Seasons of Blogging: On 5 Years

Reaching a milestone is an interesting event to experience. One such millstone for this particular Interweb space is this: August (today in fact) marks five years for Finding Wonderland, which inspires this seasons of blogging: on 5 years. In many ways, I’m floored that it’s still here. In others, I’m humbled and grateful the readership has become what it is today because without it, this Wonderland wouldn’t exist.  

Ironically, five years ago my impression of blogging was something very different than it is today. When I began, I was eager and excited to hone something I loved: writing. I began hopeful that by doing so, my writing skills would improve. Because of this, I had a notion of creating a professional space that was just that: a professional outlet. Little did I realize this blogging thing was a great deal more than that impression.  

In the five years since that idealistic girl built up a collection of reviews and (nervously) began publishing them, much has changed.
This is true not only in the blogging community, but also in me as a person. 

Many of the journey’s we walk in blogging can be likened to life. Like our lives, there are seasons in blogging that mirror the choices and changes that bombard our lives. My small readership in August of 2011 began with a few friends I knew through the e-zine I wrote for at the time. In time, new experiences pulled those readers away, but another readership grew and largely consisted of people with whom I had commonalities with. I was a part of a group of friends who were of the same opinions as I was. It was what I needed. These readers and friends taught me something my naïve self didn’t know. People did exist who shared some of my convictions, and it was encouraging to know.  

Months full of inspired and fun conversations existed with these friends. Months passed, and those same readers and friends fell away. I watched as the people who I’d gotten to know, the people whose blogs I read regularly, left in pursuit of other things. Later, I met more people who I grew to know and enjoyed knowing because, whether they knew it or not, they were a new chapter in my
learning as a blogger. A new season bloomed. 

In 2016, there are more growing pains mirroring what my current blogging life is, and in many ways, it’s bittersweet. As the years have passed and as I’ve worked to revise and edit old reviews, I’ve been reminded of the many friends no longer blogging. It’s reminded me that, like life, the life of blogging is not immune to change. It shifts, challenges and has its ups and downs as its bloggers find their voices or talents leading elsewhere.  

Because life is unpredictable I don’t know where this blogging life might lead next. Will it have the staying power or interest for
another year? Two years? This I do not know. What I do now is this, in the here and now, Finding Wonderland is still present. Whatever is next for it, as a blogger, I want to enjoy the journey and enjoy whatever it has to teach me.  

To the readers, thank you for continuing to visit. Five years later and I still love that you make it possible for this journey to continue on.