My First 100 Posts: A Blogging Journey

In late November, my blogging journey started after I promised my wife that she would never have to say the words, "Stop blogging and talk to me/take out the garbage/look at the UFO that just landed and is probing the neighbor's cat!" 100 posts later, I have reached today's milestone. If 100 days is a useful barometer for a presidential term, 100 posts will do the trick for a blog.

I would like to say that I have now been acknowledged as the foremost expert on Pacific Northwestern health care, knitting, and climbing reform. I would also like to say that my on-line brand is now so tight that both ranchers and cattle are envious. However, the one thing that I can say for sure is that there are a few more colonoscopy and animal husbandry jokes on the internet.

In reality, I can safely say that the blog does have a readership (thanks mom!), I've become a contributor to some MBA web sites, been added to blog rolls, had posts featured on Brazen Careerist, and have helped backpackers find Lake of the Angels camp site in the Olympic Penninsula in Washington. To highlight the best of the blog, I added a widget to show future readers the most popular posts. Thank you to Marquis for linking to Love in the Time of MBA's which is a big reason that the post is the most read. Well, the other reason is because it's about dating which leads to sex and I don't need to explain more (sorry mom!)

I've also had fun seeing what google searches bring people to my blog and what people are looking for. For all those who were looking to learn about sperm donation, the price of a colonoscopy, or a business plan for a reality TV show, this probably wasn't what you were looking for but glad that you came by. I did kind of shudder at what kind of Google traffic my Pimp your health plan post might bring.

My goals with starting the blog weren't about traffic because I wasn't interested in spending the time generating it. My first goal was to write and work on my writing. Being a writer was my childhood dream job once I decided that my parents probably wouldn't let me become a bounty hunter. Writing has been my other craft (besides knitting) and blogging has given me a medium to take ideas further, think of new ways to express them, and look for the stories that our out there. I read more critically and think about how I would respond because I have the blog as an outlet.

My second goal was to really participate in the on-line world of Web 2.0 and the community. I was ready to move from lurker and occasional commenter on blogs to a full fledged participant and put my ideas out there. I believe that the online community is just as much of a community as your local sports team, sewing circle, or commune and that developing an online personality is part of participating in those communities.

Thank you to all who have visited, commented, read, or linked. Now that I've proven to myself that I can maintain my blog and keep writing, I'm going to start thinking if I want to move the blog into different phases or keep my current approach. From traffic and comments, I can tell there is a strong interest in my MBA Experience posts and that may be an expertise that I continue to cultivate. Unless my pimp my health plan posts reveals a better opportunity!