Why did you start your blog? Is that still why you blog,
or has your site gone in a different direction than you’d planned?
My son did try to tell me years ago how much he thought I would enjoy blogging. “Hmmmmph!,” I said. “I have no intention of putting myself out there in dangerous cyberspace! You have got to be kidding!”
Virginia Born and Bred – The Virginia Shopper
It all started with Julie, my friend who owns a local gift store downtown. I was already writing to help her promote her products, but one day she called and asked if I would consider blogging.
That was the birth of The Virginia Shopper blog, an ongoing adventure and a viable connection to her shop’s website. That blog is blatant promotional writing with some useful ideas and fun things to look at and hopefully, buy.
Next I was intent on creating a personal blog in a collection of flashback memories of a lifetime. I always wished I had a diary or journal from my grandparents to have known them better. Wouldn’t it be a great idea to use technology to give something like that to my own grandchildren?
After about a year of creating a mostly autobiographical blog, I converted it to a printed book which became a Christmas gift to my family in 2012. I like to think some future relative will open the book and marvel at the lifestyle and thoughts of a long-ago ancestor.
And now there is Virginia Views that began as a treatise on country living. This blog, which has wandered considerably from its original intent (to make me a second Erma Bombeck), continues as a place to express myself in words that have been lying dormant in my head for years.
There is only one individual I aim to please with Virginia Views, and that person is me. The fun part is discovering a collection of family, friends and a fellow blogger family who seem pleased as well.
I sense there is an evolutionary process going on here, don’t you?
It is the Evolution of a Blogger.
Virginia Views 
I was also told by a friend a few times before I actually started blogging that I should start a blog…looking back I wish I hadn’t have shrugged the suggestion off and I wish I had looked into it straight away and started immediately. Love your blog, Doran 🙂
LikeLike
Sounds a little like my journey. I started a blog when I retired. The intent was to showcase my writing talents so I could snag some freelance HR writing opportunities. Well, that didn’t last long. I much prefer to write humorous stories (even if they are HR stories) so it hasn’t done much in the way of getting me gigs. However, like you, the only one I want to please with my blog is me.
LikeLike
Your evolutions are a big hit – I’m happy that I happened upon your blog one day. It’s been happy reading ever since.
LikeLike
Ditto Mary! I love your oil/pastels and the stories behind them. 🙂
LikeLike
And you are definitely pleasing your loyal followers too! And don’t give up on the HR gigs or something else. Things just happen when they are supposed to. 🙂
LikeLike
Ditto! Love your blog too. *hugs*
LikeLike
Thank you!! Hope you are enjoying your weekend ~
LikeLike
I just received 2 books in the mail from my sis in Canada. I had given them years ago to be completed each by my mom and my dad. You’ve seen the kind. They ask about what you thought or think now. They ask you to recall likes, dislikes, school and family memories, etc. Most of those probably don’t get filled in, though the intent might be real.
I was so happy to see my mom and dad had filled in a lot. And of course, my mom had to annotate my dad’s to keep him on track. That was their relationship, and seeing the notes makes me smile.
I am going to be happy going through and reading their thoughts, and how precious they will be. Dad is already gone, and Mom’s mind is not doing well. Our kids will have no excuse to wonder what we thought about life if we give them our blogged posts. And at some point they will no doubt treasure it.
LikeLike
Oh Lilly, I know you will truly enjoy reading the books of notes written by your parents, and how much you will cherish them. When those books came out I thought they were such a wonderful idea and tried to fill mine in for my son and family. But I’m so glad you agree that our blogs will really be the most self revealing gifts we can give our kids. They are mini autobiographies after all and how I would love to have the blogs of my Mom and Dad and those who came before.
LikeLike
Absolutely. Even if the family were story tellers like mine, you tend to forget a lot, and especially the details.
LikeLike
I write mine down and share them with you all as my family seems to have changed so much from what it was like when I was young. I love my new family I PICKED THEM.
Love this post!
LikeLike
I think you might qualify as a second Erma Bombeck! It was quite fascinating to read of your blogging evolution, Dor.
LikeLike
Thanks Eunice! I’m so glad you consider us all out here part of your family. I get that feeling sometimes too.
LikeLike
Now Kathy, you are definitely on my favorites list! And isn’t it nice that we have such mutual admiration?
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike
I enjoyed reading of your blogging journey. I’ve been tossing around the idea of a personal/private blog for the stories from my NaNoWriMo project. I see you’ve already done something similar, so I appreciate any input you might have. Thanks!
LikeLike
[…] am responding to Virginia Views inquiring what is our evolution as […]
LikeLike
thanks for the inspiration to blog today. have a great day
thepattybeat.wordpress.com
LikeLike
Always happy to help! 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you pattyabr! Glad you came to visit.
LikeLike