Flashback Fridays #1

I have made 378 blog posts since I started this writing journey. The very first post was on April 3, 2020, soon after the publication of the Island of Stone. It was a shout into the void, and many of those earlier musings had little to no audience. Looking back, I think some of them were pretty good, and some I completely forgot about. In any case, they help capture the ups, downs, and sideways of my journey. So, I’ve decided to dig through this sizeable pile and republish an old post each Friday with a little commentary on where I was at the time and where I have journeyed since. I will continue to publish new content on Saturdays.

Below is a link to my very first post ever. Unsurprisingly, it received zero views when posted, and six years later, only 18 people have read it. That first month, I aimed to post every day and largely accomplished it, but it was not a pace I could keep up for long. I realized blogging is hard for an introvert. I am also not one for small talk, so my posts grew longer. The audience was very small in those first few months, but it did grow. I now receive as many views in a month as I did that entire first year.

You will see that there was a general sense of optimism as I embarked on the journey. As I’ve said many times before, I was an active writer in my mid-to-late 20s, but it largely fell by the wayside as I went to graduate school, began my career in higher education administration at MIT, and bought and remodeled a home.

Then, COVID hit, and everything changed. I worked from home for almost three years, giving me hours back each day from my commute. I soon realized how much I missed writing, and more importantly, how much I needed it. I am a creative person by nature. Looking back, I realize that if I am not creating, it can lead to self-destruction, and I now consider a large chunk of my 30s as wasted time. COVID woke me to this reality. Today, I am healthier physically and mentally, and much happier to have found writing again!

Below is a snapshot of when that all began.

Cheers!

And so it begins…