After ten months of bearing my soul and clinging to my anonymity, of second guessing every word and of being bold, of connecting with people and with myself, I’ve finally reached a huge blogging milestone–my 100th post!
I have a confession. I didn’t start blogging because I thought I had some important story to tell and I didn’t start blogging with the expectation of becoming apart of some kind of community. In fact, I started blogging with absolutely no direction at all.
I’d just finished the first draft of my second book and among the plethora of self-publishing advice on the web, I kept hearing about something called an “author platform.” Apparently it was pretty essential and since I was considering independently releasing my first book that December, I thought I better get on it. I did my research but it was all for naught. All of the advice I was reading felt like it was encouraging me to put on some kind of face, to be disingenuous for the sake of gaining readers. And even though I preferred my privacy, I decided that if I was going to create some kind of online identity, it had to be real. So I signed up for wordpress and then I went in blind.
I had no idea what I was doing or even what I wanted to be doing. This blog had absolutely no vision when I first set out. And even after all that time I’d spent looking at what other successful bloggers were doing, I realized that it was pointless. Because I’m not interested in re-creating anyone’s success or following in someone’s footsteps. Trying to capture that “it” factor isn’t the way to connect with people. But that’s what blogging is about. And even if that’s not why I sought it out in the first place, that’s exactly what I got.
I have met some amazing people online–generous, encouraging, talented people who’s friendships are worth much more than any potential sales I could have made by trying to turn this thing into a marketing ploy. And that’s what I want to celebrate today. Not the numbers or the stats. But the people who have guided me and encouraged me and left comments and shared my posts and sent me amazing emails.
100 posts doesn’t feel like a lot. In fact, I feel like I’m just on the cusp of getting this whole blogging thing down. But I never would have gotten to this milestone at all if people hadn’t reached out to me every step of the way; if I hadn’t felt heard. It was that encouragement from total strangers that gave me the courage to keep sharing, to divulge things I’d always preferred to keep secret, to show myself totally unfiltered in all my imperfect glory.
So thank you to everyone who’s taken the time out of their day to read my blog and to follow me on this journey toward making my dreams come true. It means so much more than you could ever know and has truly been a huge gift during this past year and a half when I was living so far away from my friends and family. I hope that you’ll continue to read the next 100 posts, and that with each one you can always take away the kind of encouragement and support that you’ve all shown me.
laekanzeakemp.wordpress.com 
Congrats, dear!
Thank you so much!!!!
Congratulations! I’ve always enjoyed reading your blog. Here’s to another 100 posts!
Thank you! It really has been great reading your comments and connecting with you and others. Thanks for the support!
You’re welcome 🙂
It does seem that all of us our always on the cusp on understanding how we’re going to figure out how to make social media “real” for us. What a journey, though. Congratulations.
I always had this impression that “social media” was so contrary to its name and incredibly impersonal. I’d tried Facebook and twitter but never really got into either of them. It wasn’t until I discovered blogging that I felt like I truly found something I might be good at. Since I’d always been a writer, blogging was the natural fit for me, but I’m still learning every day how to make this experience even more rewarding through authenticity and connecting with other people.
Congratulations! It’s interesting that you say that this blog started off with no clear direction, because all of your posts that I’ve read have seemed very clear-minded and coherent; you’re obviously on a journey and it’s been an inspiring one to follow. Here’s to good writing and another 100 posts!
Thank you! It might seem like I’ve got my act together since I mostly just write about writing but in the beginning that was sort of just this veil that I hid behind. I was afraid of divulging too much personal information and writing seemed like a safe topic. The “vision” didn’t really start to take shape until I saw how people reacted to posts that were a bit more personal. It was rewarding to know that what I was going through was resonating with people and that’s when I decided to try and make this blog, not just a reflection of my own personal journey, but a place where other writers might find encouragement. I know it’s rather vague; I’m still fleshing out the specifics and I have a lot of things planned for this blog, but at its essence I want other creatives to always come away from one of my posts feeling inspired and with the reassurance that a creative life is totally a life worth living.
Congratulations on your centenary! You are the ‘social’ in social media. Platforms are for trains 😀
Exactly! Such a great point. Social media has one very specific purpose–to connect people–and that should never be forgotten.
Congratulations!: )
Thank you!