Thursday, January 12, 2012

5 Things 5 Years of Blogging Taught Me

These carnations like me have stuck around for a while
graphite in Moleskine
©2012 Stacy L. Rowan

The other day I was looking through the archives for this blog and I realized, much to my surprise, that I have just completed my fifth year of blogging. My first post was created on January 9, 2007.

Looking back over the past five years, I came up with 5 things that blogging has taught me.
  1. I am more comfortable in the studio painting or drawing than sitting at the computer writing a blog post.
  2. Despite my good intentions to write my blog posts in advance and have several of them queued up to post, it is more typical that my post is written between 8pm on Wednesday and 11pm on Thursday.
  3. The closer it gets to 11pm on Thursday without the blog post being completed, the more stressed out I become.
  4. The quality of my blog post ideas are indirectly proportional to my stress level. That is, the more stressed I am, the more my initial ideas stink and the more ideas I need to come up with until I find one that flies. With each rejected idea the time until my self imposed deadline seems to speed up exponentially.
  5. Given numbers 1 through 4, it is flippin' amazing that I managed to post anything at all these last five years!!!
All kidding aside, I am very happy to have reached this milestone. And I thank you for being loyal readers, even of the most procrastinated posts!

Here's to five more years of fun!!

7 comments:

Cmichaudart said...

M' hats off to you Stacy...and I thought reaching one year was worth celebrating!It's a tough balance so pat yourself on the back.

Making A Mark said...

Congrats Stacy!

I think all of us who have made it to five years should get a badge for effort!

I got to six years just recently.......

Stacy said...

Thanks Cindy! One year is worth celebrating too! So many bloggers give up after only a few months.

Thanks Katherine! Funny you should mention a badge. I was thinking along the same lines, and since I didn't know what to sketch yesterday, I chose to sketch one of my daughter's trophies and altered it a little to fit my recent accomplishment. I stopped short of sharing it here worried that people would either think me odd or full of myself!! I'm happy to share it with you in recognition of your six years. Check your email. :D

Jennifer Rose said...

happy blog birthday!!

really enjoy reading your blog :D

Stacy said...

Thanks Jennifer! It is always nice to come here and see your comments.

Unknown said...

Congrats! 5 years is a good milestones. Interseting to read your point about the stress levels impacting your posts. Can say it's true for myself to:D

Stacy said...

Thanks Sheona! Yes I have learned that in blogging, like many things, procrastinating leads to stress. I am much better about not putting things off than I was in my younger years, but sometimes, despite my best intentions, I still find myself staring down a deadline. :D