Looking Back at Postaday2011

A year ago, I decided to take WordPress’ challenge to Postaday2011. I made the decision without even thinking about it. The next day, I wondered whether I could really hang in for the long haul and post every day, 365 days, for a year.

The first month or so was pretty easy. I had returned from a life altering two weeks of travel in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Lesotho and had what felt like an endless amount of information to share. As a matter of fact, that’s what motivated me to take my blogging more seriously.

After I finished reporting on that trip, I had no other travels scheduled. The challenge then became how to find new and interesting things to post about.

WordPress Annual Report for InsideJourneys
WordPress Annual Report for InsideJourneys

Since music and food are such big parts of my travel experience, I decided to feature a weekly food post that I called Tasty Thursdays and Soulful Sundays. I suspended Tasty Thursday and joined Budget Travelers Sandbox’s Travel Photo Thursday.

WordPress helped by suggesting topics I could write about. They also introduced the Weekly Photo Challenge, which gave me a chance to feature some of my photos. It also offered a ‘break’ from writing.

The one thing I’ve come to love about blogging is how fluid it can be. The people I started with have stopped or moved on to different things. I’ve joined different communities and met other bloggers, all fabulous people who share timely, fun, insightful posts. I hope you’ll stop by their blog and check them out. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.

Budget Travelers Sandbox
Colorful Footsteps
European Travelista
Hakea
Hike Bike Travel
Mirth and MotivationTechnosyncratic
The Art of Slow Travel
Totsymae
To Write is To Write
Travelnwrite
Traveling with Sweeney

While I was posting every day, WordPress was keeping track. I was surprised to get an email from them with a review of 2011. Unfortunately, they had only my first 159 posts as by mid-year, I had switched to a self-hosted blog.

Here are a few of my most-read posts:

Travel Photo Thursday: Cuba’s Classic Cars
Travel Photo Thursday: Durban Rickshaw
Things I Love About Harlem, Part I
Manhattan to Spain via the Bronx
What, to an Immigrant, is the Fourth of July?
Harlem’s Backyard Gems
Questions to Answer As You Plan Your Trip

And some of my favorite photos:

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For 2012, I’ve decided not to post everyday though I haven’t decided how frequently I will post. Not posting every day will give me time to travel and time to do other things, like read and comment on the blogs that I’ve subscribed.

I hope you will continue this journey with me in 2012.

18 comments on “Looking Back at Postaday2011

  1. Posting every day is challenging. Most times, I never know what to post until that day.

    Are you doing any blog hops? I’m thinking of something for Women’s History Month, where I’ll post something every day for that month. pertaining to the topic. Join me. 🙂

    And thanks for the mention. Like yourself, I’ve definitely learned of interesting blogs. Here, at Inside Journeys, it’s been a traveling experience. It’s really a way to give people wings to imagine other places. You, yourself, must e very resourceful, as people who love to travel find ways to do so inexpensively so they can do it frequently.

  2. I enjoyed following your antics in 2011 and will continue to do so in the coming year. I too am amazed at the fact that I managed to hold the course, and those statistics are really intersting reading, and totally unexpected.

    I’m not blogging every day by default! I’m just continuing to blog when I feel like it.

    Best wishes for a peaceful and happy 2012

  3. Good for you dear friend! I’m also going to cut back but I haven’t decided when or how… I know, like you, i want to engage in living more… 🙂 Your blog was a joy to discover and remains one of my favorites too. 🙂
    Eliz

  4. Now that you won’t be posting every day, I might be able to keep up with you a bit better.

    i’ve enjoyed tagging along.

    Wishing you much joy and wonder in 2012!

  5. Congratulations on keeping it up for a year. I posted every day for 6 months or so when I started my blog in order to establish a solid backlog. I’ve done a post a day challenge in May a couple of times, but other than that I was down to 3 a day until Travel Photo Thursday came along and added a day. Now I’m suffering post-creep, as I have contributors who fill every day of one week. But 3 a day is about right for me at A Traveler’s Library, since I not only blog, but have to read the book or see the movie I’m talking about!!
    Best wishes as you continue on.

  6. Wow, posting ever single day is quite a feat! I don’t think I’d be able to sustain that for an entire year – even just posting twice a week is a lot for me. 😛

  7. It was but it didn’t seem that way while I was doing it. But I couldn’t do another year of it and travel and be effective at doing all the things necessary to build it.

  8. Thanks, Vera. I think three times is quite sufficient. Otherwise, as you’ve noted, there’ll be post-creep. Plus, there has to be time to travel and find travel topics to write about. Good luck to you at ATL for 2012!

  9. Thank you, Elizabeth. Blogging helped keep my focus last year as everything else around me changed. I hope to post at least three times a week. Glad my blog brought you joy. Thank you for saying that.

  10. It sure is as you know, Totsymae. I feel great to have done it — it was a major accomplishment, one I feel proud of. Blogging each day kept me motivated but I’m looking for balance. I’d love to join you for WHM, thanks for asking.
    You’re welcome, Totsy. I’ve enjoyed reading all your posts. You’ve made me smile or laugh out loud every time.
    I don’t think of myself as very resourceful but I love to travel and I find I know how to make things happen (guess that means I could really be resourceful or maybe just determined), especially when I want something.

  11. That is super cool- I’ve always wanted to post a day but haven’t started yet… maybe soon? Cool that they sent you a report at the end of year!

  12. You should. I’m glad it’s done. It’s hard to travel and post everyday. Now, I can catch my breath but I don’t want to slack off.
    Yes, getting that report was a nice surprise. Like getting a pat on the back.

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