Welcome back to Top Ten Thursday!
Today marks the 5 year anniverary of my first blog post. I missed my first year blogversary, but after that it has become a tradition to celebrate with cake, candles, the works:
As I was telling you in this month's Use Your Words post I set out on a quest to find out about that Cherry Storm dish, determined to make it my blogversary recipe!
What am I even talking about here? Visit my separate post on the Cherry Storm event that took place this Monday, but in short: it's about people running across town, carrying a wooden ladder.
Of course the local bakery picked up the name of the event and named a dessert creation after it. I spared no expense, time or effort to make it there so I could share it with you.
Ladies and Gentleman, please meet....
They're almond paste muffins with sour cherries, and I didn't buy or try to make them at home.
Instead let me introduce you to something probably yummier! Ever heard of garbanzo chocolate cake? In order to do justice to my blogversary tradition we'll throw in some dark cherries. Frankly, who needs sour ones?
You can find the recipe over here.
Enough of the food, though. Today we're talking about the things we learned throughout the period of time we've been blogging, so here goes:
What am I even talking about here? Visit my separate post on the Cherry Storm event that took place this Monday, but in short: it's about people running across town, carrying a wooden ladder.
Of course the local bakery picked up the name of the event and named a dessert creation after it. I spared no expense, time or effort to make it there so I could share it with you.
Ladies and Gentleman, please meet....
Cherry Storms:
They're almond paste muffins with sour cherries, and I didn't buy or try to make them at home.
Instead let me introduce you to something probably yummier! Ever heard of garbanzo chocolate cake? In order to do justice to my blogversary tradition we'll throw in some dark cherries. Frankly, who needs sour ones?
You can find the recipe over here.
Enough of the food, though. Today we're talking about the things we learned throughout the period of time we've been blogging, so here goes:
- I made some amazing connections, near and far. I consider this my ultimate number one benefit of being a blogger! I cherish the people I met through blogging. Many of them feel like real life friends! I even had the honor to write guest posts for some.
- Some prompts have forced me to do research, be creative and go out of my comfort zone; like the time I tracked down baseball games in Switzerland.
- A handful of times I have been approached and asked to write a post. Of course most of them were unpaid, but one time I was given some free entrance tickets to the fun park. That post ended up becoming my most successful one in terms of page views because my sponsor shared it generously.
- I like to think that my English has improved, or at the very least that it didn't get rusty, considering that after quitting the airline job. I don't have much opportunity to practice.
- Something I learned about myself: I'd rather share details of my personal life with people in North America or Australia online than with my next door neighbors in person. Is that an introvert thing? I'm not even a classic introvert?!
- For what it's worth, situations in my everyday life that went wrong make for good blog fodder.
- Against every advice out there I still don't consciously write for my "target audience" (who are you out there, a show of hands, please!) It's more that I imagine telling stuff to a friend the way I would over coffee. Or sparkling wine. You get the picture.
- At the very least I probably narrowed my niche a tiny bit by changing my name from "Confessions of a part-time working Mom" to "Part-time working Hockey Mom". Not sure if it makes a difference, though.
- My blogging may have become a bit more structured over the years, mainly thanks to the writing challenges and the deadlines that come with them.
- Honestly, when I startet this blog on the spur of a moment, I didn't think I'd still be blogging five years later. However, unlike some of my friends, I never considered to quit blogging. I always loved to write, and this is my platform.
There you have it, ten things I learned, experienced and / or achieved over the course of the past five years.
Thank you so much for being part of this adventure! Let me know what you (dis) like and would love to read more (or less) of!
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What's next?
July 6, let's list the top ten things you (dis)like about a Holiday taking place in July, be it Canada Day, Independence Day, National Peach Ice Cream or 7-Eleven Day (yes, those are actual holidays, check out this list of national holidays for more fun ones!) Sign up here.
The week after, July 13, how about listing ten things that are on your current to-do list. You know the ones you fully intend to do once you have time... Or just random stuff you need to do and might need a little encouragement. Sign up here.
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