It was 363 days ago…
…that The Wolfs Howl - then hosted at Wordpress.com - was born. I can’t believe I’ve been blogging for a whole year (I know, the year isn’t up ’til Saturday, but I have time to write now and I won’t have on Saturday).
Over the course of that year, I’ve gone from Wordpress.com to BlogSpot.com to self-hosted here at The New Wolfs Howl and along the way have learned valuable lessons about writing, about the technical side of blogging, about hosting your own website and about the pitfalls that await the unwary blogger. I’ve written light and frivolous stuff, I’ve written serious stuff, I’ve written bad stuff and I’ve (hopefully) written good stuff; least-ways, I’ve written stuff that I’m pleased with and happy for others to read, about a wide variety of subjects from software to suicide, religion to racing, music to.. well, more music. I’ve experimented with paid blogging, various types of advertising and all sorts of traffic-building type things, yet have failed to become a millionaire. (Really can’t understand what’s gone wrong there). I’ve been conscientious with my posts, and I’ve been lax; some days I’ve written several entries, some weeks I haven’t written anything at all.
Throughout the year, I’ve read a lot of blogs, too, and much as I’ve learned by doing, I’ve learned a lot more by watching. Looking at the greater blogging world and seeing what others are doing. That’s not to say they’re doing it right, but there are lessons to be learnt from seeing what not to do, how badly someone can muck it up, as well as from watching a master at work.
I’ve gained and lost readers through the year, but overall the readership figures are going up; if you’ve been in from the beginning then thank you. If you’ve only just joined, well thank you too (but what took you so long?). Whichever, tell more people - and get them to tell their friends.
Blog entries have been written in so many different ways that I’ve lost count. I started on a 15″ Windows laptop, using the Wordpress editor. Then I moved to BlogDesk and finally Windows Live Writer. Just as I got that all set up, I abandoned Windows for Mac, and that’s when the blogging really took off. I’ve used all sorts of Mac editors too and am now happy and secure with ecto.
Overall, this year of blogging has been an enjoyable journey and - given that I was never able to keep a diary past the second week of January when I was a kid - surprising that it shows no sign of coming to an end.
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