I was born a writer. I always wanted to pen down my feelings and thoughts. It took me long time to get enough courage to share it with people. Usually I wrote for myself and kept my work hidden from everyone.
Few of my friends had account on yahoo 360 [Wiki says : Yahoo! 360° was a social networking and personal communication portal operated by Yahoo!made available in 2005. It enabled users to create personal web sites, share photos from Yahoo! Photos, maintain blogs and lists, create and share a public profile and see which friends are currently online. 360° also featured a 'friends updates' section, under which each friend's latest update was summarized (e.g. blog posts, updated lists or newly shared photos). This service was never officially launched; Yahoo! prematurely stopped developing this service in 2008].
In 2006 I was tempted to start an account of my own to share few of the articles, stories and quotes I had collected overtime. Slowly I started to share my own personal experiences of going through cancer, losing my sister or bringing up my kids. The response and understanding among the readers was very encouraging. Unfortunately yahoo 360 stopped and I forgot blogging. One fine day one of my friend sent me a link to Jeff’s blog. He had lost an amazing friend Jill to cancer and adopted her daughter Katie. It was a very sad situation. Being introduced to blog again was tempting for me to start over from where I had left on Yahoo 360. I began with a blog on my friend Hema and what I had learnt from her. With the blog I decided to name my site, chapters from my life as they were the chapters from which I was learning my lessons. The anonymous author of my life story is amazing. He has made these chapters a big roller coaster ride for me. Whew!
It was tough in the beginning. I had no one to share my blog with and there were no comments to respond to. I was not very much interested in writing blogs either because there was nothing to motivate me. One fine day a thought came into my mind. My blog was going to be there for children and grandchildren to know me. It would be there for anyone who would be interested in knowing my life events. It was going to be preserved that way. Someday, when I am gone and my son is missing me, he will find his Maa in her words. So it will be for my family and friends. That thought motivated me to keep blogging and writing. Slowly traffic went on increasing and I found fellow bloggers who were very interesting and in return I had the pleasure of interacting with them on my blog. Some of the bloggers with whom I connected earlier have stopped blogging now. But blogging has continued.
The big difference to my blogging life happened when I got introduced to bloggers platform like Indiblogger and blogadda. Indiblogger has been a great inspiration for me with their wonderful site and contests. Indibloggers have been constant visitors to my blog page and left behind lots of interactive comments. Blogging has never been same again after joining indibloggers. My earlier blog readers were non-Indians but my introduction to Indiblogger gave my blog lot of Indian viewership. On average Indiblogger is source for 25%-35% of my blog traffic. Winning contests on Indibloggers has zipped lips of people who always accused me wasting my time on blogs instead of doing something fruitful. I can never thank indiblogger and fellow indibloggers enough for the support they have shown for me on the site. For a woman hailing from a small coastal village; indiblogger has been a great boost to the confidence. Every contest I won has made an impact on my life. The first prize of ₹35,000 (after tax deduction) from the Tata Docomo 3G life contest has helped me in the time of my son’s admission in Arena Animation. I could also gift him the laptop from Dell which I won in Intel Appups contest (I love apps♥) to keep in touch with me through internet when he is studying away in Bengaluru. It is always a great pleasure to look into my own life and see how the contest topic touches me personally. The contest posts are again nothing but the chapters taken from my life itself.
Blogging has given me great insight into my life. It has helped me sit down calmly and do introspection of myself and understand what I really need. I may not have shared many of the thoughts that flow through my mind when I sit down to write a blog, because mind travels much faster than what my fingers can type. The thoughts born out for the sake of writing a blog have changed my attitude towards life, family and world itself. My journey through the chapters of my blogging life has been fruitful and I feel I have been very well rewarded for every minute I have spent reading and writing blogs.
Thank you for blogging.
ReplyDeleteand thank you for the support.
ReplyDeleteNicely written :) Shows the journey of a born passionate writer. God bless :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.iredeem.blogspot.com/
Congrats on your sucessful journey!
ReplyDeleteHello.
ReplyDeleteVisiting from the group We The Bloggers.
Like you, I've been writing poetry for years & only ever shared my treasured writings with a few close friends & family members. A while back, a good friend suggested I set up a blog to reach more readers, because she thought my writing was too beautiful to keep hidden. I was hesitant at first & even though my blog opened at the end of 2010, I didn't publish my first post until Jan 2011. Starting my blog is one of the most satisfying things I've done. I've "met" some wonderful people whom I now consider as friends & I love the encouraging feedback/comments. None of this would have been possible if it wasn't for my dear friend & I will always be grateful to her for her support & encouragement.
Nice write-up.
I wish you the best in your future endeavors.
Thanks for sharing.
Imaginary Dreams
You do write so beautifully, my friend. It's a joy to view the chapters of your life. Congratulations on the contests that you've won. That's remarkable and of course shows just how talented you are.
ReplyDeleteA heart warming post and its writers like you that new entrants have something to look up to. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteAye Zindagi!
That's a nice read. Wonderfully describes your blogging journey & your achievements on the way.
ReplyDeletePeople who don't blog will never understand the sheer pleasure one gets by blogging one's thought for the whole world to read and appreciate.
Keep up the good work. :)
Btw, you can read my posts at Tonmoy Dream Lab
ReplyDeleteThat is so inspiring and wonderful, i have been reading your blog from past 1 year and i have always enjoyed being in this place. Moreover, unknowingly you have also taught us a lot of things about life.
ReplyDeleteWasn't able to be in touch with your blog from past 2-3 months, but good to know the contest you've won. Congratulations.
I hope that Farheen and Raiyyan are fine.
:)
congrats on your succesful journey , dear farila, i've always admired you!
ReplyDeleteyour post is powerful and profound!
thanks for writing and posting this.
big hugs!
Your story is inspiring Maa'm ...glad to have read this!
ReplyDelete