Jedi by Knight

I was tagged by Sara Letourneau for the #MyFirstPostRevisited Blog Hop, which was created by Sarah Brentyn @ Lemon Shark.  So let’s have some fun looking back in time!  First the rules:

The Rules for the #MyFirstPostRevisited Blog Hop

1. No cheating. You must highlight your first post. Not your second post, not one you love… the first post only.
2. Link back to the person who tagged you (thank them if you feel like it or, if not, curse them with a plague of ladybugs).
3. Cut and paste your old post into a new post or reblog your own bad self. (Either way is fine, but NO editing.)
4. Put the hashtag #MyFirstPostRevisited in your title.
5. Tag five (5) other bloggers to take up this challenge.
6. Notify your tags in the comment section of their blog (don’t just hope they notice a pingback somewhere in their spam).
7. Feel free to cut and paste the badge to use in your post.
8. Include “the rules” in your post.
9. Completely silly rules that I’m making up as I type:
   • Write your post while wolfing down your favorite dessert.
   • Do 10 cartwheels after you hit “Publish.”

My First Blog Post: March 8, 2012

My very first blog post was titled Hello world!

Welcome to my nerdy blog, where I’ll cover topics such as Star Wars, crafts, and young adult fantasy literature.  Mostly I’m just trying to get back into writing some.  I have some books I’d like to write but feel really out of practice, so I’m hoping this blog will help me ease into it a little.  Thanks for reading!

“Hello, world!” is the name of a type of program that beginning coders learn; it basically does nothing but print the words “Hello, world!” on the screen.  So a lot of people title their first blog posts the same way, just a way of saying, Hi, I’m here.  This is my start, figuring this out.

How has my blog changed since then?

Quite frankly, my blog is still exactly as described in my first post haha.  I still talk about Star Wars, crafts, and young adult fantasy literature, among other things.  I’ve been working on writing some of those books in my head (see excerpts, and my NaNoWriMo win), and having the blog has definitely helped, not just with practicing writing but also with finding a community of other writers to inspire and help me.

From the beginning, my blog has been a hodge-podge mix of nerdy topics.  I know this has hampered my developing a super-strong following, because the kinds of people that like YA book reviews aren’t always the same people interested in video games, or biology, or K-pop, or scrapbooking.  But keeping a variety of topics also lets me keep up a steady stream of posts that I feel passionate about writing, which keeps me from burning out.  I think that’s how I’ve been able to keep my blog going to five years now.

It also helped me to develop some regular features on my blog, such as the Weekly Photo Challenge, Fanart Fridays, GeekyNerdy Book Club, etc. to give me fun, regular, easy-to-produce content.  I know some other bloggers that do monthly reading wrap-ups, or weekly haikus.  This kind of thing helps you get in a good rhythm with your blog.

Lastly, looking back on my very first posts, the biggest difference between then and now is presentation!  My first posts are walls of text with not a lot of nice images or sections with headings; they just don’t look very professional or easy to read.  Also the tone is too casual; I didn’t give background information on any of the books I was reviewing, or explain any of the acronyms I used.  Most of these posts got exactly 0 views.  Now I can understand why.

I tag…

1. Star Wars Anonymous
2. Ellie @ Blogging for Dopamine
3. Lightning Ellen
4. BQB @ Bookshelf Battle
5. GeekyNerdy Girl
6. YOU!  Feel free to join in with this blog hop if you feel like it!

I confess I did not do the required cartwheels.  Dessert was easy, though. 😉