Happy anniversary

This entry marks my ninth year as a blogger.  On December 2, 2005 I wrote my first tentative entry. At the time I had no idea where I was going, or what I would say.

I wasn't sure that first night whether this would be an occasional entry, or something I'd do daily. I don't think I understood then, the investment it would take to do it daily. But I wrote.

There have been only a few days in the past 10 years when I did not post. I never forgot, but we live where stormy weather is commonplace, and there were times when we had no power and I couldn't post. I've missed fewer than seven days in nine years.

The first entries were an extension of an alumni website I've maintained since 2002. The idea was to write stories about things the people who graduated from my old high school might enjoy.

Then something interesting happened. My audience expanded. One of the first people to follow my blog was Ms Soup from Australia. I rarely got a comment and somedays I wondered why I bothered.

But early on I discovered there was power in writing every day.

My first entries were good ideas, but my writing was sloppy and choppy. It's a wonder anyone bothered to read what I wrote.

As with most anything you try, practice is the key.

In reading over my older work, I can tell my voice then was filtered through the advice of high school and college classes. Not necessarily what the teachers were saying, but what I thought they were saying.

Looking back, the work they encouraged me to read wasn't meant to be hard and fast rules, but a pathway that could help me find MY voice. Too bad I didn't grasp that sooner.

At any rate, these blogs gave me enough confidence to approach the local newspaper editor to ask for a weekly column.

I've moved gently forward since the first post nine years ago tonight. Making that commitment to blog, changed my life.

Autumn blueberry bushes.