One year on... and why I keep writing

I'm not sure if you'll be surprised to hear this but today is the one year anniversary of my blog!

I can't believe I've done this for a year. For those of you who are expecting a spectacular, witty or fabulously thought-provoking post to mark this occasion, sorry to disappoint you. Here's a confession: I'm kaput of ideas.

For a while now, I've been dragging my feet at blogging. My faithful followers who've been with me since Day 1 may have noticed that I started out with one post everyday, followed by five a week, then four and now three (and struggling to maintain three). Like most projects and most people, I start out full of enthusiasm and then run out of steam. On days when I'm up to my eyeballs in work or have on my mind other matters like DSA, PSLE, badminton, the last thing I want to think about is what to write for my blog. Doesn't help that my blogger pals, Lilian, Adeline and Cindy have also slowed to a crawl or thrown in the towel completely. Wei, can you all start the engines again? No kaki where got fun liddat??

Blogging is siong because there is no finish line. As a professional writer, my motivation is often writing that very last page or vetting the final proof (because it means I won't have long to wait for the paycheck!) So in that sense, blogging is very daunting because the end is never in sight. Maybe that's why many blogs just die a natural death. I'm reluctant to let that happen. If I want to stop my blog, I want it to be a purposeful, deliberate decision, not something that occurs due to lack of inspiration.

I did a quick review of my posts over the past year to remind myself why I started this blog to begin with. I didn't have lofty ambitions when I began, I wasn't even sure if people would tune in. I had a few strong views that I wanted to broadcast, opinionated as I am. (I've certainly come a long way from my very first post griping about a certain individual). But in the past year, my views have evolved, concretised and even grown extensions. Such is the power of written expression, bolstered by ongoing feedback. On this anniversary, I've become emboldened to dream bigger - that my blog can actually make a positive impact on somebody.

And for now, this is the reason I feel compelled to keep chugging along, even though it's tough going at times. I don't have delusions of grandeur, I don't expect people's lives to change dramatically from reading my blog. But if one parent can see the value of letting her child pursue her passion for sports instead of single-mindedly focusing on mugging, if one student can see that she doesn't have to memorise model compositions to write well, if one teacher can stop pushing kids to compete for that extra ½ mark in an exam, well, then that sentimental side of me wants to believe that it's an endeavour worth continuing.

So to my readers, I promise I'll keep at it for as long as I can. I'm not sure how long that will be. Keep the comments coming - they let me know what you think and add that element of interaction to what would otherwise be a one-way street. I'll also confess that they boost my morale just a tad :) I only ask for a little laxity if I start to ramble or blog about irrelevant stuff, if only to fulfil my promise of putting something out! In the meantime, here's to happy kids and happy parents.