In the first week of 2014 I kept wondering how all my fellow WordPress bloggers got their hands on these beautiful Annual Reports for their blogs while I had nothing. Was my blog not important enough to warrant a report? (sniff) After some days of pitying myself, I decided to investigate and found that, for some reason not clear to me yet, only some blogs got the report automatically, while quite a few of us had to request one. Perhaps it is indeed a case of not being read enough, who knows, but I requested one and here it is! Continue reading “Tea, Books & Thoughts: the year in review”
One year ago I wrote my very first blog post. After pressing the publish button I covered my eyes with my hands, as I always do in similar situations, as if to shield my eyes from some horrible consequence. How did I dare make public something I had written? Why did I think my silly thoughts were worth sharing with the world? I might never had pressed that button had I known that people would actually read my blog. Continue reading “Happy Birthday Tea Books & Thoughts!”
Today I’m celebrating the fact that this is my 50th post. I can’t believe I wrote so many posts already! It is 18 weeks since I began my blog, which means I have written an average of 2.78 posts per week, which is quite good, but definitely not as good as the 3.25 posts per week average I counted after November. My pace has slowed lately, for some inexplicable reason, and by now I feel I can’t even blame the puppy any longer (as I did in The Puppy excuse). I will try to do better in the future!
In itself, objectively speaking, the number 50 does not have any special meaning. The meaning is in its special relation to the number 100. Being at number 50 feels significant because it is halfway to the milestone of 100. While, in fact the number 100 is not in itself particularly important, outside of the meaning given to it by humans. The conclusion is that this post celebrates an in itself insignificant event.
This imaginary milestone gives me a reason to look back and take stock of my blog. Analysing the use of the “like” button, as well as the WordPress statistics, it seems that book related posts are the most popular, followed by posts about my puppy. This means that my readers have pretty good taste since there are not many things better in life than books and puppies. Although tea should be included in this list, I believe. There were a couple of posts that I enjoyed writing that did not really receive a lot of visits, such as Some thoughts as winter approaches (the title says it all) and Imagine Heaven, which deals with the grief I still feel about the loss of my mother.
Ok, enough analysing my blog for now. I will try to write another post soon.
P.S I’m proud of myself for resisting the temptation to give this post a 50 Shades… title.
As I explained in an earlier post, my blog was a way for me to begin writing again after a long spell of writer’s block. And it worked. 44 posts later I can definitely say that I am writing. What my blog has not achieved is to help me write my novel. Instead my blog has become another way for me to avoid the intimidating novel-project. I am so busy writing my blog, that I no longer have time for a novel. Or at least that is what I tell myself.
Today I decided to make an attempt at one of my novel ideas. I opened the word document, and read the first paragraph of what I wrote last time I tried my hand at the project. And then I promptly closed the document, horrified at the utter rubbish I had written. Now I do not know whether what I wrote was really that bad, or if the pressure of a novel is so big that I am overly critical. Is it really possible that I manage to string sentences together into half-way decent text on my blog, while the novel sounds like the writing of an 8-year old?
Whatever the truth of the matter, the fact is that I have escaped back into the safety of my blog yet again. I will have to take another look at that page someday in the future, but having been traumatized by my lack of writing skills today, it will probably be a while before I dare double click on that icon. Meanwhile I will keep busy here. At least it is productive procrastination!
It is the last day of my holidays.
I wake up, and long to linger in bed, wrapped up in the comforting softness of my blanket. Tomorrow the alarm will break my dreams and drag me kicking and screaming from my slumber. I should enjoy this while I can.
But this is the last day of my holidays. I should not waste it by lying in my bed all day. I should take advantage of the hours of freedom that I have left. Continue reading “The last day…”
A couple of months ago I wrote a blog post – my very first, in fact – in which I promised myself – and my readers – that I would write a minimum of one post a week. And I have more than honoured that commitment by writing an average of 3.25 posts per week during October and November. But at the end of November my blog posting frequency diminished and I only managed to write two posts during the last week of November and this week has been blog-free until this moment. Continue reading “The puppy excuse”
I realized today that more than a month has passed since I started this blog. How time flies when you are keeping busy. A one month anniversary might not sound like much, but for me to write a public blog is a huge step, and I am quite impressed with myself for writing 16 blog entries during the first month alone. The question is not of finding the time to write, but having the courage to write and then to press the ‘publish’ button.
Pressing that blue button is always a leap. It is falling onto the mercy of strangers. Like David Mitchell‘s main character remarks in Black Swan Green “If you show someone something you’ve written, you give them a sharpened stake, lie down in your coffin, and say, ‘When you’re ready’.” I think that sums it up quite nicely. Continue reading “Why I am scared of writing”
I promised myself to be productive this week-end and to write on my blog, but instead I have spent hours escaping to Hotmail, Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter… I have Googled anything from TV series to information about daylight-savings-time. I could blame Google Chrome’s bookmark system. The bookmarks are just too visible at the top of the page. How can you focus on writing while the word “Facebook” is hovering right there above your post? Who knows what is happening with all my friends right now. God forbid I miss out on that picture of a pizza and the latest developments in an acquaintances ear infection! Who could possibly write while such temptations distract you? Continue reading “Blogging my way out of writer’s block”
As autumn progresses and the days get colder and shorter I always get the urge to stay at home and cocoon with a warm cup of tea and a good book. This autumn I thought I would try to get something useful done during this period, and decided to create a blog. Being an aspiring writer haunted by the everpresent shadow of writer’s block, this seemed like the perfect way of getting back into writing without plunging straight into one of those daunting novels I have been planning for several years.
I will not set too strict a limit on the number of posts I write (unlike Tanya Sa whose brilliant blog/challenge 365 Attempts (at life) inspired me) but I will commit to writing once a week. I might give myself some points if I manage to write more.
Wish me luck!
Tea, Books & Thoughts 