You might to read up on other bloggers taking part in this, including Aorii, 8C, prototype27, Scamp,schneider, the cast at Borderline Hikkikomori, TWWK, Landon, Janette, digiboy, drmchsr0, doctordazza,
Fawkes,FNSNA, super rats, the crew over at Anime Diet, Jubbz, RP, TheBigN, Jinx, mefloraine, Caraniel,
Chii, dai1313, bitmapchaos,Shinmaru
Be sure to visit Canon too (Links courtesy of Canon)
April 7th. An unimportant date to most, but it marked a special day for me. It was the day that this very site opened up on WordPress, its author beaming with hope and confidence that perhaps someone out there aside from his schoolmates would visit, and finally, he would have more than 2 readers.
When I started, I suppose that given the challenge (then) of so many other blogs being much more sophisticated and entertaining, back then I tried to carry out many measures to handle this problem. Of course, none worked. I actually used Latin, posted long angst-filled rants or short meaningless tweet-style posts about nothing interesting in particular. Then slowly (albeit miraculously) I got my first commentor, and perhaps my first constant reader.
I gained some confidence from his/her comment, and felt that finally, someone reads my blog. Unfortunately, however, some arses (probably from 4chan) bullied him/her off the net. From then on, it was still pretty much the same. 20 views was an achievement then, and I posted almost every day.
Soon, I signed up for various aggregators, linked to other blogs and started commenting regularly. I felt like I was part of this new frontier, this blogosphere I had never been acquainted with before. I was finally hitting hundred. Until one day I posted a post, which led me to another thought:
He was right. I was trying to sound like the other bloggers, but failing miserably. Long, complex titles. Meaningless posts, nothing to do with anime. I suppose at that time it was still, well, a personal blog. I had just thought it to be an anime blog, but I was wrong. I had still been posting about matters no-one gave a damn about, and people read them simply because they were in such great numbers. These views weren’t real – they were simply a result of so many useless posts no-one actually cared about.
I read other blogs in closer detail. How they used this ‘screenshot with text’ sin in writing, yet appear to be unique and professional, despite generating nothing as ‘unique’ as luminodrake had written. I thought for a moment – and realized the root of the problem. My posts lacked ideas. Concepts. New opinions, wit, or substance. They were like cardboard, soggy from the rain. I had even tried writing crappy columns every week to try and spice things up to a little bit, but alas, to no avail.
So I resolved to change the way I write. And thankfully, it seems to have worked. I was starting to hit higher and higher regions, and soon I had more than just 2 readers. I was happy. Content. Don’t we anibloggers feel a sense of joy or accomplishment when we see that new comment, more and more people coming around to visit, and knowing that people read your contents? It’s like being part of a family. People seem – people do – understand your thoughts, and true, there may be arguments from time to time, but has any family been eternally peaceful? It’s things like this which make me truly feel like an anime fan.
Becoming a blogger soon gave me a sense of identity. I was no longer recognized simply as ‘the tall guy’, ‘the emo guy’ , or sometimes, ‘that guy in the corner’. I was recognized as both an anime fan, and a blogger. It gave me something to be happy about. People started talking to me about anime, and sometimes, about blogging. I started making friends, and becoming a better friend(although I do admit, I don’t have much friends to speak of). I had things to talk about, things to do in my spare time, things to laugh about, to watch and enjoy.
I think I moved past the days of obsessive posting. I started posting in a smart manner. Scheduling my time and posts. Catching up on what I had to, thinking of ideas in my free time. Checking and checking again every single draft written, working on ideas for posts and refining them before publishing. To read what others write, and form my own opinions. To strive to be less ambiguous, and to be more entertaining, or at least, to differentiate myself from the other blogs out there. I’ve even added another author to the site, but since he’s so inactive, sometimes I pondered kicking him out. But that would be another story, another issue to be resolved some other day.
Differentiating myself from the other blogs was an arduous task. For one, I started branching away from being a episodic blog, and slowly becoming an editorial blog. I’ve had my fair share of criticisms and mockery, of flaming and haters. I’ve had someone mock me for being ‘overly serious’ and whatnot. But I wondered : are episodic blogs the only blogs exempt from such criticism? Should all editorial blogs be closed down? Ridiculous – a blog is simply a blog, it’s a platform for us to post our own opinions, regardless of what others think – it’s a blog in the end, through and through.
It’s fun to be part of the blogosphere. Like I said, it feels like a family – like a huge bunch of friends just decided to crash your house one day, and yet you enjoy it. Another good thing about the blogosphere is its initiatives. Its memes, its sense of humour, the constant debates between fans a la OreImo style, and of course, events and groups. From the likes of the figure-loving WLNF to the moe-loving Moe Coalition, and of course, to this very initiative you’re reading about this many moment – the aniblogosphere involves the blogger in this world of fandom, and I like it.
That’s it – the ultimate anime-related moment that made me feel warm this year – was aniblogging.
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So this sums up my Twelve Days of Anime this year. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, especially the other bloggers out there taking part in this event as well. Well then, there’s just one more issue to resolve.
You.
Yes, you. Reading this post right now.
What are you still doing on the internet? WHY ARE YOU STILL ON THE INTERNET? IT’S CHRISTMAS! It only comes once per year and you spend it on the internet? GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSE AND CELEBRATE OR SOMETHING! Visit relatives or hang out with friends, or spread the Christmas cheer any way you can. Surely you can find more to do than just stay at home surfing the internet, right? Come and revel in the Christmas Spirit!
Even though I’m an agnostic , I still celebrate this holiday – so you should too, shouldn’t you?
Can’t talk right now – hosting a Christmas party. So with that, Merry Christmas everyone!
Valence’s 12 Days of Anime – 2010
Day 7: Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
Day 8: (numerous anime) PUNCH TO THE FACE
Ambivalence , or is it ambiguity? 
I would rather stay at home, surfing the internet like the other gazillions* humans who are currently posting on Facebook ‘Merry Christmas’.
And speaking of Christmas…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7Y8rkI5z_4
* = The numbers provided above are not real and is merely a exaggerated representation of the Facebook’s users.
whatever suits you best.
Merry Xmas! 🙂
Merry Xmas to you too 😀 Guests haven’t arrived yet, so I’m waiting for PSG 13 to finish downloading…
Merry Christmas. How I wish I can write long essays for my blog. lol
You can if you want to~
Merry Christmas.
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“I’ve lived a fruitful life with plenty to enjoy and I don’t mean some imperfect outward display of happiness. My enjoyment burns in my soul!”
that above line is something Keima said but I guess I can use it in my situation as well as the reason why I could care less whatever the season is ;p
But yeah, season’s greetings and a fine read this post is.
That’s true, but some people need a reason to be happy, and Christmas serves as the perfect
excusereason.I’d really really really like to learn from you now =DDD
I don’t think I’d have much to teach though ;D
Merry Christmas!
Great post on aniblogging! I feel like my own experiences with blogging has some parallels to yours: reveling in every comment, every view, having anime shape our blogging and our blogging shape our opinions… etc.
I enjoyed this post. ^ ^
Anyways, Merry Christmas!
I enjoyed it as I wrote it. I like writing posts like these. Which blogger has not cared about views and comments? I have tonnes of buttons on the site tracking everything…
Merry Christmas.
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Have a good Christmas ^^.
It’s still eve here, not that I’m overly bothered by Christmas :lol:.
And while we’re opening presents you’d be receiving yours ;D
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Oy oy oy–it’s Christmas Eve where I live. I can spend all the time I want on the net today 😀
Anyways, interesting thoughts about Aniblogging. Do you still feel like you can learn more as you keep blogging?
Of course! I’m applying concepts I learnt in the library in the process of blogging. I’ve wrote posts on psychology, philosophy, literature. I’ve got a chance to put my other information into action. Somehow, by treating aniblogging as srs bzns, I get more chances to use ,apply and learn new info.
Great post. Having recently begun aniblogging, this post has offered inspiration and a good outlook on things to come. I am absolutely over the moon when I find people have been reading my blog – and commenting! haha. And I’m excited about the sense of community I’ve started recognising amidst this ‘aniblogosphere.’ Merry Christmas and look forward to reading more of your blog in the coming year.
Hope to see you around too 😀 When I started I had no comments for ages, for like, 70 posts or so did I receive my first comment. It gradually became better from there.
Merry Xmas! (or Xmas eve..whatever works xD)
Well, I don’t celebrate Christmas so Christmas day has no meaning for me except a longer holiday in the calendar. I have nothing plan so what better way to spend my time than catching up with anime blogsphere.
Just like you, I found great joy in blogging but that’s because I simply love writing and my writing is not even editorial. It is pretty much rambling shit about my thoughts. My blog still remain a personal blog but being a part of this aniblogging experience is definitely one of the highlights of my life since I meet other people who are not only have so much passion in writings, but as well in anime/manga. Blogging has become my sanctuary and hopefully nothing will snatch it away from me.
I would reply by saying that while I do write editorial-style, rest assured, these are my thoughts on anime. My personal thoughts are much too depressing to be entertaining, so I shipped them all off to Tumblr.
Blogging is my hobby now, and I don’t think anyone in my class could understand it, but for a student of such a school like mine, being an aniblogger is something rather different from the others, to me at least anyways.
while they are busy discussing the latest trend, we are busy discussing whether it’s Nagato or Haruhi 😛
It’s a difficult question : Moe Yuki v.s. Long-haired Haruhi…
I didn’t make a lot of progress this year… Stagnation… ORZ
It’s christmas and I’m lurking the internet, bah humbug~ ._.
I’m in my first year… =D
And well, I’m having a party right now yet I’m online too….bah humbug.
Great post!
To tell the truth, right now I still cannot exactly identify your personal/unique style of blogging. Maybe I need some more time. But I can sense your passion in blogging very clearly which keeps bringing me back 🙂
Happy holidays.
True, nothing is unique these days, so I don’t blame you 😀
Happy holidays.
Wonderful post! I really enjoyed it, and hope to have reason to write my own post like this next year–fingers crossed! I’ve already felt the sort of community effect of anime blogging; I want to keep that going.
And a belated Merry Christmas (because I really wasn’t online much yesterday).
I want to keep that going too, so I can relate 😀
Happy holidays.
Great read, Valence, and great blog you have running here. Like you, I also dived into this ambitious foray a while ago, praying for views and comments as if they were rain on my parched fields. I can’t believe you’re not even a year old!
It gets rough, for sure. I love writing about whatever I enjoy, putting my thoughts out there and entrusting them for others to read. But the sheer amount of work you have to put into a good blog just really wears on you. After 12 straight months of growth my readership decreased by 50% the last few months, most likely because I didn’t have the time nor energy to devote all my efforts to my writing. It’s frustrating pouring hours into a post and not getting any comments or hits, but it happens and you live with it. Funny, really, but it’s what we love to do. A hobby for ourselves as much as for our readers. We’re all a little crazy, don’t you think?
Well, I must say that I had some experience with blogging, which helps.
It makes us bloggers all seem so crazy at times. I spent lots of time thinking of things to write about and writing them. Some of my friends ask me why I do such things. One even tried to start blogging, but quit almost immediately. I guess it’s the comments and views that really spur us on to write. It’s nice to know you’re reaching out to someone, so it’s a two-way affair : readers entertained, writers happy 😀 It’s win-win for everyone.
But I think I’ll run out of free time soon, what with the start of my last year in High School (technically ) reaching me in a few weeks’ time. For now, I’m just happy to keep blogging.