Ten years in the blogging world is a major achievement—so congratulations to everyone who has contributed to this blog over the past decade. Blogs come and go with wild abandon, so to consistently create content for ten years is an event worth celebrating.
I've been an avid blogger for years. I have multiple blogs (too many to admit too). And although I dabbled with publishing words online in 2008, I didn't become a consistent content creator until 2011. I looked back at my posts from ten years ago and in May 2011 I was living a fortune cookie lifestyle.
I wasn't thinking long term, I just wanted to explore the process of writing. I never dreamed of being an author. I just loved writing and decided a blog would be a good idea. I dabbled with writing about a variety of different topics, and my writing style was all over the place.
I began blogging about buying a house in Turkey, and each time we visited our holiday home I collected information about the local vicinity Back then there weren't any English language travel websites for this area in Turkey, and tourist information was thin on the ground. I carried a little notebook around with me, and used it to collect travel tips and recommendations from locals and expats, as reminders for the next time we visited. I launched another blog to organise my travel tips online, so I could access them wherever I was. After a couple of years I realised I had enough information for a book, and this year the 4th edition of that travel guide was published.
So if you love to write and have been contemplating starting a blog, take the bull by the horns and start it today. Who knows where you'll be in ten years, and what you will have achieved in the interim.
About Jay Artale
Jay Artale abandoned her corporate career to become a digital nomad and full-time writer. She’s an avid blogger, podcaster, and nonfiction author helping travel writers and travel bloggers achieve their self-publishing goals. She shares tips, advice, and inspiration to writers with an independent spirit at Birds of a Feather Press, and documents her travels and artistic endeavours at Roving Jay. Follow her on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.
7 comments:
Jay what an interesting journey you've had as a writer! I'm so glad you did. I really enjoyed your post.
What a great way to put your research on a place into a book. Welcome to Romancing the Genres, Jay!
Loved your post, I love reading about everyone's journeys as a writer!
Really thought provoking post. I've checked out your website, and although I don't plan any travel at the moment, I've nudged my son in the direction of your podcast. He writes beautiful prose but has never published, and his idea of heaven is listening to podcasts while on long-distance walks.
Looking forward to your next post!
Congrats on your book. I know so many people who start a blog when traveling, but then give it up when they get home. For you to keep it up and get a book out of it is excellent! You were ahead of the whole "digital nomad" curve I think. I suspect several people should be looking at your website and the books you have about your writing journey and books coming soon about other places to travel. I just found your website here: https://www.jayartale.com/
Congrats, and welcome to the group, Jay!
Jay - welcome. I am just now catching up with blog reading. I loved hearing about your journeys - both writing and blogging. As an aside, I lived in Turkey as a child (ages 4-5). Although I would love to go back and visit all the places I lived and traveled to as a child, not sure that will ever happen. So I imagine visiting through blogs will be the way I go. Can't wait to look up your book.
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