300 & Counting

I’ve hit a landmark.  Recently, I reached 300 followers.  For many blogs, this number may seem small, tiny, inconsequential.  For me, though, it means the world.

When blogging, it’s always a challenge to straddle the line between creating quality content for the sake of your readers and quality content for sake of pleasing yourself.  I do my best to write posts that readers will enjoy.  I love you guys and want you to stick around.  At the end of the day, though, my ultimate goal is to remain true to myself.

I’m a selfish writer.  I really am.  I do this because it brings me life and I can’t imagine ever stopping.  I know that everyone who follows Keep Your Feet isn’t necessarily a reader.  That’s okay.  Although I try to follow only sites I will actually read, there is a tendency to follow others just for the follow-back.  I get that.

But for those of you who DO read, thank you.  For those of you who have not just hit “Follow”,  but take time to come along side me and spend time with my words, thank you.  By reading, liking, and commenting, you inspire me to keep going.  I’ve got a universe of words within me and there are days when I just want to throw them in a bucket and let them rot.  When this happens, the thought of you is what motivates me cherish my words and lovingly string them into coherent thoughts.  I’ve learned a great deal about myself and my identity as a writer over the past few months, and that would not have been possible without you.  Your words and encouragement mean the world to me.

I don’t know where Keep Your Feet is going.  I don’t know if it’ll stay at is it is or grow or shrink into obscurity.  Frankly, I don’t care.  I’m just thankful to be where I am today.

I want to know…

“Do what brings you life” has become my mantra of late.  It’s been on my mind a lot over the past week.  Last night, after a hectic all-over-the-place day, I spent some quality time painting and catching up on t.v. shows.  I felt so at peace.

As I was going to bed, I realized that I don’t want to simply dwell on what brings ME life.  So much of this blog is about me.  I want to go beyond myself.  I want to know, readers, what brings YOU life?  What makes you tick?  What brings you joy?  What are the things that you can’t imagine NOT doing?

Answer in the comments!  It will make my day!

Last night’s painting. It’s nothing special, but I loved the time I spent making it. Lyrics are from Rend Collective.

 

At Year’s End

Dear readers,

It’s the end of the year and I am tired.

2014 was a challenging year.  There were a lot of ups, don’t get me wrong, and I made some fantastic memories.  But boy, am I eager to see it go.  I actually wrote up a big post analyzing my year, explaining everything that happened and whatnot.  But I don’t think I’m going to post it.  I feel like I should be putting more effort into the whole blogging thing.  I feel like I should engage more, follow more blogs, immerse myself in the splendor that is WordPress.  I want to.  But lately, whenever I think about sitting down to write a simple post… all I can think of is how tired I am.

The words are there.  There are so many things I can say right now.  But I’m not sure if I want to talk.  I’ve got a long road ahead of me and there are a number of stories to tell.  Right now, though, I don’t know if I want to let people in.  I just want to hole up in myself and be.

It’s been quiet here on my blog since Christmas.  It’ll be a quiet New Years–I’m going to Wisconsin for a few days to celebrate Christmas with extended family and won’t have internet access.  It may be quiet for a while.  I’ll come back, don’t worry. At this point, blogging is in my blood.  I’ve been doing it since I was fifteen and know I won’t be able to stop.  But, for now, my stories need to be mine for a while.

In light of all of this, I just want to let you know (yes, YOU reading these words) how much you mean to me.  I haven’t engaged with you as well as I should, but know that wherever you are, I am thankful for you.  Thank you for taking time to read my blog, and I look forward to getting to know you better as 2015 comes around.

Happy New Year, friends!  Let’s make this next one the best yet.

Amelia