Blog Years

The first official post for my blog was on January 22, 2009.  It was an inauspicious little tale about a neighbor boy and his bike.  My next post didn’t appear until six months later, on July 6^th.  After that second post I began updating my blog more regularly, at least a couple articles a week.  Because of the long gap at the beginning, a misstep if you will, I consider July 6^th to be the real inception date of my blogs existence.  DL trivia fans now know the whole truth (hint…hint). 

In just four weeks my blog will be celebrating its birthday.  One year, 113 posts (now 114), 7167 site hits, 328 Google friend followers, 17 Networked Blogs followers, dozens of blog awards and thousands of comments later.  This simple communication tool has cut a path through the obscurity forest and led me to this quaint little village filled with acquaintances, friends, dear-friends, collaborators, critique partners, admired role-models, and wide-eyed beginners, all with “like minds”.  So much has happened while building and settling into my cottage, that I’m amazed that it’s only been one year. 

And countless numbers of you have been through the same experience.  So many in fact that I started taking a closer look at the blogs I follow.  It turns out that most of them came into being right about the same time as mine.  The average looked to be about a year old…maybe two.  It makes you wonder…where are the older blogs…the ones that have been around for 5-6 years?  Are there any?  If so, where did they go?

What is the life span of a writer’s blog?  I think a blog doesn’t age the way we normally expect.  Maybe it’s more akin to dog years?  One blog year equates to seven years in the real world.  Think about how fast paced things seem to happen in this community?  As an individual the publication process seems so long and drawn out, but when we look out into the blogosphere something is always happening to somebody.  Drafts started, WIP’s edited, critiques returned, revisions endured, queries offered, rejections suffered, THE CALL celebrated, manuscripts sold, cover-art debated, books launched.  With all that going on it’s easy to see how time feels accelerated.  So, how soon does it take for a blog to reach adulthood, middle-age, the golden years?

Me, I see my blog as just beginning to mature.  I still catch myself making youthful, headstrong, selfish mistakes, but I’m becoming comfortable with my place in this world and the expectations I’ve created.  I’ve gone from crawling in January 2009…to baby-steps in July…to confident strides today.  All in one year.  Like I said…dog years.

What about you?  How old is your blog and where do you fall in the blog aging process?