Today is the ten year anniversary of Writing and Works. That’s right, I’ve been mad enough to continue blogging for ten years. I started this site so that I would have somewhere to share my writing, and hopefully reach people who would want to read it. Since then, the site has changed and morphed slightly. During my first year blogging, I didn’t post any poems, but now poetry is the biggest feature of this site. I rarely write ‘my life’ posts these days, and most my fiction gets tucked away or submitted elsewhere. However, I went back to that very first post this morning, and though my style has evolved over the years, the core of what I was saying still resonates with me.

So as I sit with pen in hand I see almost everything. It’s not the world I visit though, the one supposedly occupied by you and I, but the great expanses of kingdoms and domains that unfurl within imagination. My home is wandering among ideas and capturing in words what I feel and see.

Carol J Forrester (Aged Sixteen)

Since then, this site has been viewed over 80,000 times, and I’ve written, quite literally, a thousand more posts. The thought that occurred to me today, is that I lost sight of why I write. I didn’t start writing because I wanted to build up my audience, or pull in as much traffic as possible, I started writing because I wanted to explore the ideas in my imagination.

I was going to do a ten year post looking back at my top posts, my most popular stories and poems, and my top tips for blogging as a writer. I decided not to do that because it’s time I accepted this blog for what it is. This is the place where I can take part in the DVersePoets prompts, connect with other writers, talk about books, and complain about getting rejected from yet another literary magazine. I can also look back and say, “I’m a better writer now, than I’ve ever been before,” and have the work to prove it. Writing the poems and short stories on this site might not have brought me fame, but it’s brought me so much joy, and it’s honed my craft. I could not have picked a better name for the site because this has always been my place for writing, and working towards be a better author.

So, with 2020 not set to improve any time soon, I’m launching myself into NaNoWriMo for November, and promising myself that I will focus on the joy of writing rather than misery of trying to market myself. All I really need, are the words.