My Sixth Blogiversary

On January 16, 2006, I published my very first post, "Moses Crothers - possible son of John Crothers and Mary 'Polly' Wycoff?" Little would I know that with the creation of my genealogy blog, my life would literally change. At that time, there were a handful of geneabloggers (and that term hadn't really been created yet) out there: Dick Eastman, DEARMyrtle (Pat Richley), Leland Meitzler, Randy Seaver. Soon I learned about the Carnival of Genealogy and Jasia, Craig Manson, Apple, footnoteMaven, and Becky Wiseman (who's got a nice list of the "old-timers" right here!).

In six years, I've knocked down a couple of genealogy brick walls. I've attended local and regional conferences both as an attendee and as a presenter and met many of my geneablogging buddies. They've visited me in Spokane. I've won blogging awards, been interviewed on radio, podcast, YouTube, and the local paper (twice). Genealogical publishing and subscription sites sent press releases for me to publish.

For several years, I blogged nearly every day and definitely several times a week. It was a mighty feat of creative and physical endurance, one that could not last. For one, it was taking its toll on my body. During that time, I gained 50 pounds, using my spare time to sit and blog instead of exercise, exacerbated by the pain of a bad shoulder, further entrenched by being sedentary following surgery. So I took time away to start improving my health and fitness. Secondly, it became difficult to blog about family history when my family, my marriage was falling apart; as emotional trauma challenged clarity of thought and creative expression.

For someone who has read daily since she was three--yes, three!--years old, not being able to focus long enough to finish the first chapter of a book signaled to me that I needed time off from both absorbing and creating words; that the swirling emotions and thoughts in my heart and head needed to settle before I could sift through them and bring them to life to share with others. They had to be sorted through to make room so I could take in what others were sharing as well. I knew I was healing when I could start reading again. With the mostly positive changes of the past year, I find myself thinking again like a writer, a blogger. Phrases will come to my mind, and I'll tuck them away for a future post. Ideas are once more starting to blossom. Still, as in many areas of my life, I'm taking things slowly.

As I wrote in my last post, my blogging goals this year include writing just one quality post a month. This post actually exceeds this month's goal. I do have some blogging gems in store for my readers. Next month, as we celebrate St. Valentine's Day and our thoughts turn to love and relationships, I'll be sharing my tongue-in-cheek insights on the similarities between online dating and online genealogy research! When Women's History Month comes around in March, "A Tale of Two Sisters"--which has been taking seed in my mind for several years--will at last be published. I won't make any more promises than these, although as I said, I've got ideas tucked away here and there.

Thank you once again, my blogging buddies and readers, for hanging in there and for giving me another year to celebrate. I hope to be around for many more!