A Year in Blogging: My Blog Just Turned 1!

It has been exactly 44 blog posts and 371 days ago since I launched this blog, and I have been waiting forever for this chance to write a post about it. For the record, it had been a great year for the blog. I really have been having so much fun writing and sharing on here, and every time I hit the publish button I feel like I’m birthing a child (I’m not even exaggerating). Each blog post feels like my baby and no other thing right now is giving me as much joy as blogging does. And to be honest, I can’t believe I’m one of the people who get to say this but, my blog actually just turned 1, just give me a moment to let that sink in. I still have to process it.

When I was 13, little do all of you know, I started my first ever blog. It was a free one from blogspot.com and my mom ever so kindly helped me set it up. To save myself from the shame I won’t be sharing with you the url because what else do you really expect from a 13-year-old other than calling her blog an embarrassing name? So, we’re not getting in to that but I guess I should say that I enjoyed my time with that free blog.

I used to post about high school, books I would read at the time, and who am I kidding—I was Greyson Chance’s biggest fan back then so I posted a lot of Greyson content. Writing has always been my hobby so I really had a blast with that blog. Years later, who knew I’d still be in love with the art of blogging? I had no idea that right now, even at 21, it would still be the only thing that would cheer me up at the end of a long stressful day.

You got to be there when your blog gets no views at all after you just published a post you gave your 101% to and you got to be there when your stats start growing or when someone finally leaves that first comment.

However, as easy and smooth as other bloggers may make it seem like, blogging isn’t always a piece of cake. Pretty pictures and all the blog posts aside, there’s a great deal of planning and patience that take place behind the scenes.

When I started in January last year, I had my doubts on actually getting serious about blogging because what if other people don’t find my writing interesting enough? What if I don’t get any comments at all? How do I make sure the blog’s consistent enough in terms of the posting schedule and the categories I choose to write about? In the beginning, there’s going to be a lot of questions you’ll be tempted to ask yourself. A lot. And the thing is, you won’t actually get your answer right away so that makes it even worse and you worry even more.

But at the end of the day, as long as you love the act of blogging, you keep writing. You publish. You share. It goes on and it takes time. Oh, it will take time, I swear. And to answer your question, yes, blogging is the literal definition of a long winding road.

During my first few months with this blog, I would get no reads and no pageviews at all. I’m not going to lie but it did make me sad at first. But I thought, who cares, I love writing and curating photos that go with a specific post so I’ll keep pushing through. It wasn’t until November of last year that I got a regular number of readers and pageviews. At first it was a literal 0, seriously, full on bankrupt. It took me approximately 10 months to grow a consistent number of views and visitors, and that’s quite some time. But it was worth it.

Another thing about blogging is you got to love it. You got to be there when your blog gets no views at all after you just published a post you gave your 101% to and you got to be there when your stats start growing or when someone finally leaves that first comment. You got to be there and actually enjoy writing and taking photos and curating them to love and understand the process. I know it’s easy to say stuff like don’t worry about the numbers! Don’t worry about the views! but we’re all human and if you have a blog, of course you’ll look forward to getting visitors and views after exerting the greatest of your effort on your blog posts—I totally get it—but you got to love even the waiting.

Now we’re back up to the month of January and I’m already excited for the rest of 2020. I’m still in awe that after a year of blogging, I have managed to connect with a loyal set of readers (hello, you!) and maintain the kind of vibe I’ve always wanted for the blog—sleek, minimalistic, with a hint of classic.

Cheers and I can’t wait to see you all on my next post! 🥂

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