I started my blog on August 7, 2013, more than three years ago. Since then, I’ve published 177 posts–not many in comparison to some of my more prolific blogging buddies. Still, when I started, I couldn’t have imagined writing that many posts.
So why do I do it?
It’s funny; no one has ever asked. If you’d asked me three years ago, I would have said that everyone says writers should have a blog and/or an active twitter account. (I ignored the advice about twitter.) By starting a blog, I was just following advice I’d read and heard in every book and seminar on publishing and marketing I came across.
Before long, though, blogging took on a life of its own. I liked it. I liked turning on my computer every Sunday morning and seeing my finished post come up. I liked reading the comments readers left for me. Unlike writing a novel, which can take years, blogging provides an immediate reward. All I have to do is hit “publish,” and it’s out there.
One surprise was how much I’ve enjoyed the relationship with other bloggers. There’s an unspoken courtesy in the blogging community of visiting the sites of those who visit yours. It’s like reciprocating for a dinner invitation. A fun way to make friends all over the world.
Recently, Kate Crimmins, a blogging friend, explained it this way: “There are tons of people I’ve met (metaphorically) through blogging. Some of them I know better than my next door neighbors.”
From the beginning, I set myself the goal of publishing at least once a week. It’s a self-imposed discipline, but it forces me to find something interesting to write about every single week. Some weeks are harder than others, and I’ve missed a few. But challenges make us stronger. Right?
In college, one of my minors was Philosophy (the love of wisdom). I’ve always been intrigued by the search for the meaning of things. Blogging gives me an opportunity to slow down and reflect on everything I’ve seen and experienced, past and present.
As Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Blogging gives me a reason to take a second look.
Thank you so much for visiting my blog. And for those of you who feel so inclined, thank you for your comments.
I’ll leave you with some photos from a recent family trip to Banff in Alberta, Canada. During the last week of August, I met up with all three of my daughters and their families. Here’s the view from our vacation rental.
view from Hidden Ridge near Banff
view from top of Sulfur Mt. gondola
The gondola ride was scary and steep. Four of us rode it both ways; the other five hiked up–a two-hour, unrelenting, uphill climb.
Mt. near Banff. The power lines get all the best views.
light and shadows in the woods
airplane view of fields nr. Calgary.
Do you have some thoughts on why you do some of the things you do?
Next post: “Aunts and Uncles: So How Are We Related?”
Congrats on the three years! And what beautiful photos! I started my blog as part of a challenge to create a writer’s platform. I still go back and forth between how useful it is, but I’m keeping it for now 🙂
Congratulations on three years, Nicki! You’re one of those prolific, long-term bloggers I so admire!
Congratulations, Nicki! And yes, to the blogging community. Gotta love the conversations, and I’d have to agree with Kate, some of my blogging friends know me better than family and ‘regular’ friends. So when you end up meeting blogging friends in real life, it’s quite nice and easy to pick up the conversation!
I thought of you today, Lani, when I heard an announcement on the radio about a Waldorf school in Seattle. After reading your memoir, that announcement really jumped out at me. One reason your blogging friends know you so well is that you open up to us on your blog–and also in your memoir. It’s not an easy thing to do.
I enjoy your blogging so much. Please keep it going!
Thank you so much. I’ll try my best to keep it going.
Congratulations, Nicki! Three years blogging and 177 blog posts is no easy feat. I have been following your blog from the near beginning and I must say that I love your writing style – you certainly have a way with words.
For me, I started blogging as a way of sharing my love for photography and my blog spiraled into sharing more personal stories about my life. I don’t blog as much as I used to [my little boy is keeping me busy and I want to savor every moment of motherhood], but I miss sharing my thoughts and communicating with my readers and other bloggers. I hope to make more time for writing and blogging again.
Thank you for your kind words, Constance. It looks like we came to blogging in slightly different ways. You started blogging as a way of sharing your photography. I started taking pictures as a way to add some color and interest to my posts.
Your little boy is adorable. Blogging has many benefits, but they can’t compare with a little guy as cute as yours. Enjoy every minute. They grow up too fast.
I’m not a blogger, but I certainly enjoy your posts! Your photos are an added pleasure.
Thank you, Judy. I’m so glad you enjoy my posts and my photos.
I couldn’t agree more! My blog is also coming up on 3 years (but I have not been as disciplined as you). Starting a blog for one reason and continuing for another….well, me too. I love the many people I have met along the way and have actually developed some special friendships as a result! I can’t imagine not blogging now. Onward! !!
Funny, I’ve come across quite a few people who started their blogs about the same time I did. I hope we’ll all be around to celebrate our fourth year.
I hear there are lots of trolls and angry people on the internet. I think you and I don’t write the kind of blog that attracts them. Instead, we make friends with some great people through our blogs.
Blogging is a fun way to expand our horizons! Write on . . .
So true, Nancy. The horizon beckons.
Fab photos Nicki – I really enjoy reading your blog. 3 years is a long time and your posts are as interesting today as they were when you first began blogging.
I started my blog (my second one – the first was when I lived in London) when I moved to live in China six years ago. I had no problem with producing regular blog posts. However I seemed to hit a slump about 5 months ago, lost my motivation,felt fed-up with life in Beijing etc etc. But I am now trying hard to get back to blogging – not helped by having changed to a Mac after many years using Microsoft happy laptops…for some reason I find handling/posting pictures and photos on my Mac more difficult, it drives me crazy which is another reason for the slum – but as Arni Schwarzenegger would say “I’ll be back!”
Looking back on the letters I wrote to my mom during our first year in the Philippines, I can see how exciting those early days were. Sort of a honeymoon period. I didn’t expect we’d stay so long, though. After about five years, I was ready to go home. I, too, had hit a slump. New experiences and friends and volunteer work only go so far. I sounds like you have a full and active life in Beijing. Still, the whole “trailing spouse” is difficult for most of us Western women.
I bought a Mac laptop a year or two ago and never really got used to it. I still spend most of my time on my Microsoft desktop computer. I feel guilty for spending so much on the Mac and not spending the time to get used to it. I hope you do better than I did. Looking forward to your next post.
Congratulations, Nicki! Here’s to many more years and posts. I love your blog!
Thank you, Marta. Celebrating birthdays and anniversaries are a good way to keep track of the passage of time and what we’ve accomplished. You must have enjoyed looking back on your ten years in China.
Congratulations on your 3rd blogging anniversary. I’ve certainly enjoyed tagging along with you. Here’s to many more wonderful posts. Hugs, my friend.
Thank you so much, Michelle. And thank you for providing so much support for authors. We love you.
Lovely photos and happy blogoversary!
I blog because I like to tell stories. But, like you, I’ve made internet friends all over the world and I loves hearing their stories. It’s cheaper than traveling. 🙂
You tell excellent stories, Autumn.
Having blogging friends in China has been a big eye-opener for me. China has changed so much over the years, and the Chinese in China are different in many ways from the Overseas Chinese I know. It’s hard to imagine how much the foreign community in China has grown–from almost nothing a few decades ago to what sounds like a sizeable group now. Most interesting of all to me are the Western women married to Chinese men and living in China who blog and tell us about their lives.
Happy blogoversary, Nicki! I started three years ago also! I still can’t say I know what I’m doing! But I’m glad to have met you through your blog!
I know. There’s so much I don’t know about blogging. I’ve even forgotten some of the things I had to figure out to start my blog. Happy third blogoversary to you. And I, too, am glad we’ve met through our blogs.
Interesting perspective on blogging, Nicki. I thought about starting a few years back for the same reasons as you , my “platform.” I never got past figuring out a name. Love the photos! See you soon
Thanks, Maureen. I predict that someday you will start a blog. Experts advise that it would be good to start long before you publish a book, but for most of us, that’s never going to happen.
What a beautiful area, and how lovely spending time with your family.
It was lovely spending time with my family. It’s getting harder and harder to get everyone together at the same time. My older grandchildren are in college with jobs and internships in the summer; my younger grandchild is in fourth grade with a different schedule; and of course my children and their spouses all have jobs with limited vacation time. Somehow we managed to coordinate this trip.
Congratulations, Nicki! I feel the same about blogging. Four years ago, I wasn’t sure what a blog was. I heard in a publisher’s eyes, it’s good to have a platform. Now, I just do it for the wonderful friends I’ve met over the years. Thanks for sharing your photos, they’re beautiful.
I’m trying to remember back to before I started my blog. Like you, I think I didn’t know what a blog was either.
Love Banff! I’m getting going on my blog now.
I hope you’ll enjoy blogging as much as I have, Judith.
Lovely shots! It reminds me of a post by a blogger today pertaining to the term ‘edge’. Life for many of us is living on the edge.
Congratulations on the 3rd birthday of your blog, Nicki.
Engaging with blogger’s can be a wonderful experience. Sometimes, it is akin to having a conversation face to face esp when both are on similar wave length. One can learn so much.
I have yet to start my own blog. I have been asked by a fair number of people including bloggers I have just met virtually for the first time.
I fully expect you to start a blog someday, Corina. By following other blogs, you already know a lot about blogging and you already have many potential followers.
Here’s a quote from Will Smith that might go along with my photos of mountains: “Greatness lives on the edge of destruction.”
Happy birthday to your blog, Nicki! I hope to read you through the fourth year. Funny to read that the reasons why you started and why you went on are similar to mine and probably to most bloggers. I also have the feeling to know some bloggers better than people I physically know and to be closer to them as well. As a matter of fact, I’m possibly meeting in person one of them soon. Cannot wait.
And your rental house? Gorgeous. I’m familiar with Eastern Canada, mostly Quebec, but this region you leave us with through the photos, looks tempting too.
Best to you, Nicki.
This was my first time in Alberta. The flight over the mountains just went on and on, mountain after mountain after mountain. Then we reached the prairie and the fields, which I assume also go on and on. I’ve been to British Columbia many times beginning when I was a child, but I’ve never been to Eastern Canada.
I hope you have a good time meeting your fellow blogger in person. I’m looking forward to seeing you during the coming year, both here and on your blog.
Congratulations! I like the instant gratification too. No waiting for publishers to deem your work worthy. I love the feedback in comments. I also did Twitter but aside from an auto Tweet when my post goes out, I haven’t quite mastered it (or figured out why I’d want to). Thanks for the link!
I also have an auto tweet–at least I think I do. I don’t know if anyone sees it because I never look.
Congrats on three years of blogging, Nicki. It is a milestone, and so nice to hear you look forward to putting up a post each week. Blogger engagement can be so uplifting and also nice to hear you like it. Some might say “comment for a comment” but I like your courtesy argument. There is much to be learnt genuinely sitting down and reading other blogs.
Have to agree with what Kate Crimmins said. Through blogging, I’ve met some people who I thought would have never meet. With some of them, I’m friends with on Facebook and Instagram, and we chat a few times a week. You do feel that with some bloggers they are like your close friends – even though you have never met them.
I’m guessing you hiked up? Beautiful views and sounds like lovely company all round. I like hiking too, and I do it because it gives me a chance to get away from the stresses of every day life 🙂
I’m in awe of you and your blog and all the comments you receive and answer. You’re someone I never would have met if not through your blog. And I’m glad I did.
Sorry, Mabel. You guessed wrong. I probably could have hiked up (5.5 km, 655 m elevation gain), but not with my kids and older grandchildren who like to hike much faster than I’d be able to do. The picture from the top wasn’t very good because it had started to snow and the wind was blowing. (Even though it was summer, the elevation at the top is 2281.)
My start was similar to yours, Nicki. I didn’t even know what a blog was until I was urged to start one. I like the way Kate expresses what we have gained.
I used to believe in planning my life. That’s not the way life works, though. We often find something we love almost by accident.