One Year Blogiversary + What I Learned From Blogging

Art by Anonymous

With 4,200 Twitter followers, 236 blog followers, 107 posts, 11,200 hits, and 848 comments, this has been an amazing year in blogging. I’m not trying to brag, I know these numbers are likely puny compared to many blogs, and maybe a bit bigger than others, but honestly, I don’t care. Because the experience that’s gotten me where I am now through this blog has been amazing and I wouldn’t give it back for the world! If you’d like to revisit all the storytelling and writing posts I’ve written, you can find them here.

Here are a few highlights of my first year in blogging:

• Self-published my first novel. Check.
• Participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time ever. Check.
• Finished my first YA thriller novel. Check.
• Discovered pitch contests. Check.
• Met ultra cool people like Emma Meade, Nicole Bates, Ahmed Amin and others like them who have been so awesomely supportive.
• Got some amazing new beta readers. Special mention to Rebecca Ethington, Amanda Byrne, and Regi McClain for their intense feedback.
• Got my first editor, Lauren Ruiz, and I couldn’t ask for a better one.
• Commissioned my first cover artist, Ron Guyatt, who was a joy to work with and delivered an amazing cover.
• Met some prolific authors on Twitter like Lorna Suzuki and Rebecca Hamilton.
• Read many great ebooks on marketing which helped me run this blog.
• Discovered epic blogs like Writer Unboxed, Writability, and The Character Therapist.
• Had a blast writing reviews on Goodreads and helping out new authors.
• Got to know the beauty of Tumblr, after which I will never look at life the same again.
• Had an amazing time creating new posts for you guys every week!

Wow, now that I look back at it, WHAT a year. That’s not even all of it, and I’m not even sure if I would have done half of those things if it weren’t for this blog, so thank you to those who comment, those who like, or those who just visit and read at a distance. I appreciate every single page hit.

And if you’re a writer who’s still unsure about starting a blog: trust me, it’s life changing, and it’s also necessary. This is the kind of writing and communication you can’t afford to pass up because it WILL transform you for the better.

What I’ve learned through the blogging experience:

1)     People have lives/jobs/families/goals. They’re busy and they have other followers. So just because someone didn’t reply to your comment, or wasn’t buddy-buddy with you on Twitter after you tried to strike up a conversation, don’t take it personally! I’ve found myself on both ends of this, and I gotta say you can only do so much. We’re all human and sometimes we have to make choices about who we give our attention. I have tried my best to get back to people and be as friendly as possible, but sometimes life does get in the way and makes that very difficult. But that doesn’t mean I’m not interested in you or your story!

2)     Numbers don’t mean a thing. Yes, big numbers are impressive and likely get you some more exposure, but the numbers that truly matter are those of the people with whom you have actually made a connection. If you have 70k followers and interact with none of them, well, that does you no good, does it? That’s very rare, of course, since the number of followers is typically proportional to the amount of involvement and dedication. So just keep doing your thing and the numbers will come on their own.

3)     Don’t wait around to get attention. Just go out there and have fun reading other blogs that you actually enjoy. And don’t forget to most importantly enjoy your own blog. If you can find ways to make it help others, all the better! The more it’s about what you can do for others and not you, the more likely people will care about what you post. I’m still trying to think of ways to improve Story Addict, but I’m sure there are even greater things to come in year two!

All I’ve got left to say is: BRING. IT. ON.

Do you have any suggestions for year two of Story Addict? Favorite posts?

-The Story Addict

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