The Past Year In Retrospect

Before I sat down to write this post, I thought back about my blogging year.  As memories of the past year streamed behind me, I remembered both good and bad.  I feel there were some months where I was incredibly focused.  I followed up on deadlines, I pursued social networking, I produced content and communicated with sponsors. But other months were....less than stellar.  And let's face it, there are quite a few areas that need to be addressed regularly if you're a blogger. For instance, if social networking is neglected for any length of time, traffic can be severely impacted.  (Which it was) And if one doesn't post regularly, it can be devastating. But how much posting is sufficient?  Once a week?  4 times a month? In my mind, that isn't near enough.  But that is what happened at times. 

My quandary was time.  I love to blog, but realistically how much time do I have to spend on it? Life sometimes gets in the way.  Who can plan for the unexpected?  Who would've thought my son would go to State and then actually win State?   And after all, my first 3 priorities are my faith, family and my job, which provides my reliable source of income and, let's be honest, gets me out of the house. Even so, blogging is an easy 4th.  While things went even as they did, I still managed to grow my blog, produce content, do reviews, and host giveaway events.  More importantly, I still love to blog and don't dread opening up my browser to create!  Here are some of the highlights of 2014!

• I was flabbergasted at the high water usage in certain areas of our desert state and I ran into an all-too-common occurrence as we build further and further into wildlife habitat!  

• I had a crazy driving adventure due to road-rage and was "under"whelmed by our legal system and the abundance of frivolous lawsuits happening everywhere.

• I was ever-concerned with my diet, health and beauty and perseverated about how my genetic make-up was perfectly good and acceptable, despite popular argument and evidence to the contrary!

• I hosted an average of one giveaway per month and my favorites were Magic Zoo Jewelry, Cariloha bamboo sheets, Mrs. Fields Cookies, Classical Stretch Season 10, Rejuvenator Microbubble Showerhead and Rainshadow Labs!

• I started two linkys - Motivating Monday and Sabbatical Sunday!  These will be continuing throughout 2015 because I love to read your blogs and learn from your experiences!  I don't ask anyone to follow other blogs, but I do promise to promote all link-ups on one of my social media channels! 'Cause I love you!

I've never been into goals for my blog but this year I think I'll try it and even make it public! My goals for next year are to grow my content and giveaways by 20%!  That means 3 more giveaways than last year (and I do select my giveaways carefully) and 4 more self-authored posts!  Yay!  Something to shoot for!  My most important goal, however, is to continue to love blogging and if that means taking a break sometimes to clear my head, I will definitely do it!
 

What are your goals, blogging or otherwise, for 2015?