She was not a real writer.
She always wanted to be.
She had written a lot over the years.
She had even written 3 novels and was well into her fourth - none published.
One day, she sat at her desk and began to flip through the pages of the new Writer's Digest magazine she had received in that day's mail.
She came to an article written by a well known writer, wherein the author suggested that those that were published writers and those persons that were pursuing a writing career --- definitely needed to have themselves a BLOG!
And so ...
She - the wanna-be writer - followed the directions and suggestions of the famous author - went immediately to Blogger.com and created a blog - not truly knowing what a blog even really was.
She named her blog On The Upside, as that seemed like a good name at the time and it was something she often said in the course of conversations.
The day was August 23, 2007 and one year later - I find myself extremely happy with my sudden decision to start a blog and grateful to the famous author for guiding me into the world of blogging.
I have written nearly every single day since I started my blog one year ago. I have published 360 posts over the last year. I guess I took 5 days off in there somewhere.
I have loved blogging.
I have loved writing, story telling - documenting the lives of my children and my family - through blogging.
I have loved the learning process of maintaining my blog and doing the work it takes to figure out ways to make it the best it can be. It is a lot of work, but ... I have enjoyed every minute of it.
I have been a SAHM with my kids for 16 years. Having this blog and investing time and energy and creativity into it has offered me a tremendous amount of pleasure and allowed me to find something that I enjoy immensely - for me.
I wish I had found blogging years ago. I wish I had been documenting my older kids' lives the way I am now documenting my younger ones.
I have made many friends. I had no idea, going into blogging, the wonderful community I would be associated with. I had no idea the connections I would make with people from all over the world. I had no idea what a blessing all these friendships would be to me.
Thanks for supporting me through this past year.
Thanks for your friendship.
Thanks for caring about my kids and my family and me and my writing and my stories!
My journey has only just begun.
I hope our paths continue to cross often.
I have enjoyed this first year and look forward to the years to come!
It has been really, really FUN!