Today is Thursday, and I wanted to continue my fiftieth blog post celebrations by reflecting on what I have learnt by keeping this blog.
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I can't believe this is my fifty-second blog post. It's amazing. And I can't believe it's been nearly a year and a half since I started this blog. Some of the posts I did last summer seem like yesterday. Time really does fly.
Looking at my posts, it's easy to see the evolution from quite basic, usually gushing about a song I loved, to more structured, more critical - still praising songs I love, but in a more constructive way, I feel.
That's not to say that my first posts aren't worth reading - I think they still make good reads, especially if you're looking for something short and focussed on one particular song. But I feel that my blogging is more sophisticated now.
My presentation has evolved - I would now very rarely, if at all, use multiple exclamation marks, nor do I use smilies like this :) Instead I use the proper alt code to get this☺Generally, though, I don't use smilies that much. I use hearts ♥ because I think they look nice and because I am the emotional kind of person who sees the need to use hearts a lot.
I've also discovered quite recently how to get music notes from alt codes ♪♫ so you may be seeing some music notes on this blog in the future!
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I've started putting links in posts; I learnt how to do this at Cornerhouse, for which I am very grateful. I also now put tags on all my posts; I didn't originally and have now gone back and made sure all my posts are tagged.
I started putting the year the song came out at the bottom of each post along with the name of the song and the artist. I know it can be a nightmare finding the details on a song you really like via the Internet, so hopefully my song listings at the end of posts may make that a little easier. Plus I think it makes the blog look that bit more professional.
I have my "recommended posts," at the end of blog entries; an idea I came up with to help people find entries on the music and artists that they personally like, and also to draw attention to some of my older posts that newer readers may not have seen.
I now lay out all my entries in the "align left" format, whereas I used to use "align centre" on occasion, and I now think that can look a bit tacky. So, align left it is, and align centre for quoted lyrics. Altogether nicer, I feel.
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I think my titles have evolved as well - it was always, "Gorgeous song!," "Lovely song! : ) ," etcetera - then they became more sensible because they started telling you what the post was actually about - "R.E.M. and Paul Young," for example.
Then there was the Eurovision block, then after that I got into the habit of making titles a list of everything mentioned in the blog, for example, "Ireland, the Olympics, Snowdonia and Nanci Griffith." More recently on the title front I've been alternating between humorous and sentimental -and sometimes managed to achieve both.
I think the first priority with titles must be to give some idea of what the post is about. I'll still use people's names alone for posts that are more biographical; whilst for posts that talk about my life as well as musicians, or which deal with a range of subjects, I try to be more imaginative.
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I can't believe I've found so much to say about the evolution of my blog - it has changed more than I ever realised. I have changed too - I've become more mature, more sensible, I feel.
I also write on here regularly, not just when I feel like it as was once the case. I feel like I have entries that need to be written; inspirational songs and amazing songwriters that deserve a place on this blog, and I 'll never be able to cover them all if I only write once in a blue moon.
This blog isn't just a collection of songs I like, but a record of my life, and sometimes an important moment doesn't get recorded here because I don't get round to writing it up and then I feel that the moment has passed. And I think that's a terrible waste. So I will try not to let that happen any more.
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Have my musical tastes changed since starting this blog? I don't think so. However, I feel I have discovered music that I never would have if I hadn't been keeping this blog; music that, it turned out, I really liked. So thank you, blog!
And thank you, for reading my blog.
Liz x
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