10 Years of Blogging

Are personal blogs dead? Some people think so. This blog has been through several near death and resuscitation experiences, over the last 10 years. Yes, this month marks 10 years since I started my Seeker blog in May 2009. When I began, I had no idea what I was doing, not much idea of why I was doing it and no expectation of continuing beyond a few months.

As someone committed to life-long learning, I enjoy learning new skills. There are some things you can only learn by doing, cycling, swimming, marrying, praying, growing old - to name a few. 10 years ago, learning how to set up and use a blog was both easier and harder than expected. Clicking 'publish' on that 1st post was a leap in the dark. I had no idea where it might take me. That 1st post had no image, was only 77 words long. I assumed it would be of no interest to anyone else. At that stage I simply wanted to lurk in the 'blogosphere' for a bit while I worked out how my blog would work. I wanted to master floating, if not swimming in what was then for me a strange new world.

On the 2nd anniversary of my Seeker blog, I said there were 3 people to be thanked (or blamed) for unwittingly encouraging me to start a blog: my husband's brother, my sister's daughter-in-law and my bishop. I think I thought - if they can do it, so can I - and what is more I want to do it as I enjoy writing.

Mostly I use the blog to sort out my thoughts on something I'm thinking about or want to remember. Not in an essay-writing way - I like to keep posts short and accessible. One of the satisfactions of writing a blog post is that it is so much easier to complete than the more complicated writing tasks that I also work on. A post is as simple or as complex as you want to make it of course. I like to keep it simple and usually short.

From early on, I made several decisions:

• to call the blog 'Seeker' for reasons I explain here

• not to monetise this blog by allowing advertising

• to protect the privacy of friends and family

• to post about my Christian faith in a way that avoids jargon and is as accessible as possible to readers who know little about Christianity

• not to make every post 'spiritual' but to include some just for fun posts, such as 10 things you never knew about haggis

• to respond to comments as soon as possible

• to reserve the right to remove comments I consider offensive to me or others

• to use my blog as a seed sower. If any of my blog seeds take root and grow somewhere - that's great, but mostly I will never know

This will be my 766th published post - not a lot for 10 years. Many others haven't seen the light of day, often because I didn't finish them before the relevant moment had passed. They remind me of the 'rough book' we used at school - useful for getting your thoughts in order but not to preserve for evermore. Many of my blog post drafts get deleted, but some are stored in case they prove useful later. At present I have about 50 drafts in hiding. A bit like the assorted 'might come in handy one day' objects in a spare drawer. Every now and then its worth sorting through and having a clear out.

For now, I will give myself a small pat on the back for persevering for 10 years. Are personal blogs dead? Well, this one isn't yet. I will keep trying, failing, learning, trying again.

I want to say thank you to many people who have continued to read my post over years and who have given me the encouragement to continue. And if you have just stumbled on 'Seeker' for the 1st time, welcome. May all of you, long-term and new readers, be encouraged today.

And if you are a blogger, what keeps you going?

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons