The first post on this blog (or at least the Blogger version of it) went up nine years ago today.
A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. I've gotten married, lived in three new states, been Dr. Byron at three colleges, and met a truckload of people online.
A lot of the people that were part of things nine years ago have moved on, while others have become part of the Peanut Gallery. Things are slower than they were in their prime back in 2003, but there are more people writing online these days (who isn't?) and things like Facebook and Twitter have snagged some of the blog eyeball market, as has a lot of professional reporters and pundits blogging as part of their job.
Even if the readership is 40 a day rather than 160, I'm still a blogger. I'm a bit verbose to fit a thought into a tweet and don't have a book in me, so the short-essay format that fits blogging to a T is my natural home.
I'm going to strive to write more in the weeks and months to come. I've brought the Edifiers back; the last few years have been a spiritual dry time, and bringing them back has lifted my spirit. Many readers have apprecated them in the past, and I want to keep them up.
Also, with some free time on my hands as a part-time tutor, I hope to use that time to put my ecclective thoughts in print and see what the Blogosphere and the Web thinks of them. I don't know if I can get things to a point where this can be self-supporting, but I can at least put my $0.02 out there in areas of my interest and expertise.
Here's to year ten's start.
I'll be putting 9 candles on my blog cake next month. Congrats -- the last nine years have been quite a ride. Blogging has changed, but there's still fun in it. I'm raising a glass to your tenth year.
Posted by: Richard Hall | January 07, 2011 at 06:39 PM
Happy blogday Mark! Coming up on nine years myself, and I'm glad you have kept going. It is still fun, here's to another year - blog on!
Posted by: Bene Diction | January 07, 2011 at 10:46 PM
A great deal has changed. Congrats on nine years. As I recall I started about ten years ago. Things were very different in those heady early days. Although, it is hard to believe I went from blogging for fun to being a "new media consultant" to directing new media for a winning US Senate campaign!
But in between was quite a few very difficult years where I wasn't sure what I was going to do or how I was going to make it.
I will keep you in my prayers and try to check back in here more often that I do (I always enjoy reading your thoughts).
Posted by: Kevin Holtsberry | January 13, 2011 at 11:06 PM