OSS: One Year Anniversary!

Today marks one year since my first post on omniasubsole!

My partner was the impetus for creating this blog, and remains a great support.  He saw the interesting things I was doing, thought others might be intrigued and spurred me on to make something of my own. Much of the inspiration, tech support and social media savvy would be unattainable for me without him. So thank you, Andy!

The Backstory

Omniasubsole is not my first blog.  It is actually my second.

I don’t remember the name of  my first blog.  It was nothing like this and certainly didn’t even make it a year. I was mostly interested in making my own cleaning products and detergents at that time.  Ugh, what a nightmare!  The first deodorant I made ruined most of my clothes as the cornstarch moved through the fabric. The dishes were cloudy and never rinsed well.  All of my sprayer bottles for the various cleaning products regularly clogged.

The intent of that blog and all activities and projects was either to make money or get me closer to freelance writing.  It wasn’t the catharsis that omniasubsole is for me and it didn’t intrinsically inspire me to create.

How Did I Get to One Year?

I am a different person and I started omniasubsole for different reasons.  I don’t make any assertions that I will be able to support myself on what I do here.  It is a way to inspire creativity, support my personal well-being and practice vulnerability.  It is more a therapy project than it is a means to an end.

So, the ‘why’ is different. But so is the ‘when’.

I used to take time at my previous job, with its brain-numbing 12 hour shifts to search for things to inspire me and then write about them.  I filled my time outside of work with other activities; writing wasn’t fun. Now, a decade later and in a different profession, I could never use a second at work to do an outside project, so all of my creative efforts come on nights and weekends.  Writing is fun.

Goals for Year Two and Best Advice

In the second year of omniasubsole, I would like to move more solidly into social media and make more of a presence there.  I don’t know if this will be a success or not, but it is a reasonable next step.  I would also like to understand my yearly rhythm more so that I can plan better.  It seems that the summers are for cooking and gardening and the winters are for art, maybe.

So, my best advice for someone who wants to blog for money is don’t.  Do it because it does something for you and work hard at it like you would a job. Don’t attach an expectation of money, as it isn’t likely to happen the way Pinterest would lead you to believe!

Thanks!

A big thank you to everyone who has subscribed and who supports me in this adventure, I appreciate you all!