Happy Birthday, Irresistible (Dis)Grace!
One year ago today, I got this crazy idea…what if I could start a blog about my thoughts of being a Mormon, but of not being a Mormon…my lack of understanding of my culture and heritage, but my forced and ingrained living of my culture and heritage. I wondered if I could meet a different kind of believer than the ones in my ward (no offense to them), and I wondered if I could meet a different kind of nonbelievers than the ones in the…well, I don’t know what non-believer wards are (but I mean no offense to them either.)
And so, I started Irresistible (Dis)Grace. I didn’t really know what I was doing, how far I’d get, or how long I’d even last (after all, this blog had a specific niche, and I thought I would run out of “topics”).
Well, apparently, if nothing else, at least I reached the 1 year mark!
What has one year even gotten me? Well, for one, 38,051 page views. 318 posts. 2,569 comments. Connection with a wide range of Mormons (of all stripes), ex-Mormons (of all stripes), and never-Mormons (of all stripes). More confidence and nuance to some aspects of my personality philosophy, but also more humility for other aspects.
How have I been doing? It’s always tough to tell…What have been your favorite parts or articles, least favorite parts, and so on? How should I improve for year 2? What things would you like to see? Be creative…I can’t guarantee anything, but who knows?
I must admit that I worry…I think I have a good niche…but it’s definitely a niche. Sometimes, I think, “Isn’t expansion the goal?” But then I realize that I’m not really in this for expansion, per se. I just don’t want to face the possible reality that there’s a wall three inches in front of me that I’ll hit and won’t be able to scale…
I’m sad I didn’t know about this blog until recently, but had I known about it a year ago I would, of course, have considered it dangerous (hehe). I appreciate your writing because it belongs to the niche I consider as “self-aware, respectful dissenters.” I’m glad there’s such a niche. Its existence has helped me to feel less alone.
I posted a sexy picture of myself at my one-year anniversary.
What have you got?
Happy anniversary, Andrew.
Simplysarah:
That’s actually interesting…because that really speaks to the amount that has changed for you in the past year (what is or is not dangerous).
I agree that being able to discover blogs like yours too has helped me feel less alone.
Jack:
Ahh, you called me out! So many places I can’t compete. COULDN’T YOU HAVE JUST BEEN SATISFIED WITH TAKING THE NIBLET FROM ME?!
Any sexy pictures of me predate the internet, so I won’t be going there.
Andrew: I am amazed at the ability you have to produce 318 posts in a year, and you do fill a niche that is going to continue to exist.
Happy Anniversary!
FireTag
FireTag:
The reason I can do this 318 posts/year is really quite simple. My posts are very simple, devoid of any heavy lifting content.
Now, you know who I don’t understand? Ardis Parshall at Keepapitchinin.org. She does SERIOUS WORK to get the history right for every one of her posts, yet she sometimes has *multiple* posts each day. Wow.
Ardis baffles me, too.
I want a piece of that cake.
Yeah, I agree with C Smith – that cake looks nummy. Did you bake it?
Happy anniversary, Andrew!
Madam Curie:
I guarantee the cake would look decidedly less awesome if I had baked it. Haha.
Happy blog birthday, ID.
Nice work. I’ve been blogging for well over 2 years now and have less than 200 posts. Keep it up!