ALYSSA LOST IN SPACE

Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth it to let this blog eat up so much of my time. But then I stumble upon the blog of someone I happen to greatly respect and admire and I chance a look at their archives and I can see that there are years and sometimes decades of posts for me to dive into. Posts that go all the way back to a time to when they were just starting out, and it’s always incredibly interesting to hop into that backlist and take that journey with them.

It’s especially rewarding when I read those posts that speak of their struggles and their worries. Things you know they overcome because of where they are now. It’s inspiring and motivating to read the chronicle of someone working hard and persevering. Battling difficult life situations and mental health issues and somehow, years later, finding a way to come out on top.

Anyone else do the same? Spend a few hours just browsing through a blog backlist to see where they’re journey began and what they’ve gone through?

It reminds me of why I wanted to start this blog, and why I want to share every ugly part of the process of finding my place in the world and working towards my goals. Maybe ten years from now someone else will be struggling in a similar way, stumble upon my blog, and find some comfort in that journey.

It’s one of the strengths of having your own space on the internet. In a world of social media where your tweets disappear into the internet ether after a few seconds, it’s nice to have a place to record everything and have something to look back on.

The heyday of author blogs happened in the late 2000s and early 2010s, so a lot of authors have an expansive archive from when publishing a book was still a far-away dream and the self-publishing boom was just beginning. It’s incredibly comforting as someone struggling to do the same to see and understand that their success did not happen overnight. It was the product of immense dedication and hard work, and you can literally see every step and misstep as they blog about the journey.

And I just want to appreciate that. It’s so easy to focus on what we do right now, and we want an immediate result. But you might write something on your blog tomorrow that will impact someone’s life years from now. You just never know, do you?

Here’s to all the posts in your blogging backlist. May you continue to write many more.