Happy Blogoversary

Photo credit: melodi2

Today, The Five Fs blog is one year old. One whole year of me, wittering on about all sorts of stuff. It started with So, this is me, which was more of an arrival with a whimper than a bang. I remember feeling very, very self-conscious when I posted links to it on Twitter. After all, I was in awe of all the fantastic bloggers that I'd recently discovered. How could I ever match up to them? I felt pretty dumb, to be honest. What right had I to do this? I felt like everyone was going to laugh at me. They didn't. Well, not to my face anyway.

200-odd posts later, I'm still here. I still feel like a newbie to the blogosphere, and compared to some bloggers that I look up to, I am - they've been blogging years. However, it's become apparent from chats I've had on Twitter in the last few weeks that I'm regarded as an old hand. Old being the operative word. It's very flattering, but deep down, I feel that I'm still learning, which is good, because I like learning. I'm odd like that.

Blogging was a slow burn at first - I only posted infrequently, but now I think about blogging all the time. I see blog posts in everything, but thankfully, most of them never see the light of day. Lucky you.

I intended to blog about the five Fs in my life when I started (hence the name) but when I look back, I blog about football far less than I thought I would do. I still don't post lots of recipes but I seem to blog about food in more general terms quite a bit. I wasn't blogging that much about fitness but since I started My Fitness Story... earlier this year, it's had an at least weekly presence on my blog. I'm in awe of the guest posters who've taken the time to tell their stories. A huge thank to all of them for subjecting themselves to public scrutiny. (And if you want to have a go, feel free to get in touch, slots are always available!)

A lot of my posts have centred around the children, which is as it should be, since they are growing and changing, frustrating and delighting me - all in equal measure - every single day. I don't always blog about the bad times, I don't always blog about the really good times, but some of the little details are often mentioned that I would probably otherwise forget. Like the conversation I had with Missy Woo yesterday. She told me that she had a gingerbread man for pudding at school then went onto say "But he got up, jumped off the plate and ran away up the field so I had to go and chase it so I could eat it" which was just brilliant imagination, and made me laugh.

In the time I've been blogging, I've discovered that writing funny posts is a hell of a lot harder than serious ones. I've discovered I write long posts that I have to edit right down. I've discovered that editing them can sometimes turn them into completely different posts. I've discovered I like writing a lot more than I thought. And that what I think will make a good blog post sometimes doesn't at all, and vice versa.

And I have discovered that people do read my stuff. That, for me, makes it all worth it. When people say to me they love my blog or a particular post, I'm blown away. If I say I'm proud, that makes me sound big-headed but I don't think I've ever done anything like this that's been so successful. I have to say thank you to all who read or support this blog in whichever way, shape or form. You all rock. Fact.

A special thank you must go to Garry, who writes The Blog Up North, who started me blogging by convincing me to write some guest posts for him and then lying being kind about them enough to inspire me to start this blog. He is the person I turn to when I need advice on all things blogwise, he's one of my regular commenters and gives me encouragement when I'm doubting myself or my blogging. I blame would like to thank him for everything he's done this last year. He's a better writer than me, and ten times funnier, but I'll let him off.

It's been an amazing experience, this blogging. Through it, I've met some lovely people, some of whom I'm now proud to call close friends. I've been invited to places I never even dreamed I'd visit. It has made me laugh out loud but I've also cried buckets at times. The good and the bad, the happy and the sad, all of it has enriched my life.

I may feel like the newbie for a while yet, but I know that blogging has me hooked. There should be more blogoversaries because the ride is far from over. I hope you'll stick around.

Why not celebrate my blogoversary by popping over to enter my blogoversary competition?