Six months in and it’s time for some commitment

Trumpet fanfare please: it’s my sixth month blogging anniversary.

I know most people only make a fuss when they’ve been blogging for a year, but this is a big deal to me because six months was the amount of time I was going to do it before deciding whether to continue.

On a dark evening in January, whilst recovering for a severe bout of illness that subsequently went on to change my life, I decided that I would put up my first post, and if I got a comment within 6 months, I would be pleased. I resolved that if 100 people a month were visiting by the six month point, it would be ‘worth’ continuing. Of course, when I decided that, I had no idea that measure was pretty meaningless, but I’ll get on to that later.

Then I wrote this post. Havi (aka the glorious Havinator) loved it, and talked about it and then bang! People started to visit in bigger numbers. I got comments.

I felt special.

It felt like I had finally found a way to be read that was meaningful. I had finally found a way to connect in a way that I hadn’t even conceived of before. That connection is worth more than any cheery figures in Google Analytics. And I’ve never looked back.

And you, dear readers, have kept me going. Through the dark woods of self-doubt, across the desert of despair, you have stayed with me on the journey, on this heroic quest of mine.

I want to say thank you. My 6 month deadline is here, and I am thrilled with how it’s all gone so far. I feel so immensely grateful for your support, your thoughts, your shared struggles and honest-to-goodness wisdom. I think back to when I was struggling to be published a couple of years ago and I simply do not know how I kept going. Well, I didn’t, did I? I was on the road to self-publishing when I started here, and through talking with all of you, I realised that I should try the traditional route once more.

You make me feel privileged. Valued. Cherished. And my goodness, in this world we have today, I think there are few jewels we can give to each other that are more precious than these.

So at the six month point I have made three important decisions and, if you’ll permit me, I want to share them with you.

1. I’m going to make a commitment to you and Twenty Years Later
2. I’m going to make a commitment to all of you (and future readers that find this little nook of the blogosphere in the future)
3. I’m going to start podcasting my novel, a chapter at a time, beginning this week.

So, starting at the top, here is my first commitment:

By November 2009, Twenty Years Later will be in the publishing pipeline, or it will be self-published.

I have waited and procrastinated enough, and I need to move on. I need to get into book two, and right now I can’t as so much energy is going into finding a home for book one. I will give it that home, one way or another, in time for Christmas.

Here is my second commitment – and it’s all to do with my affair.
I find that I spend more time with my lover when properly motivated. And seeing as this is a passionate love affair, I want to keep it exciting. I’ve thought of a way to get that motivation, and to thank you all for sticking with me: it’s – actually, I’m going to do a whole post about that in a couple of days… it’s something big and I want to do it properly.

And the third commitment is the one that I never, ever thought I would contemplate: to podcast Twenty Years Later a chapter a week.

Why? Well, there are a few reasons. I’ve seen it done elsewhere and heard about the potential benefits, but what it really comes down to is intimacy.

Intimacy? Well, yes, it’s one of the things that I have gained from blogging that was completely unexpected. The reason why that traffic measure is now irrelevant to me (though I must confess that the stats do make me smile.)

It’s the connection I’ve found with the people who read my ramblings, the people I talk to on Twitter. I never dreamt I would experience anything like this. I thought all of this happened to other people… not me. I relish in the feeling of bringing you into my little writing world, and I want to take that a step further. I want to take you into the world of Twenty Years Later, and I can’t think of a more personal way of doing that than reading it to you.

But that’s enough for now: this milestone has been celebrated and future ones laid out. I see them stretching ahead of me on the road, carved in white stone with an ornate black arrow pointing away from me, into the future.

Here’s to the next six months… Only forwards

Tagged as: blogging anniversary, self-publishing, twenty years later