It’s Been a Year? Already?

I started this blog a year ago. As I look back, I haven’t said that much, or at least, as much as I thought I would. I’m proud of that.

I’d set a goal of posting at least weekly. That was based on some life changes I was going though. (No, not a butterfly yet.) Of course, plans made in the midst of change must be subject to change. Or course correction.

I can’t yet say that I’m just waiting for the dust to settle. I’m still throwing it up in the air, and, dammit, having a good time doing it!

But posting this blog, such as it is, has proven to be more enjoyable than I had hoped, because it brought me back to the kind of writing I used to do many (many) years ago.

I’ve rediscovered my voice and point of view. I’ve also found that I don’t (necessarily) write short pieces. That’s not (necessarily) a bad thing, although short pieces play better online. So, as well as writing here (occasionally), I’ve been writing for other media. I’ve also been setting up blogs with social-media links for a few community organizations. (And in doing so, I’ve actually used the phrase “leverage social media” in a sentence, although, not here. Until now.)

Who knew that the year I (finally) start to blog would be the year that social media experienced a sea change? Younger adults moved away from email, favouring, instead, wall-scrawling and the stripped down email-like communication offered by Facebook^® (and some other sites). Adults over 50 began to blog more as those under 34 began to eschew blogging. (I guess I’m on trend there.)

This was the year I rediscovered the word eschew. (Don’t fear it. Look it up.)

It was also in the past year that the mass media noticed (admitted?) that corporations have co-opted social media. They had to notice: They were part of that gang, all offering the masses the opportunity to tweet, scrawl, and otherwise post their comments on content, to participate in the news, not just observe it. (Although, do I really have to “like” a business in order to enter an online contest? Really?)

As for this blog, of the few posts I’ve published, all are being picked up by search engines, a few by aggregators, and 1 was “featured” by WordPress. I’ve got 3 pieces in work, which will be posted when they’re ready. As they should be. As this one is right now.

I’m forever,

(Don’t ask me about podcasts. You don’t want to know. Yet.)