Monday 11 November 2013

six years!

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Its hard to believe but today is the sixth anniversary of my blog!

In fact my boys were in kindergarten when I started this diary and they are in Year 6 now, and about to leave primary school to start their new adventure at High School. (Cue tears!)

Each year on this anniversary I am surprised anew to find myself a blogger and still hanging out in this little patch of cyberspace!

In some ways I've changed a lot since 2007, but in most ways, well, I just have to read that first month's posts to see how exactly the same I am. Back then I was printing my designs, growing rose seeds, marvelling over the beauty of a nest, making a jack o'lantern, taking photos of flowers and visiting Sculpture by the Sea.

This month I'm printing new designs, trying to grow lettuce seeds, making soap and paneer, taking photos of flowers for Instagram and visiting Sculpture by the Sea! I am still as inspired as ever to celebrate art and nature and make my own - be it soap, or bread, or roses - as I was six years ago.

I love that this place is such a great record of my creative journey. Truth is I come here to look for instructions and recipes, or remember when I planted something, or to read my own instructions for making!

Its funny I look back now and remember feeling like a newbie and outsider when I first started blogging, not sure if I should be here. I sensed there were established friendship groups that might be hard to break into, everyone else seemed to know each other.

I shouldn't have worried, I found that bloggers are exceptional people who are invariably kind and generous with ideas, information and support. As in any part of life you are drawn to friendships with likeminded people, its just these friendships defy geographical boundaries. That said I am always delighted to find online peeps every bit as wonderful in the flesh as they are behind a keyboard when we meet at last in person.

These last years I find blogging changing. Instagram took some of the immediacy and visual impact away from blogs. They suffered in comparison. Instagram posts were up and interacting literally in minutes while those well thought out blog posts with proper camera photos often took hours to format. In our time poor days sometimes the impulse passed once the instagram pic was posted.

I found it didn't stop me reading my favourite blogs though. In many cases after seeing an image on Instagram I wanted to see larger, clearer photos and more of them, I wanted to read the tutorial, or follow the links. But most of all I wanted the story behind them, the voice of a favourite blogger telling me how it felt, what it meant, what they learnt.

We need to support our favourite blogs. We need to leave a comment every so often to tell the person we're there. That might be my new blog year resolution. And we need to keep shopping handmade and support bloggers' businesses this Christmas and beyond. They are a wonderful independent and honest voice we benefit from having in our lives.

Like many I've wavered in my commitment to blogging recently, found myself with less to say and less motivation to say it. But I think the blogging muscle is one that is strengthened by use and I have been trying to get back to a routine. To think in blog posts again.

I think that my outlook on life benefits hugely from this blog and others, in some ways it functions as a gratitude diary and helps me find and see the beauty in my everyday. I'm all for that.

Thank you readers for being here to share it with me.

11 comments :

  1. Happy anniversary! I'm still so pleased I found your blog, and am excited every time I see a new post pop up in my feed reader.

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  2. Happy Blog anniversary, joined a year or so ago and love your efforts

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  3. Happy Birthday. May your day be filled with beauty and inspiration. And cake surely there will be cake!

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  4. Happy bloggiversary! What a great post! :-)
    Carly
    x

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  5. Happy blogiversary! Thanks for showing me sculpture by the sea, and inspiring me to make soap.

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  6. Happy Sixth Bloggy-versary, a real achievement! I agree, there ought to be cake.

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  7. Happy Blogiversary! Wow, 6 years is amazing! I really love your blog and completely relate to what you have written in this Post. My blogging mojo has waned a bit recently as well but I too get so much more satisfaction from reading a blog post than interacting on any other form of social media platform. Where instagram is like a quick catch-up as you pass a friend on the way out of the grocery store, blogging is more like sitting in the kitchen having a cup of tea. Lovely Post and all the best for another year of blogging :-) Mel x

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  8. Six years hey? Congratulations. Time is just racing by isn't it.

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  9. Happy anniversary, it's crazy how fast time seems to fly when looking back at your blog!

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  10. Hi, I don't usually comment on blogs, but I think you need to know we are out here, reading your posts and enjoying your making and the well styled photographs! I will join you in your resolution to comment on blogs to let bloggers know that I enjoy reading what they have to say :) Thanks for blogging!

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Thank you for dropping by and commenting :-)