Wednesdays With Words: Celebrating 15 Years of Blogging – Balloons, De-Lurking, Your Favorites
Today is all about me. Or my blog, anyway.
I’m so excited to celebrate my blog’s 15th anniversary. My blog which started with the ignomious words:
I’ve managed to find some things to say over the years.
I even wrote an eBook. I never expected to write a book. (It’s entirely free, although I’d love to hear what you think about it if you read or use it!)
When I started, blogging was a “web log.” It was exactly what it sounds like, a list of interesting links that you tracked in a log on the web. Sometimes you commented upon them. Sometimes you commented extensively upon them. Sometimes you didn’t.
Blogging has changed. Images became of the utmost importance. Ideas found greater explication. It began to have its own writing style. That style, which I’ve been loathe to adopt preferring to ramble on conversationally, makes reading and skimming and gleaning ideas easier.
When I asked my kids about how I should celebrate, M-girl said I needed balloons … so you get balloons.
When I asked blogging friends, Pam invited me to be on the Homeschool Snapshots Podcast, which I did and it was published yesterday. (I never expected anyone to interview me, either!)
Another celebratory idea was an old-fashioned de-lurking party. If you are a regular reader or subscriber of ladydusk via email or feed reader, I’d love it if you commented here or on Instagram or on Twitter or on my new Facebook page and let me know you’re reading. For me, blogging is a lot about community and the friendships I’ve made over the years. I’d love to meet you or greet you!
Finally, since it is Wednesdays with Words today, I wanted to ask those of you who participate to choose your very favorite WWW post ever and re-link it here. If you’ve been with us for a few weeks or if you’ve been with us since Cindy Rollins started the linkup on Ordo-Amoris, I’d love to have you share the words which still resonate as they echo through your mind.
I’m even going to link mine in the link box. When I decide what it is. Nothing like procrastination.
Thank you for celebrating with me!
‘);
Wowee, 15 years! Congratulations Dawn! I remember hearing about blogging years ago on a yahoo CM group I was involved with but the web was a mystery to me back then & I thought getting emails was high tech. I'm linking to a post I wrote for WWW in 2013 on The Educated Mother because the topic is always in the back of my mind & the questions I asked myself back then are just as relevant now.
Carol! What an excellent post to start off the day! I hope everyone who stops by follows your link! This is exactly the kind of thing I'd hoped for: buried treasure.
I also want to thank you for your faithful participation in WWW it means much to me ❤
So grateful for you, dear friend! Thanks for all the encouragement (I blog because of you) & ideas you've shared here. :):):)
Love ya!
Happy blogiversary! I chose one of my very favorite CM quotes to link. I revamped the graphic a bit – it was one of my first graphics and done before I moved my blog.
Thanks, Anna! That's one of my favorite quotes, too and I *love* the graphic <3
Congratulations, Dawn! Your consistency is inspiring, and I love how you are always thinking Big Thoughts and sharing them here. You hit a nice balance between practical and principles and I admire that kind of writing. Thanks for starting your blog all those years ago! 🙂
Thanks, Celeste! Unless you realize that most of the big thoughts make it here and are thought as being written here LOL
I love you blog, too. Can't wait to see which post you decided to share today. And, if anyone reading this hasn't listened to your episode of Your Morning Basket Podcast, they must. I wish I had been as wise as you!
Here's to 15 more years! So happy to have a companion along the way like you. Peace keep you, dearest.
Thanks, kort! You too! I've appreciated all your friendship and word clouds and advice!
Congrats lady! I blogged way back when but never kept it going. Such perseverance! 😊 Great job! Thank you for all of your encouragement.
Thanks, friend! I've not always been perseverant … there are big holes in the baby & toddler years, but it is such fun!
Happy Blogoversary! Fifteen years is quite an accomplishment. I'm not sure I knew what a blog was 15 years ago. 🙂
Thanks, Karen!
Wow, fifteen years! Happy blogiversary!
Thanks, Kelly! I'm glad you've been a cyber-friend almost all of that time <3
Happy blogging anniversary, Dawn! I'm so thankful you've kept up your blog all these years and that we've become friends through the blog connections. <3
I'm also thankful for our friendship! Your work and wisdom constantly impress and astound me. Can I be you when I grow up? (Let's forget a moment who's older …)
Congrats, you dinosaur of the blogging world. 🙂 I linked something from 2014 — which is when Cindy was hosting, I know, but I thought it was still fun to actually remember to participate… 🙂
Still love your blog, even after all these years!
Dinosaur is probably better than great-grandmother.
I'm so glad you included one from that time! I wouldn't do this if it weren't for Cindy having started it, Mystie suggesting I take it over, and you creating my blue square for me. You're a big part of my blog … even after all of these years. <3
Congratulations on your 15th anniversary. I am a newish reader, initially via Instagram.
I've just listened to your podcast with Pam Barnhill. The part about blogging as a community and a source of ideas resonates with me. One of the things that I miss about medicine is the professional development and in many ways, blogs and podcasts take the place of this.
Thanks, SarahElisabeth! I'm so glad to have you joining us. I LOVE Instagram. It's so very fun! I'm glad you've joined us from there.
The community aspect has been instrumental in any success I've had with "professional development" I wouldn't have known where to go for many things. I love that for me blogging it has merged into other media … IG, FB, Voxer … where community can really grow. I appreciate your encouragement!
Congratulations of your Blogiversary! 15 years is amazing! Also, I just listened to your interview with Pam Barnhill and loved every minute of it! Especially that point that you blog for the love of blogging, to chronicle your and your family's growth and to build community. I just recently found your blog with in the last year. I finished educating my children in 2011 and began to focus on things other than education. I was a Charlotte Mason aficionado at that time but came to her philosophy late in our educational experience. In 2014 I retired from 14 years of Preschool Teaching (using CM!) and began keeping my then toddler grandchildren during the day. To refreshen myself with CM's preschool/early years ideas, I jumped back into AO, found the forum, and began a CM study group with a group of new moms with children the same ages. (We'll begin our third book in June!) I have also found so many great CM/Classical bloggers. I must have found you soon after your switch to AO. I love your blog's style just the way it is. I particularly enjoy your WWW. Your ebook blessed me tremendously as a personal devotional. I hope to use it with the grandkids one day! Even though we've never met, we are friends on social media. You are so sweet and always one of the first to "like" my posts. It makes me feel so special! Congratulations again on this special anniversary!!
Wow! Thank you so much for your comment and for delurking (and for your blog post about the Four Ws [grin]) I'm glad you enjoyed the podcast and it sounds like you have a treasure trove of wisdom about CM homeschooling!
Blessings to you!
That post is actually the first one I read on your blog! Thanks for that reminder! By the way, I did share that hymn and your quote at our annual retreat. The concept of the 4W's continues to inspire me.
Me too! They are the central bulwark of my Rule of 6. ❤
Congratulations on 15 years, Dawn, that is wonderful! I am really looking forward to listening to your podcast and I'm planning on using your ebook during our morning time over the summer. Your consistency and presence here for that long is really impressive!!
Thanks, Amber! Consistency has waxed and waned at times, but I've enjoyed all of what I've done here. I'd love to hear how the podcast and ebook go for you 🙂
Yes, I can definitely understand how there can be times of more blogging and less blogging! I'm impressed though that you've kept coming back even after times of being more sporadic. I've blogged for about 14 years now, but in that time I've had six different blogs. *ahem* Some of them ran concurrently, but still…
I finished listening to your podcast with Pam this morning and really enjoyed it! I'm glad you and Pam had that conversation and shared it. I was struck by some similarities in our stories – I had started out in the neo-classical world by reading WTM when my daughter was absurdly little and homeschooled in that neo-classical paradigm for about five years. I was definitely burning out, but I was determined to see it though… but when I took a real hard look at my kids I realized that they were not thriving under this regime. I decided about five years ago that I was going to start implementing CM's philosophy of education to the best of my ability and here I am, still going strong, still growing, and still loving it. What a turn-around!
Oh, I pray that I'll be able to say the same things 5 years from now! Your testimony is an encouragement to me 🙂
As for all in one place, I'm just too lazy to want to change and to tech-incapable to learn something new, so I stay put and just pick up where I left off 🙂 There used to be a group that claimed BWO – Blogging Without Obligation. I like that.
Congrats, Dawn! 😊
Thanks, lurking delurker 😂
Wow… I think I've been reading your blog for almost 14 years now??? We met in person about 12 1/2 years ago.
It must be 12 years because I was expecting M-girl at the time 🙂 So glad to have that long-term relationship <3
Oh congratulations! This is so neat you've been blogging this long. Neat. My first blog was on homeschoolblogger.com, which they no longer have. LOL! Have a blessed day.
Thanks for commenting and your congratulations! I think homeschoolblogger was before I was a homeschoolblogger, maybe during my toddler-lull 🙂
To celebrate, I will now commence lurking 🙂 I have added you to my Feedly after hearing your honest and inspiring story on EdSnapshots. Thanks 🙂
I am so glad you enjoyed it and were inspired and encouraged. I'm also glad you told me you would be lurking: it's always an encouragement to know there are real people reading. If you popped by now and again, it would be lovely, too 🙂