First Week: The Blogenning

"All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning." - Albert Camus

It’s has now been a week since I first put up Dwarven Battle Medic and I must say that it’s been a learning experience.  I have never had a blog before, and aside from seeing what other authors do with their blogs, I really have no idea what I’m doing.  I’m learning on the fly and hoping for the best.

I thought I would share some of my initial impressions and observations about being a blogger.  I’m pretty sure that the majority of my readers at this point are bloggers themselves, so I’m sure most everyone who sees this will know exactly what I’m talking about.

Observation 1:  The Stats Page is Addicting. 

I have spent an inordinate amount looking at the Blogspot stats page this week.  Each pageview that shows up is an incredibly exciting thing and I can’t help but wonder who is on the other side.  It is very cool to know that someone has taken a look at what I’ve written.  Some random stats for those who are interested:  Not counting my own, I’ve had about 100 pageviews this week from people all over the world.  Canada, US, England, Italy, South Korea, Germany and Australia among others have been represented.  Welcome, everyone!  

Observation 2:  Links are The Single Coolest Thing Ever.

I received my first link this week for my Tower of Fizzle post and that generated a fair bit of traffic for me.  It was from the lovely Ophelie at Bossy Pally and the Giant Spoon.  Another big thank you for Janyaa at Muradin’s Musings for being the first person to add me to her blog roll! 

Observation 3:  Pageviews Without Comments Are Frustrating. 

With the blog being this new and paying as much attention to the stats as I am, seeing people viewing the blog but not leaving comments is a little disheartening.  I understand that the comment leaving public is quite small in proportion to the people reading, but I can’t help but wonder what people think about what I’ve written.  Of course, I don’t think anybody puts out a blog so that they can be quietly appreciated… I think every blogger is secretly looking for that comment that says they are doing a good job.  Blogs are far too public to not be a cry for a little external approval.

I would like to give a shout-out to my first commenter, Janyaa from Muradin's Musings, who's post on LFD compassion should be required reading before people can enter the LFD queue.

***Edit:  OMG, I completely forgot that Soul from Cathedral of Taintedsouls left a comment early on as well.  Thank you, Soul, here is some link love.  :)

Observation 4:  Moar Pictures!

This one is tricky since I do a lot of my writing during downtime at work where I have no access to my screenshots.

Observation 5:  Generating Content is Harder than I Thought. 

All of the best blogs out there have really solid content on them.  Guides, theorycrafting or other helpful posts that have kept myself and others coming back.  That stuff is hard to write.  Fluff (like this post!) is easy and can be entertaining at times, but real content is hard.  Unique content is even harder.  Things like Amber’s Flowchart Fridays are fantastic things to make your blog stand out.

Observation 6:  Patience While Posting, Young Padawan.

Of the stuff I have written, I am happy with the majority of it.  Looking back I should have taken a bit more time with a couple of the posts as I’m not sure that the ideas are expressed as well as I would have liked.  The patience to proofread and then proofread again is something that I have yet to master.  Spelling mistakes are embarrassing when the entire world can see them.

Final Observation: Blogging is a Lot of Fun.