}

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Sixth blogoversary

Today is the sixth anniversary of when I began this blog. On Wednesday, September 13, 2006, I published my first post, “I live in a land downunder. No, the other one…” What I said about that last year still holds true: “Seems a lifetime ago, and yet it also seems like hardly any time has passed.”

Blogging is for me, as for most others, more like a hobby. I don’t get paid by anyone, don’t have any sponsors, and I don’t care about either. I say what I want, even sometimes when I shouldn’t, “without fear or favour”—well, with some favour, obviously.

As something like a hobby, however, this blog has sometimes suffered from a lack of attention at times when I get busy, and this has been a very busy year. I have a goal of an average of one blog post per day, though I don’t necessarily publish one every day.

Check out the “Blog Archive” column on the righthand sidebar. You’ll see that some months had significantly fewer posts than there were days, others significantly more. Because of the latter, I am, with this post, right on top of my one-per-day average for 2012 (so far).

Does any of this matter? Probably only to me. It’s a challenge I set for myself, and I’ve met or exceeded that goal every year so far—including 2006, in which I had only three and a half months of blogging.

I would never pretend that all those nearly 2300 posts so far are “good” in any objective sense, but quite a few, in my biased opinion, certainly are. Some are duds, of course; it’s in the nature of these things.

So, here I am, six years after starting what was in some ways an experiment, and I’m still here. I’ll keep blogging for as long as it interests me—and, ultimately, I do this to express myself and to talk about the things that interest me at the moment. The “pay” I get is for doing this blog, though, isn’t the self-expression or, at least, not entirely. Instead, I thrive on the interactions I have, here and in other forums.

And that’s why I blog: The opportunity to express myself and the rewarding exchange with others. Even after six years, they both still matter to me.

Previous posts on my blogoversaries:

Anniversay Time (2007)
Blogoversary 2 (2008)
Anniversaries Three and Fourteen (2009)
Fourth blogoversary (2010)
Fifth blogoversary (2011)

4 comments:

Roger Owen Green said...

Congrats.
I agree with the once a day. I've made a concerted effort to post ONLY once a day. Otherwise, I'd post 6 in one day and then none for a week. And not are they of unequal quality, my posts, I know, will be of varied interest to other people. Oh, movies. Or oh, the Daughter. Which is why I try to keep it as eclectic, as you certainly do.
Anyway, this WAS SUPPOSED to be about you, not me. But it was because of you that I keep on blogging. So thanks for that.

Angela said...

Congratulations! I've slacked off on most of my blogs and podcasts over the past few months, but when I do remember to come over I always enjoy reading. In fact I thought I'd mention I'll be up in Auckland this coming weekend, though it's for the NZ Body Art Awards and I may be too busy to meet up! :)

amerinz's sis said...

Congratulations!! You've always been able to express yourself well on a variety of topics. My first memory of this was your speech in our livingroom, when you were just a small kid. We all enjoyed your presentation.

Fast forward to now, I'm glad you find writing in your blog so enjoyable. You still can write on a variety of topics. We all enjoy this too.

Here's to another "six plus" years!

Arthur Schenck said...

Thank you everyone! I've been wrapped up in the Pride 48 Podcasting extravaganza this weekend, so please forgive me for not replying sooner!

Roger: Anything that keeps you blogging is a good thing in my book—wait, that sounded a little self-serving. The point is, I love your blog and having had the chance to get to know you—even across all these miles—has been one of the highlights of this blogging experience. Thank you for that!

Angela: Thank you for the kind words! Sooner or later, we'll meet up. If all else fails, Nigel and I are overdue for a trip down your way!

Sis: I'd feign ignorance about the childhood speechifying, but I'm sure I mentioned that somewhere on the Intertubes, so it's "out there" already. Maybe it was preparing me to be a podcaster! Seriously, thank you: You have always been one of my biggest boosters (Mom was the biggest…), so thanks for that. Love you! :-)