Happy Blog Anniversary
I am now half an year old. Well, technically 7 months old, so this post comes slightly late. But a milestone is a milestone, and a good time to stop and reflect. So, here are some reflections.
Why I started blogging
The question is: why didn't I start blogging earlier! Well, the answer is the few blogs I had come across were typical personal journals with illuminating entries like: "I ate X for breakfast and Y for lunch".
Why would I want to start sharing information like that with total strangers?
Well, gradually I realised blogging did not mean 'pathetic personal journal'. I was especially intrigued by the idea of using a blog to organise my thoughts on a 'specific' subject.
"Write on a subject you truly love - or something you are an expert in" was the advice all 'how to start blogging' tutorials had to offer. I mean sure I had studied economics and once attended a wine tasting but I certainly could not pass off as an 'expert' in those subjects!
Besides, blogging was:
a) related to my line of work; making blogging feel less like time pass and more like a professional activity.
b) a wonderfully broad area of expertise!!
The first post was the *most* difficult of all. I simply could not figure out where to start.
There has been no looking back since.
Writing is a discipline
And blogging is a tool that helps enforce it! You see everyday I would have several ideas, barely 1% of them ever got written as articles. In these 7 months, 476 such ideas were actually converted into blogposts. Which is amazing!
The other thing about blogging is that when you get a thought you can simply put it down, without agonising over the opening sentence, the word limit, whether it fits into a certain publication.
In effect you write with a more 'karmayoga' kind of attitude. Without worrying about the final result. Or whether you will be able to find and refer to this piece of writing 3 months from now....Because that 'labelling' and 'filing' is something that naturally occurs.
Comments or no comments?
When I started blogging I decided to allow feedback - but not to reply. Replying, I felt took energy away from writing.
Well, later I did change my view on that although I still don't reply to each and every comment. But I do read them all and note the feedback.
In fact feedback has, on more than one occasion helped me to polish up a blog piece with additional perspective and/or facts before it's published in the mainstream. So you could say I sometimes use my blog to 'test market' my writing!
The good, the bad and the ugly
Blogging also brought me into contact with hundreds of strangers - most of them nice, decent, rational human beings. But there were also the anonymice who left comments of a distasteful and personal nature. So I stopped anonymous comments.
What's more this blog recently crossed 1903 visits!! I am humbled and honoured... And happy! That my writing could reach out to so many of you; and bring you back for more.
Thank you, all! For stirring up me; for dropping by to read it. For helping to bring it to boil. Looking forward to more spice and sizzle in the year to come!
I am now half an year old. Well, technically 7 months old, so this post comes slightly late. But a milestone is a milestone, and a good time to stop and reflect. So, here are some reflections.
Why I started blogging
The question is: why didn't I start blogging earlier! Well, the answer is the few blogs I had come across were typical personal journals with illuminating entries like: "I ate X for breakfast and Y for lunch".
Why would I want to start sharing information like that with total strangers?
Well, gradually I realised blogging did not mean 'pathetic personal journal'. I was especially intrigued by the idea of using a blog to organise my thoughts on a 'specific' subject.
"Write on a subject you truly love - or something you are an expert in" was the advice all 'how to start blogging' tutorials had to offer. I mean sure I had studied economics and once attended a wine tasting but I certainly could not pass off as an 'expert' in those subjects!
Besides, blogging was:
a) related to my line of work; making blogging feel less like time pass and more like a professional activity.
b) a wonderfully broad area of expertise!!
The first post was the *most* difficult of all. I simply could not figure out where to start.
There has been no looking back since.
Writing is a discipline
And blogging is a tool that helps enforce it! You see everyday I would have several ideas, barely 1% of them ever got written as articles. In these 7 months, 476 such ideas were actually converted into blogposts. Which is amazing!
The other thing about blogging is that when you get a thought you can simply put it down, without agonising over the opening sentence, the word limit, whether it fits into a certain publication.
In effect you write with a more 'karmayoga' kind of attitude. Without worrying about the final result. Or whether you will be able to find and refer to this piece of writing 3 months from now....Because that 'labelling' and 'filing' is something that naturally occurs.
Comments or no comments?
When I started blogging I decided to allow feedback - but not to reply. Replying, I felt took energy away from writing.
Well, later I did change my view on that although I still don't reply to each and every comment. But I do read them all and note the feedback.
In fact feedback has, on more than one occasion helped me to polish up a blog piece with additional perspective and/or facts before it's published in the mainstream. So you could say I sometimes use my blog to 'test market' my writing!
The good, the bad and the ugly
Blogging also brought me into contact with hundreds of strangers - most of them nice, decent, rational human beings. But there were also the anonymice who left comments of a distasteful and personal nature. So I stopped anonymous comments.
What's more this blog recently crossed 1903 visits!! I am humbled and honoured... And happy! That my writing could reach out to so many of you; and bring you back for more.
Thank you, all! For stirring up me; for dropping by to read it. For helping to bring it to boil. Looking forward to more spice and sizzle in the year to come!
