Blogging Milestones Meme

I’ve done two memes about blogging already: Why Do I Blog Meme, in 2013 and My Blogging Journey Challenge in 2014 therefore I felt it was time to do one for 2015. This month my blog has reached a milestone of sorts so I thought it would be the perfect time to do another meme about blogging itself.

Meme instructions: Share when you started Second Life, when you started blogging about Second Life and talk about any Second Life blogging milestones you wish to share with your readers. Don’t forget to leave a link to your post in the comments.

Definition of milestone: An important point in the progress or development of something.

I joined Second Life almost 8 years ago in May of 2007. I started blogging pretty much the same year, in fact my first post was in December of 2007. So I’ve officially been blogging about Second Life for 7 years now. However, in February 2010 I purchased this domain, StrawberrySingh.com. So it’s been 5 years this month that I have been blogging on this domain. I recall that day very fondly because I felt like I had become a real professional or grownup and advanced at blogging. Kind of silly when I think about it now, but it did give me the motivation to take my blog much more seriously, more than I had been doing before. Once I did that, I noticed a change in my behavior. During the days I would start thinking about what I could write next on my blog, no matter what I was doing. I would start getting ideas from random things I would be doing throughout the day. Or I would see a girl walking down the street and wonder if I could do a style like that in Second Life. Basically anything that happened to me during the day I started to wonder if I could incorporate that into my blog somehow.

Then in 2013 I started doing my Monday Memes regularly. That’s when my obsession with finding more engaging content to post took over. Before I would just be content with doing a picture and posting credits and a few words, but after I started the memes, it’s as if I became obsessed with finding a way to say something of value to my readers in each post. So they either leave with a laugh or with some sort of fresh knowledge. I’m not sure if I achieved that goal, but I sure did try.

When people normally speak of milestones, they often refer to statistics, blog hits, best posts, etc… I’ve never actually shared my statistics in a blog post before. I’ve never felt the need to, but since I am very transparent with my advertisers, I do share all of the details on my advertising page and update it regularly. However, for the sake of this post, and since WordPress has such great statistics, I will share with you guys some of the numbers from there:
> Total blog views since 2010: 1,838,138
> Total blog comments since 2010: 9,422
> Most Popular Pages: Windlight Settings and Tutorials
> Most Popular Tutorials: Second Life™ Newbie Resource and Cleaning up your pictures using Photoshop
> Most Popular Meme/Challenge: What’s Your Digits Challenges and My SL Movie Poster Challenge!
> Most Popular Blog Post (not including tutorials or memes): Maitreya Mesh Body and Mesh Breasts

I guess you can call reaching a certain number for blog views or comments a milestone, but for me, a blogging milestone is so much more than just a number. My blogging milestones were achieved when I opened up and wrote about something very personal to me and you guys responded in ways that actually helped me process what I was feeling and heal. Here are some blog posts that were personal milestones for me:

1. I missed you – A post I wrote in 2010 when I returned from a two month vacation overseas. It was the first time I ever wrote something so emotional and personal on my Second Life blog. As I was writing that post, tears were just rolling down my face and I was wondering what I was even doing and why was I writing all this, but I felt compelled to. Now I look back on it and I’m a bit embarrassed, but I recall at that time, it really gave me a sense of relief to get that out.
2. Dust In The Wind – June 2012, that was a very rough time for me. I was going through an immense emotional struggle and questioning a lot about my life. I think being able to just randomly and vaguely vent on my blog helped me a lot. I did a few posts like this during that time and each time I did, it helped me process my feelings a great deal.
3. My Seven SL Facts Meme – March 2013, the first meme/challenge I did which started my whole meme adventure. I have to say that this was a big turning point for me and it kind of changed the focus of my blog. It made me discover what I preferred to showcase here and how much more engaging I want to make my blog. It also introduced me to many new (and old) Second Life bloggers that I was not aware of.
4. Vacations and Auctions – February 2014, probably one of the most difficult posts I’ve ever written. I was completely destroyed at that time and sharing my feelings and in turn having my beloved best friend do an encouraging post for me in response and all of your participation posts for that response really helped me heal and get through it.
5. 6 Years of Second Life – May 2013, this is one of the rezday posts I did where I created a video called “Draw my Second Life” as embarrassing as it is to watch now, lol, that video put a lot of value in the years I’ve spent in this virtual world, at least it did for me.

These have been what I consider my blogging milestones. The reason I am so late in posting this Monday meme is because I had a lot of difficulty getting all my thoughts together and writing this one out. I am a rather private person and often find it difficult to share my personal feelings. But somehow, with this blog, I have managed to do it many times, either just sharing whatever is in my heart or answering goofy questions through my nosy memes. I don’t think I would have felt so comfortable in doing so if it wasn’t for you guys being there, listening, reading and responding…so thank you, for that. <3

I’ve been doing Photography memes the past few weeks so I thought this week I would make you guys do some writing. I left it pretty open, I didn’t want to give you guys a bunch of questions to answer, just share whatever you feel comfortable sharing and what you feel are your blogging milestones. I hope you are able to do this meme.

Please remember that you can participate in any of the memes/challenges at any time. You’ll find them all under my Blog Challenges category along with other memes and challenges I’ve done over the years.

Since this month does mark five years for me on this domain, I have decided to do a sale on my Advertising campaigns. All of my campaigns are currently 50% off and will be until next Monday, February 16th. You can find all of my pricing and instructions on my Advertising page. If you already have an advertising campaign with me, you can take advantage of the sale to purchase more time and it will be added to your campaign. Thanks for all of your support and have a great week! <3

Credits:
*Mesh Body: Maitreya Mesh Body – Lara V2.1 by Onyx LeShelle
Tattoo: Letis Tattoo :: Inermis :: Omega Applier by Leti Hax
*Skin: -Glam Affair – Sia India – 01 F by Aida Ewing (@ Collabor88)
*Eyes: IKON Promise Eyes – Grey by Ikon Innovia
*Mesh Eyeliner: -Glam Affair- Couture Eyeliner no.03 by Aida Ewing
Eyelashes: *MC* “Falsies” Eyelash by Freya Olivieri
*Hair: .~Tableau Vivant~ My love hair – FP by M4ri1yn Magic (@ Collabor88)
*Dress: Tee*fy Freya Dress Long – M – Black by Azure Electricteeth (@ Collabor88)
*Nosering: [MANDALA] OKAKI face piercing set by kikunosuke Eel
*Necklace+Bracelets: Zaara Banjara Silver jewelry by Zaara Kohime
*Pose+Bed: Trompe Loeil – Kezia Bed Silver Drape 2 Lit PG by Cory Edo (@ FaMESHed)
Home: Trompe Loeil – Brooklyn Carriage House by Cory Edo (Flickr)