Resolutions and Reflections

The year is drawing to a close, so it's natural that one might become reflective about the days past and those to come.  I don't usually make resolutions because nothing comes of them.  Sure, each year I hope to exercise more (futile), eat better (a little on, a little off), and myriad other things that amount to nothing special.  And each year I do some of the things and don't do others.  The real resolutions that matter are those that are less of a lifestyle change and are more of a goal--get a new job, buy my own home, travel to Europe. 

What you may not know is that this blog was my New Year's Resolution for 2010.  Sick of spending years thinking that I'd write "someday," I made a conscious choice to spend time this year writing what I want to write about and not simply writing for work.  When you're a flack, you spend a lot of time writing to advance other people's missions.  WashingTina is my mission. And I think I've done a pretty good job of advancing it this year. 

Sure, I know there are things that I could be doing better . . . I would really like to be even more regular about blogging. I'd like to write more frequently. I'd like to find a design that's not quite so generic, that reflects the character of the writing. But overall, I feel pretty good about what I've accomplished this year -- because when I started, I had no expectations.

I can't believe the attention that these thoughts--stories of the absurdities of my life--have received this year.  When this all started, I thought I'd write for myself (which is still the number one reason why I write), and maybe my family and friends and a random stranger or two who stumbled upon the blog. I thought I'd get some creative satisfaction by finally "making it happen" and writing for myself.  I thought I'd have a nice little product to look back on at the end of the year.  What I didn't know was that other people (people who don't know me!) would take notice.  I would have never guessed that other bloggers might take note, let alone media outlets (holy cow!). 

I'd love to be able to say, nonchalantly, that I don't care who's reading, who's paying attention.  But let's be real.  In these days of 24-hour connectivity and billions of pages of inanity on the internet, it blows my mind that I seem to have found a niche for my pieces of inanity.  I never could have imagined that WH would have his own following, that our quirks and quips would find their way to other parts of the country--let alone the world.  I started this for myself, to get some satisfaction out of writing what I wanted to write . . . but what I got out of it was so much more.  An audience.  A voice.  Gratification.  It matters to me that you're reading this, commenting on it, sharing it.  So as I look to the new year, all I can hope is that I keep getting out of this blog what I put into it . . . little pieces of myself.

*And if it's not too much to ask, how about casting your vote for WashingTina as best local blog in The Washington Post #DCTweeps awards (Question #6) by December 31, here: http://wapo.st/eIYXAu (Oh, and it's an honor just to be nominated, really!)