learn Archives | 100 Word Anime

Hey everyone, and thanks for joining me as I celebrate 100 Word Anime’s second anniversary. This has been a fantastic week and I’m really happy with how things have gone. Hopefully we will all still be around to celebrate again next year when the blog turns three.

However, this post is about looking back at what has happened over the last 12 months and considering some lessons that have been learned in that time. The first 12 months it was very much about learning just how to keep to a schedule and fitting my blog in with my life. This second 12 months has more or less been about learning that no matter how much I learn, there’s still a huge amount I don’t know.

Some things I learned that have been helpful:

I finally learned how to actually add HTML codes to the widgets on the sidebar of the blog – yes, I am not that technically minded.
I also learned how to make pages that list previous posts in particular categories (thanks Irina – I think – for pointing us to that).
How to add audio to posts but I still haven’t learned not to hate the sound of my own voice so I’m working on that one.
I did learn to use one video editor and then my computer died so am learning how to use a new program but I guess that counts as learning.
I learned that I hate trying to write anything using my phone so if I don’t have my computer or a laptop I’m not writing a post but I can read some blogs and comment.
I learned that I can no longer open every single new post in my reader because that actually takes me around two hours to read through so now I have to be more selective.
There were also some specific things I learned about formatting an ebook.

Still, what I think I’ll take away from the second year of blogging is that this is definitely something I love to do. The hours I put into it always feel worthwhile and the people I have met through my blog have been amazing.

So this year I’m not going to give advice on any specific thing but a few things that work for me in terms of keeping the blog going:

Have a routine time each day that you use for your blog. Whether that is reading other blogs, drafting, editing, or replying to comments, find a time that will work. For me, the set time is in the morning from whenever I wake up until my alarm goes off which usually gives me about an hour (sometimes two or three depending on my current sleep pattern) to just work on the blog. In the evening after work, depending on how tired I am, I will usually also spend time on the blog, but I don’t feel bad if I don’t do this because I know I have a set time where I will check in on the blog.
Trying new things. It is scary but the internet is an ever changing place and no matter how much I like what I’ve done with my blog, there’s always something that could be improved. But while making small changes and trying a few new things is fine, there still needs to be some general consistency or people won’t recognise your blog anymore. Think about what changes are needed and when to bring those in.
I know I’ve said this before, but have an opinion (and it doesn’t need to be the same as everyone else nor does it need to be different just to be contrary). The best conversations get going when people are honest about what they think about a show and they are open to discussing their reasons and to hearing a different point of view.

I wonder what I’ll learn in the next twelve months of blogging?

What I really think is important for me to take away from this year, is that regardless of whether the blog is a hobby or becomes more full time, the drive behind it is that I love writing the content, I love interacting with the community, and I continue to love anime. Regardless of how busy or tired I get, logging on and seeing my blog and picking up a draft, or watching an episode and figuring out how I felt about it, sharing a comment with someone else about it, all of these things make me smile and make me realise that starting this blog was one of the best things I ever did and I will never regret it.

A huge thank you to everyone in the ani-blogging community for all your support and I hope to see you all still around for the next anniversary.

Thanks for reading.

Karandi James