Photo: CC Champagne
It has been a year. One year since I started this blog… Can you believe it? How time flies!
One year ago I needed an outlet for my thoughts, my rants, my feelings… And I came up with this. Looking back at the prolific posting of those first few months, the passion and time I’ve put into A Glass of Bubbly over the year, the frustration when I just haven’t had the energy or the words…
This whole thing started as a hobby project, out of desperation after I left another blog where the atmosphere had become toxic for me. I didn’t know I could do this on my own, and at first I was petrified. Why would anyone want to read my scribbles? But I decided that I needed to do this for me, write for me, of me and in my own space. I overcame that initial fear and I have, over the past year, started trusting my own ability to share my emotions in words. It has been an amazing experience.
I also learned that there are websites out there promoting blog poetry, which has been what most of my scribbles have been. Blog poetry… We are so lucky! Only ten years ago, if you had poetic ambition you were at the mercy of publishers and the whims of the cultural elite. Today, you get yourself a blog and start writing. It might never take you into the literary history books, but depending on how well you do at least you have a chance to feel like you have been read. If you want to take it further and get published, at least blogging will give you a feel for what it’s like putting your emotions out there. And that you are not alone!
Lately I have been struggling with my creative self. I have been suffering through a period of severe depression (a recurring theme in my life and my scribbles), and I have been on the verge of giving up, deleting this blog and just storing all the words in my brain. During this period I resigned my post on JP at the Olive Garden since I felt I was unable to live up to the standard of what I wanted to achieve. More importantly I felt unable to comply with deadlines, and knew that made me a bad colleague. I haven’t been able to focus enough when it comes to reading other blog poets offerings on the various prompt blogs where I used to participate, and that has also made my writing suffer. But I am still here. I do still get inspired. I am still doing this all on my own.
One day perhaps I will get back to posting up to ten poems and other thoughts per day, but for now… I have run out of days of the year to talk about historic events on. I have dried up creatively and I don’t have as much to share as I feel I should.
Over the past year I have had enormous success when it comes to visitors to this blog, reaching 35,000. Mostly this has been thanks to the illustrations I have chosen for my scribbles and I want to once again thank all the excellent artists whose work I have taken the liberty of borrowing. Hardly any of the artwork on this blog is mine, unless specifically stated, but I have taken care to link back to where the illustrations can originally be found (if at all possible).
I am really proud of myself for A Glass of Bubbly and what I have achieved this past year. And I am really grateful to all who have visited this blog. I hope you continue doing so, the same way I will continue to try producing scribbles. Remember that poetry lives within each and every one of us.
*Cheers*
A Glass of Bubbly 