(I took this photo by accident but I kind of like it.)

This is post #501! Which means that the last post (the one about onigiri) was my 500th, and that is so awesome.

So. No contest, because I’m really bad at those. Really bad. As in the winner of the last one, Dawn-E, has not yet received her prize.

Anyway. So this seems like a good time to reflect on the blogging and think about what I’ve learned after writing 500 internet-based non-private journal entries.

1. Don’t blog about politics, religion, gender or abortion unless you’re ready for what will happen. I blogged about all of those in one post and while it was nice to see my stats rise a bit, the emotional stress was unwanted.

2. If you post to other people’s blogs and then link to your own, your traffic will increase for one day only. Blogging by yourself will not make that happen.

3. Blog about something you care about. If you don’t really have anything worth blogging, then hold off until tomorrow, because it’ll be better for everybody in the long run. Boring posts are as bad as no posts at all.

4. Blogging is a great way to practice your creative writing skills. In the beginning, I was unsure of this, mostly because I didn’t understand how writing about yourself could challenge a person to grow and improve as far as writing goes. But after reading Gabbiana’s blog over the years, it has become clear that blogging is an excellent way to practice and improve. This blog started as a knitting blog, but now it’s really a way for me to talk about what I’m interested in, and practice writing well.

5. Picking up from #4, blog about something you like. It doesn’t matter what it is – food, cats, babies, work – blog about things that you’re passionate about. I blog about things that I like, mostly India and crafting, but there are other things in there. Lately the blog has come to be a way that I can share what I like with other people (actually, this is because I have done very little knitting lately, but it sounds nice, doesn’t it?).

6. If you don’t want to do it any more, then don’t. Nobody’s going to judge you for that.

7. If you’re not having fun any more, then stop for a while. Blog burnout sucks. This is why I don’t blog on the weekends, and if I need to take a break for holidays or vacation, I take a break. There’s no sense in stressing myself out unnecessarily.

And that’s that.

My lunch today was delicious – leftover onigiri plus some veggies to offset all that rice. Only downside? Onigiri doesn’t reheat very well.

Seaweed

Egg

Smoked salmon

Bonito flake

Here’s to the next 500 posts.