Keeping Pace and Keeping At It

I don't really see how people make a career out of blogging. It absolutely blows my mind to be honest. I got turned on to the idea of writing a blog in 2010, when I began following a girl who blogged about her weight loss (she admitted earlier this year to actually having had an eating disorder). According to an online forum about famous bloggers, she was making about $10,000 a month in 2011... Yep, just for writing a blog. I'm not entirely sure how credible that source was, but it amazed me nonetheless.

If I could make money from blogging, it'd be a dream come true, literally. My dream is to be a published author. To write, in general. I love writing and have done it since I could make letters into words. Case in point, when I was six years old, I attended a friend's birthday party. I wrote a story about a lion and put it in a shoebox and wrapped it to give to her as a present. It sounds silly now, but I remember that she loved it. (I later found out that my mom got her a "proper" gift that she opened after the birthday party). But at the end of the day, I don't care if I ever make a dime off this thing, I just love that it's mine. It's inspiring to think maybe one day it will really take off, but do I really care if it ever does? Nahh.

Since I decided to go public with my blog, I wondered for a long time if people actually read it. At the same time, I didn't really care if they did. I was just glad to have a place in cyberspace that was all my own. I began sponsoring advertisements on my blog and have made a whopping $23 since July (book the cruise). Then a little over a month ago (before Vaught was born) I got an account with Google Analytics to help track and monitor my blog; I wanted to know more about my readers and how many were actually reading. All I can say is wow. This is no big deal to big-time bloggers, but it's November 8th, and my blog has been viewed over 400 times since November 1st. I just can't tell y'all how special that is to me, how much it means. I can see that a lot of my readers come from North Mississippi, but I also have a lot (roughly 30% according to Analytics) from Tennessee and even a few (4%) from Kentucky, of all places. There's also been Virginia, Alaska (HI, CHESLIN), Alabama, and Colorado. That was all the encouragement I needed to keep going, keep writing, and keep Keeping Pace. I know people are listening; I know people (at least a few) are interested in my adventures and what I have to say. With time, I hope that my blog keeps growing and growing. As I smash new goals and as my life takes me in all the directions it surely will, I hope more and more readers and fellow bloggers will begin to want to follow along.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading. Thank you for clicking the link on my Twitter or Instagram and coming here to read about whatever is going on in my life. It means more than you can ever know. I hope to be able to know many of you very soon.