Happy Second Blog Birthday

I started blogging in August of 2008, meaning that this blog — or at least my involvement in this blog — goes back two years. Deb wrote over 40 posts at her own startup blog beginning in 2007 and we merged on January 1, 2009, so there are multiple ways to count birthdays, but I must be in a cake mood today because I’m choosing to interpret August 2008 as a significant date.

I still remember waking in a sweat (literally) early on an August morning soon after I’d started my online experiment, thinking I’d made a big mistake. How would I fill the space? How would I find the time? Who would read it? Why was I doing this and would it interfere with my own writing?

I never would have guessed that this blog would last two years, with no sign of fading. Or that I’d meet so many people — real people, not just thumbnails! — because of it. I never would have guessed we’d have blog volunteers (thank you Ela and Lorena) and blog ads (thanks to our sponsors) and contests (thanks for running the Ode to a Dead Salmon contest, Deb!) and frequent commenters who often follow with private emails, usually just at that moment when I wonder whether blogs matter and whether any of these electronic methods are connecting Alaska writers in a meaningful way. (Yes, I believe they are.) Most of all, I hadn’t pictured that the blog would one day give birth to writing workshops which in turn would give birth to an actual, physical writing center, itself made possible only because of our volunteers and donors, too numerous to list here, but deserving of thanks, and thanks, and more thanks again.

Because I couldn’t picture any of this from day one, I am aware of my own limits as a visionary. But even with less-than-perfect vision, I remain a believer. If so much could happen between 2008 and 2010, surely a lot can happen in the next two years, or three, or five. That thought is worth a virtual serving of candles and cake. Cheers and best wishes to all of our readers and guest-bloggers and supporters.