1000 Posts!
This marks my 1000th post with WordPress. Wow! That snuck up fast.
I began a blog a few years back (2012?!?)as a means of diving into the social media pool, which was a strong suggestion from an editor at a writer’s conference. After some initial research WordPress seemed to be the best format to go with and I joined up creating my Cricket Muse persona. I wrote about life as a teacher, writer, reader, and reviewer. I’m sticking with the same routine, and have added monthly posts: Bard Bits (all about Shakespeare), How Cliché, (those overdone everyday sayings we use), and Word Nerds (awesome vocabulary choices). Although I am now retired, I still reference my days as a teacher. You know the saying–You can take the teacher out of the classroom but you can’t take the classroom out of the teacher.
Up until 2020 I wrote as Cricket Muse and then when my debut picture book hit the bookstores (timed around when bookstores, libraries, and schools shut down for the Pandemic–so much for a live book launch) I revealed my true identity as Pam Webb. I really did like that alter ego anonymity, but I had made a promise to myself that I would create a professional website once I became published. Here I am three years into being a published author and so far so good.
Along the way as a blogger I made some friends, bloggy pals, Mike Allegra ‘s term. To me a bloggy pal is someone who leaves commentary, going beyond just liking a post. Mike has plenty to say and is a longtime bloggy pal. He and I even had a fun little exchange for awhile called Debateables, where we debated on topics related to children’s literature. Check out this lively season-related Debateable concerning reindeer versus penguins.
Other bloggy pals collected along the way are Chelsea Owens, who runs a bad poetry contest–her term, not mine (and thank you for being a Someday supporter, Chel), Mitch Teemley, who is creative, prolific, and funny (thanks for featuring my blog, Mitch!), Tref, provider of unique perspective in his blog Trefology (thanks for popping in now and then with your punnery, Tref), Pete Springer, fellow retired teacher who keeps me posted about Humboldt life (thanks for your genuine insights, Pete), Jilanne Hoffmann, who shares a love of kid lit (thanks for the author support, Jilanne!).
Sadly, there are many posters who have disappeared over the years–supposedly the average life span of a blog is 100 days. I guess I’m just tenacious or I am not ready to give in to being a statistic. To those former bloggy pals, you are missed. On the other hand I have seen an uptick in new commentators, like Boo, Kimber Templin, Becky Ross Michael, Gary Anderson, Cathy Native Cain, Damyanti Biswas, Amy of Hearthridge, Tish Farrell, Rachel Mankowitz, Book Loving Grandma, and a few others.
I look forward to contributing at least another 1,000 blog posts. Thanks for stopping by and hope to add you to the bloggy pal list.
Pam Webb 