Miss Cellania is Ten Years Old

For the biggest part of this year I’ve had it in the back of my mind to make a special celebration out of August 23rd, when my blog turns ten years old. Earlier this month, I was reminded of that when I worked on Neatorama’s ten year anniversary. And then yesterday I made plans to write something, but then got distracted, like I always do. This morning, I said, “Holy Moly, it’s my ten year anniversary!” So the first thing I did was look up my very first post to link it, and whaddaya know, it was published on August 22, 2005. It’s like I forgot my own birthday or something. Well, happy belated blogiversary to me.

Let me tell you how it all happened. My husband died in August of 2004. I was only 45 and had two small children. As I slowly climbed out of the grief pit, it became clear I was just plain lonely. We were living in his hometown, not mine, and most of our friends were his friends. I was busy with work and parenting, so I turned to a small private parenting group of online friends who had been so supportive. I started an email joke list to let people know I still had my sense of humor. I emailed old friends near and far. One of the guys in my parenting group introduced me to “blogs” by recommending I read Boing Boing. A mom on the group started a blog. What a wonderful idea! However, my current computer wasn’t up to the task, so I bought a new one, my first NEW computer ever. And I started Miss Cellania.

I was a real n00b, but spent a lot of time surfing, writing, and promoting the site. By commenting at other sites, I met a lot of bloggers- even dated a couple of them eventually. Blogging was a lot of fun! Meanwhile, my career as a radio announcer was reaching a dead end after 24 years. I no longer enjoyed it, and it probably showed, but I kept plugging away because I needed the money. In 2006, I was assigned a shift that was incompatible with parenting school-age children, so I quit. Staying in the profession would mean moving out of town, and since I finally got my house paid off, I didn’t want to deal with the hassle. So I avoided the job question and kept blogging.

In July of 2006, the guys at YesButNoButYes asked me to to join them as a writer. Then Alex at Neatorama linked to one of my posts, and later asked me to do a co-blogging feature, and then asked me to post on his site. In early 2007, mental_floss contacted me about writing for them. They were even willing to pay me, which was mind-blowing. As blogs became more popular and attracted advertisers, Neatorama and YesButNoButYes started paying writers as well. I began to think that maybe I didn’t need to find another job. Blogging for a living has its advantages and disadvantages.

In April of 2010, Alex made me managing editor of Neatorama. Shortly afterward, YesButNoButYes ended. I wrote for a couple of other blogs along the way, but have settled down with Neatorama and mental_floss because that’s the most I can handle.

Since I started this blog, I bought a house, got married and gained five more kids and now three grandchildren, went through menopause, and watched my children grow up (Princess is leaving home in a couple of weeks). I migrated this blog to a different host for several years and then back to Blogger, and there’s a ton of archives I still haven’t reposted. Blogging itself has changed as well. Social media is now king, even though blogs have more content. The attention span of those surfing the ‘net has decreased, and innovation has given way to improving on familiar tropes.

Here’s a timeline I created a few years ago about my internet career. I really should update that more often. 

I don’t know what the future holds for the site. There was a time not so long ago (or maybe it was long ago) when Miss Cellania had 5,000 visitors every day, with some days hitting twice that. Now I’m lucky to get 800 views in a day. Strangely, though, I’m making more money from it now than I did then. Advertisers learned the value of blogs late in the game. Part of that loss is because I don’t have time to promote my own site, since I’m so busy with the blogs that support my family. Part of it is the shifting habits of web surfers. There’s not much I can do about either trend. I’m pretty sure I will keep this site even if no one visits, because it’s my personal home on the web.

Thanks a million to everyone who comes to visit, who ever came over the past ten years. I couldn’t have done it without you!

Update: Thank you so much to everyone who left a comment! It's wonderful to know that there are people who still check in here every day. Thanks to John Farrier for posting a link at Neatorama. And to Marilyn for posting it at Nag on the Lake. Thanks to madamjujujive at Everlasting Blort for this neat gif.