Seems I've been doing it for 7 years. Blogging, that is.
In that time, love those cupcakes has chugged along and been pretty much low maintenance. I've stuck with Typepad since the beginning, paying the minimal fees, playing about with their templates every now and then as the mood takes.
I don't plan posts. I don't have a stack of drafts sitting waiting for me to hit 'publish now'. I don't have a posting schedule. (These days I don't have any schedule.) I post whenever I want about whatever I want.
This blog doesn't have a particular theme (clearly). It isn't my job nor do I view it as a route to new doors potentially opening. love those cupcakes isn't my take on the world. I avoid controversial topics. I don't post about deep subject matter. I don't advertise. I don't set out to influence. I don't intend to provoke. I don't hope to inspire.
I certainly don't fuss about the numbers. In fact I've never looked at visitor statistics. Being popular and attracting a large fan base isn't what blogging is about for me. Being concerned about blog traffic, and worrying about how to maintain the interest of the following masses, is the last thing I want or need.
That's not to say that I don't welcome comments because of course I do. Blogging is far from private. It enables conversations and I'm always ridiculously pleased when Typepad inform me that someone has left a comment on a post. I always appreciate and read comments and try to make sure the favour is returned by visiting a commenter's blog and/or replying because not to do so is a bit like speaking to someone who continually ignores you. And that's just plain rude, yes?
So why, after 7 years, will I carry on blogging? To keep the journal (which is probably what I consider love those cupcakes to be) going and to have something to look back on. To keep recording the cyclical nature of a life being lived and those simple, everyday happenings - books read, films watched, memories evoked, places visited, festivals celebrated, cakes baked, meals eaten. To make the time to press the pause button and focus on and savour the little stuff that makes the world go round, those seemingly ordinary details which can get lost or forgotten amongst all the big events (which, let's face it, none of us usually has any problem remembering yet which can also have their place in some posts).
But I'll carry on mostly because I enjoy being a blogger, me.