Turned out, not only did I take my online life in my hands, I did exactly the same thing with my life in general. Through the blog I’ve met different people, I’ve been interviewed, Notebooks have been added to the BBC Manchester Blog, and sometimes I receive personal emails from my readers who, for whatever reason, choose to express their opinion in private. This opinion is positive, but I respect the readers’ privacy, not least because there is already quite a few comments on the blog that sufficiently satiate my vanity. And I must be honest with myself, I didn’t expect any of this to happen.
One thing I was adamant that I wouldn’t be doing was the accommodation of the immediate interest. Which is the reason why this blog isn’t about fashion, or current affairs, or entertainment, or TV, or, indeed, sex. It doesn’t mean I haven’t written or am not going to write on any of these subjects. It simply means that I wanted to create the audience by publishing primarily my thoughts, my interests, and after months of experimenting with various tracking solutions and receiving comments and emails, I know I’ve succeeded.
It’s a bit cheeky on the part of any blogger to announce the anniversary of their blog because it comes across like asking for congratulations, etc. Well, I obviously won’t mind any such (big bashful smile). But I do believe that whatever artists do, they do it for people: readers, listeners, spectators. As one such artist would sing, “people who need people are the luckiest people in the world”. So, I think on this first blogiversary it’s really should be me who says a huge “thank-you” to everyone out there who lands on Notebooks via a search engine, reads the feed, or types the URL in the browser. I write a lot about loneliness and in loneliness, but you’ve given me a wonderful gift of communication, understanding, and expressing the interest and support. What more could I ask for?