When I was doing summer theatre a number of years ago, one young actor with little musical experience found himself cast in the pre-show choir. After a few days of relentless rehearsals and hours of trying to acquaint himself with music theory he blurted out, “Singing’s hard!” much to the delight of the rest of the choir.
I can honestly say, “Blogging’s hard!” Not that I expected it to be easy, but it’s definitely much more involved than I imagined it to be: keeping up with other blogs and bloggers, research, writing, more writing, organizing, editing, catching up with the blogs you missed out on because you were researching and writing, posting entries, more researching and writing followed by more catching up on blogs, Facebooking (I cringe that that is now a verb), Tweeting (I cringe again), more catching up and everything endlessly cycles through. Oh, and I forgot the worry and stress that I get when one or more of those things fall behind or isn’t accomplished.
Today is Southern Spirit Guide’s first birthday and just a few days ago I finally reached 100 posts. I’m very surprised I’ve even gotten to this point. When I started this blog a year ago, I had that all too common worry that this would turn out like so many other projects I’ve embarked upon: unfinished. There’s always a fear that I will start with grandiose plans and only see them through halfway. So far, though, this blog has not fallen victim. In fact, it recently gave birth to another blog. Oh God, they’re breeding and multiplying, run for your life!
I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished and plan to continue another year and see where this leads me. There is an ultimate goal in mind of a book, though the actual subject still remains unclear. I definitely have tons of research I can rely on, though I find that the more research I have, the more I need. At least I usually feel that way.
Ok, I’ve patted myself on the back enough, there are some people I need to thank as well. I’ve said my thanks in a few previous posts, so I’ll be brief about it. My family and friends are very dear to me and have put up with endless discussions of ghosts, ghost stories and even accompanying me to haunted places. The bloggers who have so graciously helped me along: Jessica Penot, Courtney Mroch, Sharon Day and Pamela Kinney, without their support, this blog would be dead, not just about the dead. Finally, my readers and fans, thank you for reading, enjoying and commenting. Thank you! You all mean the world to me.
Ok, now what?
Well, I have some thoughts for the future. I’m slowly working to make sure that I have good coverage for each state. Georgia, my beloved home state, is still leading with the most entries. I’d like to catch most other states up, especially Washington, DC and West Virginia which I’ve seemed to ignore. I’ve discovered a good deal more information on West Virginia that I can use in the near future.
There are some entries that I really would like to revisit, revise and expand. I started doing that with the haunted college and university building entry but I got distracted halfway through.
Dear readers, if you have any suggestions, please leave comments or email me. In addition, if you come across information that may be helpful in my research, please let me know!
Happy Haunting!
Lewis
You have had a great year. If you just keep goig the way your going, I will be reading all your posts. I love our blog. Your blog is one of the best researched, most history drenched ghost blogs out there and I love it.
Congratulations, Lewis! Having abandoned a blog once (though not before I tried to resuscitate it at least twice), I know what a pain blogging can be. But your readers appreciate the good work you're doing. Carry on, good sir!
Congratulations on the milestone, Lewis. Yes, blogging is hard. At least for this writer–blogging and other social media besides writing is a full time job for me.
Maybe a book on blogging, along with one on ghosts, would be a super ideas for you.
Sweetie; You are so far ahead of where I was in blogging my first year. Jeez! I can't imagine what you'll be at year 3 which is the anniversary I'm about to hit. We need the info on your blog, but more importantly is the blog world needs complex, interesting, big-hearted, intelligent, inquisitive, and funny people like yourself. Welcome to the "tribe" sweets!
My heartfelt thanks to all of you!
Sometimes I wonder how I managed to stick with it so many years. Celebrating the 7th is just as sweet as the 1st. Congrats!
Congrats! Takes commitment, for sure. Since May of '07 (I think) I've done probably 1200 to 1400 posts. I took a lot of them down for use in a forthcoming book, but I look back on all that and it just blows my mind. And yet, I still don't feel like I've penetrated that elusive blogger barrier and burst through to the sort of notoriety and readership others enjoy. That kind of success is strangely quixotic (well, when it doesn't involve porn or tabloid gossip). It's tough and I certainly wouldn't want anyone to get discouraged. So, stick with it!! 😀
Happy Belated Birthday, Lewis! Here's my suggestion: KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!!!!!