2015 was a challenging year in every way and I am somehow glad it finally came to an end. I can safely say last year wasn't the most prolific one for my blog. My new job took centre stage and even though that's a good thing, my writing has definitely suffered as a result. There were many days without any motivation left at night to take up the laptop. There were also a lot of personal things on my mind that sucked any ounce of creativity I used to have. So my one and only resolution this year is to worry less and be more positive.
Here's a little round up of my blogging year...
My most read post
I can't believe it was the one about differences between French and Irish Christmas! It took me ages to write it and I wasn't even satisfied with the result. I almost didn't publish it, so there you go, sometimes you think something is not going to work and it happens to be your biggest success!
My least read post
We can't interest everybody all the time and not all subjects will appeal to readers. There are actually 3 posts with the same low numbers : My Irish favourites, How I got to see U2 in Croke Park twice, and my Memories of Bastille day.
The post I had the most fun writing
I might have been a bit sarcastic for that one, but I guess I was just so fed up with reading stupid questions French expats asked on Facebook that I had to vent.
The hardest post I wrote
This one was hard in the sense that it was very personal. I wrote about my son's autism diagnosis and the fact that he also has a chromosome imbalance. I'm glad I took everything off my chest and I was overwhelmed by the support and kindness I received after this post.
The most positive post
It has to be the one about life being peaceful in this country. We all have our daily issues but at the end of the day I still believe I have a very good quality of life here, and that's mainly due to Irish people themselves.
The "not so positive" posts
There are 2 in particular that are about the same theme: Saying goodbye, either temporarily or permanently. Writing them were definitely emotional, but helped me cope with the situations.
My biggest achievement
I participated in the "Write 31 days" challenge in October, and although it didn't attract many readers, I did it mainly to prove to myself I could write every day. It was tough but I'm not a quitter and I managed to complete the challenge.
My biggest disappointment
The Blog awards of course! OK, I managed to get on the shortlist, but after being in the final last year, I had better expectations. I think the categories were not really in my favour, but that's the way it works, you can't win all the time and I'll just have to try again next year
My plans for 2016
I am not making any plans, nor I have any goals for my blog this year, purely because I don't want to put pressure on myself. Last year, it didn't go the way I wanted, so I don't want to be disappointed again. It doesn't mean I care less, I love writing, and I will keep on doing it.
That's it folks, I wish you a happy new year, and in the words of Jacques Brel:
I wish you never ending dreams and the furious desire to make some of them come true
I wish you to love what must be loved and forget what must be forgotten
