Monday 2 February 2009

a year later, and i'm still here

as everyone seems to do, it seems appropriate to mark the one-year anniversary of my blog. my first ever post went up on 2 february 2008, and here i am a year later still going (except for an extended break in december).

i'd love to have some stats to share, but i don't know how to do those, sorry. i don't know how many hits i've been getting, i'm not going to go through the long process of counting up the number of comments (i'm sure there's a quick way, but again i don't know how!). i can't tell how many people have linked to my blog (blogger is a real pain with that, so not totally my fault).

i could put the time and effort into learning about these things and sharing them, but it's enough of an effort to get the posts up & i don't have much energy left on top of the other things i do. also, i know i'll continue to write, whether i have 5 readers or 50 or 500. or even none at all.

this is a record of my thoughts, and the person who benefits most from them is me. it clarifies my thinking, and helps me to focus on things that are important. it reminds why i do what i do. it helps me learn new things, as i sometimes research topics i'm writing on.

having said that, of course i get a thrill when someone tells me they read my blog. and i appreciate the people that take the trouble to comment, even though it might take me 24 hours to get that comment up. even the critical ones are helpful, because they make think about my own position and in a few cases change it. it's all good.

the best thing about blogging though, is that it has made me aware of other people's blogs. it has widened the range of my reading on contemporary issues, and the various discussions in various places has enriched my understanding of particular things in a way that i couldn't have imagined. it's one of the wonders of the internet, and i love this technology that has changed the world. it's like everything was black & white before, and now there's a glorious range of colours. i don't like all of those colours of course, but they add up to the whole, and make it all so much better.

so for all of you bloggers out there, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. and i hope to continue to share mine with you.

1 comment:

Deborah said...

I so enjoy reading your blog, Anjum. You've made me think hard about immigrant and "other" women in New Zealand, and you've opened my eyes to new ways of seeing. I think I've read every post you have put up, and they have enriched me. Thank you!

With love and respect.