Sean's Ramblings Turns 10 (State of the Ramblings)

Today marks the 10th anniversary of Sean's Ramblings. When I started this blog in 2005, I was recently married, nearing 30 and thought that writing a blog was a trendy, cool thing to do. Now, I'm nearing 40, have been married for 10 years, have two wonderful (though tiring) boys and have spent a quarter of my life with this blogging hobby which no longer seems so trendy. (It's still cool though, right? Right?)

Around the anniversary of my blog, I've written annual State of the Ramblings posts with a look back at the past year and look ahead to the upcoming year. Since this blog is now 10, I'm taking a more global view of this blog this year.

John of the terrific Ya Jagoff! recently sent me a link with a FAQ about blogging. This is the second item on the list.

2. Find your blog topic or theme. Liesel is going to write about hot dogs. I have blogger friends who write about movies, crafting, photography, running or their kids and their day to day activities with them. It doesn't matter what you're going to write about, just pick your topic and go with it.

I don't do this. My blog is all over the place and always has been. I'm sure that I could have had a larger audience over the years if I stuck with one topic such as Pittsburgh sports or complaints about commuting in DC or fashion, but I never had an interest in doing this. I could have created a personal blog just about my life, but while I've shared more about myself than maybe I should have, I try to maintain some privacy, particularly surrounding my kids. I mean, do you really want to read months of posts about potty training? You'll also notice that there are only a handful of pictures of me on this blog and none of my kids, even though they are extremely cute. Essentially, I like the freedom of writing about whatever I want, and while I hope there are thousands hundreds dozens of people who can't wait to read my posts, I understand that most people find my blog for a specific topic, read an entry or two and don't return.

Some people have asked me how long I will keep blogging. I have no idea. Based on how much less I wrote in 2014 compared to previous years, I doubt I'll make it another 10 years. However, this has been a fun hobby and has given me the opportunity to meet some very cool people, even though I've never met some of them in person and probably never will. I guess I'll write until I don't want to anymore. When I first started blogging, I wrote constantly even on days when I didn't have much to say (some of my early posts are terrible). I'm now at the point where I write when I want to and this is how it should be. This seems like an easy concept, but it's not when you first start a blog.

As usual, I have no idea where this blog will go in 2015 and beyond. I'll definitely write more posts about being a father, but beyond that, who knows.

Thanks to all of you for reading this post and for reading any of my nearly 2,500 posts over the past 10 years. While I write for me, it's nice to know that others enjoy my writing. I truly appreciate your support.

Oh, you can follow Sean's Ramblings on Facebook. This is something new that I started over the past year. See, this blog is still innovative!