Happy First Birthday - divacultura celebrates!

Today is divacultura's first birthday! On Thursday 28 July 2011, I wrote "Beginnings", the post that outlined my vision for divacultura's incarnation as a blog.

Looking back on that first post, I struggle to remember what my original title choice was.  After some hard thinking I remembered.  I'm glad that my longed-for title wasn't available.  I have the right title!

One of the reasons I started blogging was to create a daily writing habit.  I had had one many years ago, but had lost my match fitness.  I needed to start exercising my writing muscles regularly; they were a bit flabby.  I was also interested to see how my writer's voice developed and whether I could be as compelling on the "page" as on the stage.  I'm still exploring that question and I think it depends on the subject matter.  I've been delighted to receive feedback from you, my readers, about my written voice.  It's fascinating.  Also a wonderful reminder that applies to any artistic/creative practice, that one's work takes on a new life the moment it is handed over to the audience.

I've done pretty well establishing my daily writing habit.  366 days after I started I have produced 348 posts.  That's roughly 18 days I've missed.  I'm counting that as success on meeting my commitment.  I've had holidays and been travelling for work where it hasn't been possible to post.  When this has been the case, I've flagged it.  (I'm still mystified as to why one of these posts is my third most popular post of all time.) I do acknowledge that some posts are purely pictorial and contain no, or not much, writing.  That's okay with me.  I've started to take photographs again and have noticed myself being more observant and sensitive to the world - ingredients essential for nurturing creativity.   More importantly, I now feel the compulsion to write each day - confirmation that I have successfully ingrained a habit.  


At the beginning I wasn't sure whether many people outside my immediate circle would read.  I thought some of my Twitter followers would come over and read, because divacultura is also my Twitter name, but wasn't sure how long it would last.  While I'm always conscious of audience, in the beginning I was largely writing for myself. Now, I write for my audience and am always curious to read comments on the blog and also on facebook.  So please, if you feel the urge to say something, I'd love you to act on that impulse!


My other commitment was to produce copy that was error free.  I've remembered how hard it is to proofread and sub-edit your own work and from time to time posts do contain typos and other errors.  I'm very lucky to have a very diligent and eagle-eyed post production editor - my Mother.  Mum reads everything and gives me feedback and reactions.  She will also provide feedback on corrections.  Sometimes we have an arm-wrestle when I've made a stylistic choice that clashes with formal grammar/usage.  I win those ones, but it's always provocative and I appreciate having the opportunity to read my work from a different perspective.  My writing is better for it.  Thanks Mum!

A year on, I'm taking stock and thinking about how this body of work is relevant to how I position my business.  A year on, I've become much more aware of other bloggers and have enjoyed learning from their experience.

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY & YOU GET THE GIFTS!
As I contemplate renewing my commitment to divacultura for another year, I feel excitement and affection.  Thank you for sharing some of your time with me. As a thank you gift - and so I can gain a better sense of who's out there - I'll be giving away a pair of my hand knitted socks to two very lucky readers, where ever you are in the world (ie two readers will receive a pair of socks each).  To be in the running, leave a comment on this post by Friday 17 August 2012, stating why you like reading divacultura. My favourite responses will receive the prize (my decision is final).  Why not take the opportunity to sign up and follow too!


*****
In the meantime, here are some stats:


divacultura's biggest audience is in the US, followed by Australia, Russia, Ireland and the UK.

You can see the top five posts on the home page.

The next five posts which complete the top 10 are:

6. Photo a day - June round up and July list  (My interest in the July list waned and I haven't followed through on this one.)
7. Secondhand fumes - ever come across someone chroming on public transport?
8. Challenge accepted - the challenge in question was the first Photo a Day I participated in.
9. Prayers to the Goddess of parking
10. Question Time - who is the Lazy Civil Servant?  The launch edition of this regular feature.  It was fitting to feature the person who inspired me to start blogging.

And just for fun, here's one of my favourite pieces - The Man on the Steps.  A purely creative piece sparked by a glimpse while I was out and about.  It highlights the importance of being in the world with my head up and my eyes open and a preparedness to shamelessly eavesdrop!