It was June 15, 2011 and I was making the leap into putting myself out there into the blogosphere. Back in those days, Twitter was an awesome place of like minded people who talked about their passions. I had stumbled on to a great collection of book and game writers, game developers, fellow readers and gaming geeks. Several of them had blogs and I really enjoyed reading their thoughts. I decided to take the leap and start my own.

This is the oldest image in my media library.

Back then it was just a free WordPress blog site with a basic theme. This was before I had launched my own website design business, and I was still learning the ropes. But I approached it with enthusiasm and posted much more regularly, and in more depth about my games, than in these more recent years.

Twitter got Elon’d, I left it behind, and that original crew of enthusiasts mostly broke apart. A few of them are here in the Fediverse. I’m sure a few of them stayed on the hellsite, but we went our separate ways. Many stopped writing, we stopped commenting on each other’s posts, and life moved on.

So here I am many years later. My blog is more customized. I’m paying for a domain and my own hosting. I’m still an avid reader and gamer, but the verve to write about my time spent reading and gaming has diminished. My blog got a few boosts from the Newbie Blogger Initiative and then the Blaugust years, so it is still kicking after all this time.

I want to encourage everyone who is reading this, who is taking part in the blogging festival or participating in any kind of community, to share your passions. Let words of enthusiasm take shape whenever and however you can share them. Take screen shots of your games, capture those memorable moments and share them with the world. This is your “I was here!” place. Whether you keep it going frequently or sporadically, I encourage you to keep the blog alive for those times when your muse hits. I’m grateful that I documented my gaming journey as much as I have.

I love that I have a space that has been here for me for over a decade. I don’t write here for anyone else really. But for the people whose blogs I read, I’m glad that they keep sharing and that I know that they still exist. I have great memories of this quirky community and I appreciate the connections I’ve made here. My life is better because I started a blog.