Today I am launching a weekend of celebrations here on the News From Nowhere Blog because it is our third birthday! The first post appeared on the 7th November 2006 and was a mercifully short piece which ran as follows:
Welcome to the News From Nowhere Blog.
Why a Blog? Why News From Nowhere? Perhaps the answers to these and other questions will become clear over the coming weeks and months. Perhaps not. Primarily, this is a therapeutic exercise. A chance for me to think some things out and decide where I am going. Perhaps it will become an established part of my life. Perhaps not. Let's just see what happens.
The words were strangely prophetic as over the past three years blogging has become very much a part of my life. The events that required the "therapeutic exercise" are now long gone . I have decided where I am going and what started as an analytical tool as become a most pleasurable way of life. So to celebrate this remarkable anniversary I have a few things planned for the blog this weekend. We will meet up again with a rather stout dog and relaunch her on her odyssey. We will revisit some of those early posts written during those first tentative weeks of blogging. We will give all the Burnett Blogs a bit of a spring clean and make-over. And we will relaunch a new challenge that everyone can participate in.
According to Blogger, this is my 645th post to News From Nowhere. For the first two and three quarter years the posts were read by nobody but two or three close friends. In the last three months the number of followers and commenters has grown exponentially. I won't pretend that I am one of those stoics who is happy to write irrespective of whether anyone reads it or not. That is writing as therapy and, as I have said, I have advanced beyond that stage. I love discovering that there are people out there reading this and I take great pleasure from your comments. Keep them coming. In the meantime enjoy a piece of birthday cake.
Congratulations, Alan!!! Please slice me a massive slab of your delicious looking cake. I'm delighted to have found you and your blog, dear friend. I raise my mug of tea and wish you many more happy years of blogging! ~x
ReplyDeleteThank you Willow.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Alan.I dont have a cup of Tea to hand but I raise a can of Red Bull in your Honour! Cheers!Happy Blogging!
ReplyDeleteWell, while we are all giving a toast to Alan and his 3rd Anniversary...I raise my mug of coffee! (hazelnut!) Congrats Alan...I completely agree that blogging can be a wonderful connection to people all over the world. It is a truly enriching experience and I'm glad to connect with you each day!
ReplyDeleteI save all my blog output to a Word file. I now have, according to the stats, 869 pages and 350,000 words in just over 2 years.
ReplyDeleteA bit of a legacy to my kids.
Congrats on 3 years.
Thank you Tony. You were the first "outside" person to discover my Blog and your blogging example encouraged me to reach out to other bloggers.
ReplyDeleteThank you Betsy. And me to you.
ReplyDeleteChairman B. It mounts up doesn't it. I collected together the best of the first year and published them as a book on Lulu. You should do the same. An even better legacy to leave to the kids.
ReplyDeleteAlan, after 3 years you seem to have worked out what you want to do with blogging, and even done a self-publish I see. For myself, I'm still hesitant on why I'm doing it, and whether to keep doing it. I've spent the last year doing an MA and now that it is finished I've decided to start a PhD in January. It will keep my retirement pretty occupied, so that may decide how much or how little I do. Anyway, I've got more than enough photos if I do keep it up.
ReplyDeleteJohn : I hope you will still have time to post to your Blog once you start the PhD. I enjoy your pictures so much - it's such a good, well presented, blog.
ReplyDeleteGood advice May, thank you.
ReplyDeleteGood advice May, thank you.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Alan! Three years of blogging is a lot of dedication. I've got a cuppa Joe, & I'll toast you with that this morning!
ReplyDeleteAlan - I was considering doing this, but there are so many web links to cater for, as well as YouTube videos, that I thought it impractical.
ReplyDeleteI realise that weblinks can be catered for in pdf format, but not the videos, unless I include them as links too, rather than embedded videos.
Oooo Alan, CONGRATULATIONS. I wonder if I'll still be around in two and a half years. Can I take my slice of cake with me, I don't want to get crumbs all over your blog. It's not the 7th until tomorrow so.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
ReplyDeleteHappy Blog anniversary, Alan! Good for you. I LOVE how you started this bog and brought it back for us all to enjoy. Sounds like a familiar start.
ReplyDelete"I won't pretend that I am one of those stoics who is happy to write irrespective of whether anyone reads it or not."
--I completely relate to this. That's why blog parties, like the Christmas Tea I will host soon on mine are so fun. That interaction is what makes a blog versus simply journaling.
Yes, you have indeed done some Spring cleaning around here. Nice and fresh. So new in fact that at first I thought I might be have popped into the wrong spot!
i'm awfully glad I finally clicked on your friendly inviting face in one of Willow's or Betsy's comments you left. Well now, yes, cut me a piece of that cake--waht flavour would that be anyway? And a hot cup of tea would be very nice as well. Thank you. Here's to your blogs, My Alan!
Happy birthday Alan and thanks for the virtual slice of cake. I take it that there is virtually no fat in it?
ReplyDeleteHere's to the next three years!
Congratulations, Alan! I'm finding that blogging is a bit therapeutic for me, as well. Thanks for the cake, by the way. It goes great with my nice cup of Earl Grey this morning.
ReplyDeleteI shall break out the beer, coffee, and tea!
ReplyDeleteAnd a bottle of merlot if I have one. Heh.
Congratulations Alan! Your blog truly brings joy- it is a marvelous contribution to all of our lives. I'm not kidding when I say I kept checking back for the Surreal Sunday results! I couldn't stop thinking about it lol!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations - seems like three years well spent. I find I really look forward to reading your blog. It makes me think and it makes me smile.
ReplyDeleteJohn H : I return the toast with a cup of Ty-phoo Tea (which I assume qualifies as a cup of joe)
ReplyDeleteValerie : Thank you (and I am sure you will be blogging in two and a half years just as entertainingly as you are now)
ReplyDeletemmm : Thanks for your feedback and thanks for your visits (And thanks for your excellent blog too)
ReplyDeleteMartin H : No fat at all. Thanks for your good wishes.
ReplyDeleteAngelMay : Thank you. Heres to blogging therapy.
ReplyDeleteJeffscape : You are breaking open the merlot/ I am honoured my friend. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteDaily Connoisseur. Thanks so much for those kind words. I really appreciate them.
ReplyDeletejennyfreckles : Thank you for your support and for all your comments. They mean a lot.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations AB on a wonderful blog!
ReplyDeleteHappy Blogiversary, Alan! I don't have a cup of tea to hand, so I raised my Jaffa Cake instead (and then swiftly ate it...) I could still cram in a nice slice of that birthday cake though...
ReplyDeleteHere's to many more years of reading your blog - so glad I found it. Looking forward to the weekend posts..
I don't know when I climbed on board, but I have never regretted it. I don't even know who I followed that gave me the opportunity to belong. The distance thing intrigues me. The writing is so rewarding. The sharing is satisfying. The historic connections from a full blood aunt who became a war bride to my uncle, makes me curious about your world. I will share about her sometime and just finding an interesting guy like Alan who walks his dog and takes his lad to college makes me feel like I live next door. My world is much bigger and I am glad we crossed paths. Keep up the blogging and wow I really love cake.
ReplyDeleteJanie : Thank you (and, congratulations on a wonderful book)
ReplyDeleteKabbalah : Thank you so much. I raise a Jaffa Cake in salute to you as well.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on 3 years and I always read the first post of any new blog I visit just to see why they started. Wishing you many more but you'll be bouncing off the walls with all the food colouring in that cake! (oh, my daughter thinks you should grow a beard because you look like santa claus and that's a good thing! Everyone loves Santa and I love your blog!)
ReplyDeleteLarry B : Greetings and thanks to you as well. Yes I am glad we crossed paths.
ReplyDeleteBaino : Oh oh oh. Thank you (How did your daughter discover my Christmas job)
ReplyDeleteHappy blogiversary and many more, Alan. I raise my cuppa to a man of great humour and imagination who always makes me glad I popped in. I hope you'll save some more space in your pocketbook for me.
ReplyDelete