I don’t remember what I was doing on August 3, 2023, but I know what I was doing on August 3, 2008. Starting a blog, that’s what.
Fifteen years ago I started a blog called My Own Velvet Room after a favourite book from my childhood. It still exists, though I migrated to this space in 2010. You can pop over and take a look, but it will send you over here eventually. In addition to migrating, I combined blogs because at that time I had multiple sites. Crazy, I know.
At Arms of Adoption I wrote about the topic from an adoptee’s perspective, and at A Grandma’s Garden I wrote about—well, that’s obvious, isn’t it? I also had a website because as a fledgling writer it was all about online presence and platform back then (Maybe it still is. I stopped playing that game.) Anyway, I came to my senses in 2010 and pulled everything into one place, and here we are.
A peek at my stats reveals that over the years, I’ve published 2,454 blog posts, had 71,446 visitors, and 9,398 comments. The number of visitors and comments is skewed as a result of of combining multiple blogs into one—they would be higher if I had started here and stayed here. A browse through the archives reveals snippets of things that reappeared in my first memoir, Two Hearts: An Adoptee’s Journey Through Grief to Gratitude. Interesting stuff—to me, if no one else, at least.
Brenda, at It’s a Beautiful Life (You should check out her blog. It’s a beautiful and positive space), celebrated 15 years of blogging a little over a week ago by sharing links to 15 posts from August past—one for each year of blogging. I love her idea so much that I’m going to do the same here.
Some posts are short and sweet, others longer and meatier. I see things I’d do differently in each one, but am leaving them as they were originally published. It’s kind of fun to see where my blog life started and how it’s changed over the years. It’s equally interesting to see my change in focus from my working years to these sweet retirement ones.
/*! elementor – v3.15.0 – 20-08-2023 */
.elementor-widget-image-box .elementor-image-box-content{width:100%}@media (min-width:768px){.elementor-widget-image-box.elementor-position-left .elementor-image-box-wrapper,.elementor-widget-image-box.elementor-position-right .elementor-image-box-wrapper{display:flex}.elementor-widget-image-box.elementor-position-right .elementor-image-box-wrapper{text-align:right;flex-direction:row-reverse}.elementor-widget-image-box.elementor-position-left .elementor-image-box-wrapper{text-align:left;flex-direction:row}.elementor-widget-image-box.elementor-position-top .elementor-image-box-img{margin:auto}.elementor-widget-image-box.elementor-vertical-align-top .elementor-image-box-wrapper{align-items:flex-start}.elementor-widget-image-box.elementor-vertical-align-middle .elementor-image-box-wrapper{align-items:center}.elementor-widget-image-box.elementor-vertical-align-bottom .elementor-image-box-wrapper{align-items:flex-end}}@media (max-width:767px){.elementor-widget-image-box .elementor-image-box-img{margin-left:auto!important;margin-right:auto!important;margin-bottom:15px}}.elementor-widget-image-box .elementor-image-box-img{display:inline-block}.elementor-widget-image-box .elementor-image-box-title a{color:inherit}.elementor-widget-image-box .elementor-image-box-wrapper{text-align:center}.elementor-widget-image-box .elementor-image-box-description{margin:0}
Terror!
August 9, 2008
It’s Not You, It’s Me
August 21, 2009
Pretend I’m Dead
August 11, 2010
Everything Old is New Again
August 30, 2011
A Barefoot Girl With Shoes On
August 2, 2012
Six Months Left on the Retirement Countdown Chain
August 2, 2013
Another Perfect Day
August 14, 2014
She Puts Four Tomatoes in a Glass Jar And This Is What Happens
August 21, 2015
Saturday, August 13, 2016
August 13, 2016
Monday, August 14, 2017
August 14. 2017
Smoky Sunday
August 18, 2018
Starry Starry Night
August 27, 2019
A New Season
August 31, 2020
Preparing
August 31, 2021
I’m Ba-ack
September 23, 2023 (I didn’t post in August and most of September in 2023. This post explained why.)
What a great idea on the posts! Congratulations on 15 years, my friend!
Thanks, Carmen! And kudos to you too for being a long-timer in blog land.
Congratulations, Linda!
Thank you, Marian. And hats off to you too for being a longtime blogger!
Congratulations, Linda, on your 15th year anniversary! Well done.
Thank you, Martha!
Although we do blog to inspire others, our blogs also show where we have grown as writers and in our faith, don’t they! Congratulations on 15 years!
They really do, Lynn. There’s so much to love about the consistant discipline of maintaining a blog. Thanks for your well wishes!
Linda, Congratulations on your own 15 year journey as a blogger. Now I’m looking forward to reading those posts you’ve linked to. Thanks for the shout out! Brenda 🙂
Happy to share your beautiful blog, Brenda! And thank you for the idea of sharing 15 previous year posts.
Congratulations! It’s true, Blogland is not what it used to be, and many blogs I used to read have long ago become inactive. I appreciate your keeping up the art and tradition.
What a great idea to celebrate 15 years of blogging – congratulations, Linda!
Congratulations, Linda! And thanks for introducing me to some of your favorite blogs. I’m enjoying finding some new writers and bloggers.