Happy Birthday

It's my birthday! Or it's the birthday of Just Sayin' at least. It was born on this day last year. I remember when I sat down at my computer, after reading a couple of blogs I had discovered by accident, and thinking that I would give it a shot. What the heck. I had no idea what to expect or if anyone would ever read the thing. I just wanted to write. I like writing, and I think I do it fairly well.

Now, 524 posts later, with almost 11,000 hits and 37 pins on the map, I am glad I stumbled across blogger and my treasured blog pals. You are all so diverse and fascinating and creative and unique. I have even met two of you live in person. Sometimes I think the only thing we have in common is the fact that we have a blog and read some of the same ones, but what we really have in common is our humanity and our need to tell people what we think about whatever pops into our heads.

It took a few months to gather up the bunch, starting with Rich and then adding the rest, and I have to admit, writing when you think someone might actually read your stuff is much more enjoyable than writing and sending your words out to the vast internet. Over the next day or two, I'll pick out some of my favorite posts and point to them.

When I looked through the posts of August 2006, I realized the subject matter sums up my interests, and the rest is elaboration. I wrote about my small town. I wrote about my horn playing and my big, fat summer band. I wrote about my mother who had visited and may visit again in a few weeks, and I reminisced about my deceased father and his Good Ol' Boy quarks. I posted pictures of my cat Mike and Jimmy Stewart and my new shoes and food.

This blog was also the thing that jump-started "Maryann," my unpublished novel which is currently shopping for an agent. If it hadn't been for this outlet, the poor girl would still be stuck in the front yard planting tulips.

Thank you to all of you for making this a very fulfilling experiment.