At some point when I wasn’t looking, this blog went over TWO MILLION PAGE VIEWS, which is quite astounding really. Mainly because I can’t quite believe that ANYONE reads it, let alone thousands of people. I’m also quite pleased that I’ve clearly moved on from the frantic stat checking of my early blog days and am now pretty laid back about the whole thing. CLEARLY.
It’s been a brilliant few years since I first started this blog in a frantic attempt to escape the clammy clutches of Live Journal with all its pointless memes and endless soggy gothic drama and histrionics. I found it hard at first as my years on Live Journal had left me with something of a tendency to over share, but I think I hit the right note in the end.
When I first started this blog, I had three objectives in view – firstly, to chat about history somewhere where people wouldn’t leave comments like ‘*yawn*’ and ‘All this history stuff is boring. Can’t you get drunk and post something with HILARIOUS misspelling instead?’; secondly, to use it as a repository for the research that was going into my historical fiction and thirdly, to train myself out of a certain pompous over formality of language that was the result of Aspergers. I think I succeeded at all three, but am particularly pleased at my progress with the third point – before I started this blog, I would FREAK OUT if I had to contract words but now I cheerfully use ‘I’ve’ instead of ‘I have’ and ‘isn’t’ instead of ‘is not’ like nobody’s business.
This blog has seen some interesting times though – in the years since I first started it, I’ve self published three books, started work on three more, travelled, met people, read a lot, moved house, hung about Whitechapel a great deal, drunk a lot of gin, become obsessed with EELS, spoken at a big blogging conference and a whole lot more. It’s been AMAZING and I have all of you to thank for it as I probably wouldn’t have done half of it if I didn’t have this place to come back to afterwards to share photographs, thoughts and whimsy.
I don’t know what the future holds for this blog but I’ve got LOTS of plans for the upcoming year including research trips to Paris (mainly for the upcoming Madame Élisabeth exhibition at Versailles) and London; another Jack the Ripper conference; another Fields of the Nephilim gig (YAY); a great deal of traipsing around royal palaces; two VERY exciting collaborations with businesses that I very much admire; discreet excitement about the royal baby (I think they should be inspired by Twilight and give the baby exciting portmanteau names like Caroliana or Charchael); probably the release of two books, if not three; a WHOLE LOT of history geeking and the usual over excitement about ridiculous, ludicrous things.
There really should have been a giveaway with this post and I was actually intending to do one but, like I said, it’s taken me somewhat by surprise and I don’t have it all sorted out yet. Expect something MAGNIFICENT in the new year though.
I should probably cut this short before it descends into Paltrowesque weeping and clutching of tiaras and pearls. Suffice to say that it has been AN ABSOLUTE BLAST and I’m giddy with excitement about what the future will bring. Thanks everyone!
