28 | May | 2011 | The Dragonfly Woman

Happy blogoversary to me!
Happy blogoversary to me!
Happy blogoversary to DW!
Happy blogoversary to me!

The Dragonfly Woman is two years old today! Crazy to think that I’ve kept this little blog o’ mine going for two whole years. When I started my blog back in 2009, I posted once a week and struggled to post that often. Thankfully, it was a requirement for an academic fellowship I had at the time, so I stuck it out. Thank you Biosphere 2 for not only helping me get a blog started (I had always wanted to write a blog), but forcing me to stick with it long enough to create something worthwhile!

Now blogging has become completely routine. I walk around thinking, “Ooh! This would make a good blog post!” when I see something interesting. I notice things in a way I never did before. I carry my P&S camera with me everywhere, just in case I see something I want to photograph for my blog. I’ve vastly improved as a photographer with both my DSLR and my P&S and I’m finally getting bug shots that I’m proud of. In the past year, I’ve also expanded from posting once a week to posting thrice a week. (Yes, I worded that specifically so I could use the word “thrice” for the first time ever. What a glorious word!) I’ve built up a regular following of fantastic people who apparently enjoy the same sorts of bizarre things that I do. And, last weekend, I topped 100, 000 views! Overall, I’m feeling pretty good about where my blog is now and where it’s headed in the future. What a fabulous experience!

My main goal for the coming year is to move my blog over onto my own website. I just can’t do some things that I would like to using WordPress.com. Don’t get me wrong. I love WordPress, and I heartily recommend it to other bloggers. Still, I am feeling limited by the system. on WordPress.com None of the templates make me entirely happy and why pay for a custom CSS upgrade when I can pay for my own site? I also need to streamline my dragonfly swarm data collection. Can’t do that on WordPress.com. Need my own site.

Otherwise, I hope to keep things going as they are now! I enjoy mixing science, education, and random entomology topics together, so I’ll keep on doing things as I always have. It seems to be working okay so far!

My aquatic insects mug.

Because I love you all for supporting my blogging habit and I’m in the mood to celebrate my blogoversary, I’m going finish up here with another contest! Lots of people wanted a mug last time I offered one, so I’m offering another one. No need to follow me on Facebook or on Twitter this time! Just leave a comment below and I’ll enter you in a drawing for an aquatic insect mug hand painted by me. Same rules apply as last time: if you win, you can have the mug pictured at left or you can choose up to 3 aquatic insects of your choice for a custom mug – black ink on a white mug in the style you see in the photo. I’ll collect entries for one week and announce the winner next weekend!

Thank you all for sticking with me and supporting what I do here! The very best part of the blogging experience has been forming online relationships with other bloggers and my readers. I used to scoff at my computer science geek friends in high school and college for forming online “friendships” and swore I wasn’t ever going to stoop to doing it myself. Yeah… Sorry high school and college friends! I clearly didn’t know what I was talking about. I love feeling like part of a community, even if I haven’t met the majority of the people in my community offline – and I look forward to the day that I get to meet some of you in person!

Now excuse me, but I need to work on my post for Monday. :)

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