"27 year old female, celebrating a paper anniversary"
Hello one and all.
I know it's been a while since I posted a blog, but I haven't stopped! I've had a lot on personally and professionally and, although I have still been writing away, I haven't been posting because I haven't had the time to commit to tweet them or reply to comments and emails. One of the main reasons I write is because of the dialogue and debate I get from doing it, and without being present to do that part of it I didn't really see the point in posting whilst I was busy.
Anyway, why today of all days to check in and say Hi?! Well, today marks a kind of special occasion; an anniversary of sorts! Today it is a year since I started my blog Diagnosis: LOB. I remember the night vividly. My life had been turned upside down; I was living out of bin bags and staying between my Mum's house and on the floor at the foot of a friend's bed. This particular night I was at Mum's. I'd just gone out and splashed the last money I had in the world on a brand spanking new iMac. Well, what do I do with it now?! I didn't really need it, I had no real use for it, but it was very pretty and shiny so I bought it on a whim. My crew mate @secondonscene had told me to write my rants down for a long time so he didn't have to listen to them! So I did.
I set up a blog. I designed a pretty poor looking page on blogger, wrote a bio, said a few words to introduce the blog and that was it!
'New Post'...
Now what?! I starred at the blank screen not having a clue what to say! I didn't know a thing about blogging. All I knew was that I had read a blog called 'Insomniac Medic' which was a bloody good read. The thought of actually writing my thoughts down was quite daunting. I just went for it and after 3 hours I had a badly written, error-filled blog about a frantic impatient parent.
'Post'...
Now what? How do people read it? Isn't there something called Twitter?! So I gave that a go! I set up an account and started tweeting. Then I got 'mentioned'! Weird! I didn't have a clue what I was doing but a few kind folk gave me some pointers. At the end of the first month I'd written 15 posts or so and had amassed 375 blog hits! Most of which were probably me. I had the bug! I started to love writing and as the weeks and months ticked by the popularity of my blog got more and more. It really was humbling to see my blog being read over 50,000 times a month.
As Peter Parker was once told, 'with great power comes great responsibility'. The more I wrote, the more likely I was to cause upset, and upset I did. I never set out to be controversial or upset people but I suppose being a stubborn, opinionated hot head who wears her heart on her sleeve it was always going to happen. I received words of warning about the appropriateness of what I was writing from time to time; some constructive, some not so much. I suppose we all learn somewhere, no one is perfect, and I like to think I don't make the same mistake twice.
What the blog has given me this last year is great enjoyment and some real pride in what I was doing. Being a finalist for the EMS Blog of the Year was a highlight, as was being nominated for various digital media awards and being contacted by a publisher! Despite all of that though what I wouldn't swap for anything is the friends and amazing people I've met along the way. I've had people guest blog for me, I've guest blogged for some real knockout bloggers, and had my writing published in places like the Guardian. None of these things would have happened if it wasn't for my fabulous readers and followers and for that I thank each and every one of you.
I love blogging and I will be back soon but today I just wanted to thank you all for your continued support.
See you all soon.
Ella xx