A Glance over the Shoulder

I’m not quite through with you yet…2010.

I’ve been slowly tying up loose ends from last year and this is the final step. Reflection. What did I accomplish here on my blog? Did I make a difference? Did I manage to set myself apart in some small way (like we all are trying to do), or am I still just background noise. Let’s take a look, shall we?

I started the year with 34 ‘Like Minded’ followers. I know because I listed each of their names on my final post from 2009. If I did the same this year, I would be typing out 584 names. My goal when I began the year was 100. Even more special was the fact that I managed to attract at least one follower in each of the 50 states and 25 countries throughout the world.  Cruising Altitude went global in 2010...the year of the Tiger.

I posted 108 times and averaged 33.8 comments per post. The high point being 102 comments and the low point 5 (that happened to be my first post of 2010). More important than the numbers were those comments informing me of the tears and/or laughs I happened to elicit. Additionally, I was bestowed more blog awards than I can even count from my blogging colleagues.

I hosted my own blogfest (The High Drama Blogfest - which was a rousing success), started a Blog Recycle Station, wondered about a blogs lifecyle (Blog Years), and warned about the dangers of Black Ice. Overall, I exceeded 15,000 site hits in 2010.

Let’s set aside the numbers and look at the people. I’ve been introduced to, and became close…close friends with, some truly amazing people last year, all due to this blog. I was led to the critique group I’m part now of because of it. I personally met three of my blogmates (*waves* to Summer, Nicole and Tamara) and hope to expand that number this year. (No…that doesn’t mean that I want the three of them to gain weight. Geesh!) Out of everything my blog opened up for me last year…the friendships I’ve formed tower above them all.

Full disclosure compels me to tell you I also came very very close to pulling the plug at one point last year. It was during a time filled with self-doubt and internal conflict, but by reading about similar struggles helped me through it.

So, although I fell short of my writing goals (and I’m okay with that) last year, the success of my blog more than makes up for it. A heartfelt thank you goes out to each of you who visited me even once in 2010. You are what keeps this train on track.

That was last year. Time to swivel the head around and look forward to the bigger and better. This is the point where you ask me…what have you done for me lately?

Speaking of that, don’t forget about the Significant Other Blogfest on January 21st.

2011…here I come.