Poetry. Right around the same time I introduced photography to my blog, I also began to post some of my poetry. Now, I used to be in a poetry group that released several books of poetry in our time. I enjoyed it a lot, sharing my poetry in different forms, but since then I hadn’t really done anything public with my poems. Once I knew that photography was acceptable for my blog, I jumped on the chance to share my poetry, and I got such a positive response for it that I have been doing it ever since. I hadn’t written an original poem in about a year before I decided to put them on my blog, and now I’ve written over 20 in the past month alone. I am so pleased and grateful for those who appreciate my poetry.

#5 – Funnily enough, one of the biggest things for me about the blog was organization. At first I didn’t tag anything, I used the most basic of themes, and I had absolutely no widgets anywhere in sight. It was all about just getting the stuff down. But then as I went along I realized I had several ideas I wanted to make into series, multiple posts on my blog, and I needed a way to catalog them. So I learned all about widgets, I changed my blog’s theme, and I figured out to embed links in my posts. Yes, it takes a little longer to figure out what tags belong, and to put in links, but if it helps my readers out, I’m all for it. So I take that extra time, and I must say I like how the new theme looks with my content.

Above all, as I reach the elusive post #400, I haven’t lost my passion for blogging. I love to sit down in front of my computer, or extricate my cell phone from my pocket, in order to post something new, and I feel good about every single one of them. Sure, it has changed since that first post, when all I wanted to do was make sure I wrote every day. Now I do write for an audience, but I maintain my own integrity and opinions, and I’m happy with that. And this post feels as fresh to me as #1, #62, and #315. So yes, I’m excited to share this milestone with you, my “followers,” but I’m far from done. I’m excited to get to #500 and beyond, as well, and I’m glad you’re along for the ride.

Sam