July | 2022 | Eye-Dancers

She Called Me “Decade” (Or, Ten Years! Thank You for Still Being Here!)

When I turned ten years old, back in the 1980s, my older brother’s girlfriend at the time called me “Decade” to commemorate the milestone. Little did I dream at that time that, many years hence, there would be an internet and a blogging universe and a way to publish posts for anyone, anywhere in the world, to see in real time. I also never would have dreamed that I’d be doing such a thing for, well, a decade.

Indeed. When I began The Eye-Dancers blog, I did so without much of a plan–except I knew I had just finished a novel of the same name and wanted to “get the word out” to would-be readers. I had never blogged before, had no idea what I was doing, but decided to take the plunge. At the time, I figured I’d write a few promotional posts–maybe for a few weeks or months–and that would pretty much be it.

That was in the summer of 2012.

And now, here we are, ten years older. In the summer of 2022. Never at the outset of this blog did I think I’d still be here a decade on. I suppose something I wasn’t counting on when I began this cyber-adventure was the friendships and online connections I would make. I didn’t realize how special and loyal and stellar the WordPress community was, and is. But I found out in a hurry.

This blog turns ten years old this summer, and you all are the reason I am still here. I don’t post as often as I used to–not even close. A quick check of the archives would tell the tale. Back in 2013, at the height of this blog’s output, I would publish multiple posts per week. As time went on, that dipped to two per week, then one per week, then one every two weeks, and now it is one per month. But I’m still here, still enjoying this wonderful online literary adventure, and still trying my best to come up with posts that are interesting and, hopefully, sometimes encouraging.

I cannot thank each and every one of you enough for welcoming an online neophyte a decade ago and, through your ongoing support, keeping me writing and blogging all these years. Whether or not I am working on a novel or short stories–whether I am in a literary whirlwind of ideas or a dry, barren desert without a story to be seen or discovered for miles, one constant has been posting on this blog. And you are the reason for that.