Sunday 4 December 2011

Happy Birthday Dear Blog

It's happened.  My blog turned one this week and I didn't even realize it.

Before starting this blog last December, I had a few thoughts flowing through my mind which were reasons I felt I shouldn't start a blog.  They were:
  • I may not have anything interesting to say (which some could argue is still the case).
  • I didn't have a specific topic I felt I could write about all the time.  Many blogs focus on specific domains such as technology, sports, fashion, politics, etc. but I didn't really feel I could justify an entire blog to just one topic.
  • I didn't think I would have the time to maintain a blog.  This has still been my biggest challenge and there are some months where I've been posting regularly and some months where I seem to have disappeared.  Apart from work commitments, it becomes a matter of how I choose to use my free time and many times I've willingly decided to spend time with the family instead of the blog. 
Image: miahs-party-store.com 


What has the blog meant to me?  

Well, it is has been a good way of venting when I've been frustrated or sharing my views on topics I'm passionate about because as great as Facebook and Twitter are, there are times when you want to say much more.  Starting this blog also gave me the confidence to start a second blog (which is mainly tech-related on http://blogs.jackys.com).

Since I'm also celebrating my first year of the blog, I've decided to make a subtle change to the name of my blog.  In February, I had re-christended my blog, "Blogging with Training Wheels" as I felt I still had a lot to learn and understand about maintaining a blog.  I don't think by any means I'm perfect or fully understand yet what goes into making a blog really successful, but I think it's time I set free without the training wheels.  Therefore, I've decided to rename the blog as "Blogging sans Training Wheels."

The best way to learn is from your mistakes.  Without the training wheels, I'll surely fall over a few times but that should make the blog better in the long term.   If you've got any inputs on what I can do better, please do share them and I'd be glad to hear them.

In the meantime, I'll keep doing what I've been doing and hopefully, you find a post or two interesting enough along the way.