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October 20, 2011

Celebrating a Year of Firsts: My Blogiversary

Today marks the first anniversary of my first blog post here at A Sense of Family, and I’m in the mood to celebrate. It’s been a year of learning, discoveries, reminisces, and sharing. So pull up a chair, relax, and have a piece of cake on me.

When I took the initial plunge into blogging last October, I was a more than a little hesitant. It felt like jumping off the high dive into a pool of icy water—not something I usually attempt. Would anyone really want to read about my ancestors? What could I say that hadn’t been said before? How much is it safe to put on the internet? True confession: it was only realizing that I had no readers yet that actually gave me the courage to push the “Publish” button that first time. In the year since, with support from subscribers, followers, and fellow geneabloggers, I’m happy to say the water has warmed up considerably.

My blog seems almost like a living thing to me now. Like any living thing, it needs to be nurtured, watched, and fed regularly. It thrives on praise, benefits from a fresh look every now and then, and keeps me on my toes. It also has a way of demanding my attention when I’m already busy with other things! Time, in fact, continues to be my biggest challenge. I’m still learning the technical parts of blogging by trial and error. And I continue to explore different ideas in content to see what readers like and respond to most, because I've found it’s more rewarding to me to write things that people enjoy or find helpful.


Thank you to each and every one of my subscribers, followers, and readers. So often it feels like I’m writing into a vacuum (hello, is anyone out there?), but that’s the nature of the medium. Knowing you are reading keeps me going. A heartfelt thanks as well to everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment on one of my posts. You are appreciated more than you can imagine. I truly enjoy the feedback and interaction that flows from comments.

One of the highlights of my year was meeting other bloggers at the FGS Conference in Springfield. It was a pleasure to find real friendships springing from virtual acquaintances. The encouragement and camaraderie was just what I needed to propel me into my second year.

I picked the name “A Sense of Family” because, for me, that’s what genealogy is all about: developing a sense of who you are, where you came from, and how you fit into the stream of history. That’s what I try to accomplish with my research and convey in my writing. So this seems like a good time to say thanks to my family for their support. And to my ancestors—that delightfully mixed bag of farmers, housewives, carpenters, laborers, soldiers, mothers, restaurant owners, salesmen, blacksmiths, volunteers, factory workers, and cabinet makers that led to me. One thing’s for sure: I couldn’t do it without them.

I hope you’ll all ride along as I head down the road for a second year!

Some of my favorite posts from the past year:

26 comments:

  1. Happy Blogiversary. We read because it is good stuff! :-))) Thanks for sharing, and keep up the good work.

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  2. Happy blogaversary, Shelley! October is/was a good month to start blogging!

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  3. Happy Blogiversary! Looking forward to year number two on A Sense of Family!

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  4. Congratulations on your first blogiversary. I enjoyed starting the day by reading some of your favorite posts. I particularly enjoyed Thanksgiving at the Kids Table. It brought back fond memories of holidays with the cousins.

    Looking forward to your second year of blogging!

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  5. By the way I loved a picture of the child with the birthday cake!

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  6. Thank you, all. You're making my day very bright!

    Michelle, I had so much fun writing that Kids Table post. Glad you liked it. The birthday girl is my younger daughter :)

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  7. Congratulations! It was very nice to meet you at FGS. I hope we run into each other again in real life.

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  8. Happy Blogoversary! (Yes, I always spell it that way...)

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  9. I remember your nervousness before you jumped in the pool - and the water did warm up! You've done a great, consistent job coming up with posts that have a wide audience - genea-nuts and just regular folks. Hope to join you again soon - you've been an inspiration.

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  10. From a brand new Follower, I offer my Happy 1st Blogiversary wishes to you. I'm just a year older than you, :-). Looking forward in reading your posts.

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  11. What a beautiful reflection for the first anniversary of your blog. Happy blogoversary!

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  12. What a wonderful Blog. Happy 1st! Beautiful work. Keep going with this. I look forward to reading more posts. Rose Kandel

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  13. Happy first anniversary, Shelley. I know how you feel about writing into a vacuum, and how wonderful it is when there are comments. I wish you another wonderful year.

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  14. Congratulations, Shelley! I've enjoyed getting to know you here and at FGS and look forward to more - of both. You've built a wonderful resource this year for researchers and honored your "mixed bag" of kinfolk.

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  15. Happy first Blogiversary, Shelley! Congratulations! Here's to many more :)

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  16. Wow, you all know how to make a girl feel good! I appreciate the kind words and wishes.

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  17. Happy bersirey! Sorry I'm a day late.

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  18. Happy Blogiversary, Shelley . . . I so look forward to many more of your posts, finds and stories of your family history . . . congratulations!!

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  19. Congratulations! The first year is the toughest. Excellent blog. Keep it up.

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  20. Happy 1st Blogiversary, Shelley!

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  21. Congratulations! It was great to meet you at FGS. It's really amazing how you can get to know someone through this community long before you actually meet them in person.

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  22. Thank you all so much! I admire and appreciate each of you!

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  23. Happy Blogiversary, Shelley! It was awesome to meet you at FGS, and I enjoy reading your blog! You are not writing into a vacuum... there are lots of us 'listening'!

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Thank you for reading my blog! I welcome and appreciate your comments.