Six years of writing online

Six years go last week, on March 27, 2012, I officially began writing online at my old blog. I had created the blog a week or two before that date, but March 27 was date I published my first post and began my journey of writing online. On the same day I announced the creation of my blog on Facebook, and strangely enough it was Facebook that reminded me of this anniversary last week when that old post popped into my timeline. Going forward I won’t need Facebook to remind me of this date—I’ve entered it into a document that I use to keep track of important dates—but I guess owe Facebook a bit of gratitude for reminding me of this important anniversary.

Back in 2012 I thought I had my online writing mapped out. The blog was only to record my experiences in Europe and afterwards it would just exist indefinitely for the pleasure of anyone who wanted to read about my adventures overseas. In November of 2012 I published the final entry of Side Stories 2012 and after that the blog could have died, but it didn’t. For whatever reason I just couldn’t let it go. The end of the blog’s original purpose turned out instead to be the beginning of something much greater. At the time I don’t think I had any idea where my online writings would lead, and if my past self could see me today I think he’d be surprised (and hopefully impressed) at what this hobby has turned into. I can only hope that my current self will be surprised and impressed at what this turns into over the next six years.