BLOGIVERSARY: NOW WE ARE SEVEN

I started West in New England seven years ago today, but this wasn't my first
crack at a geneablog. I like to retell this story on every blogiversary:

"Yes, now it can be told. My first geneablog was a failure. I was new
to this whole idea and started out enthusiastically and wrote
five posts within a few days for my blog which I'd named
West of New England. But when I went to add a new post a day
or so later, I discovered I couldn't recall the password for the blog.
After about a half an hour I gave up and just recreated the blog.
I'd saved what I'd written so I created a new blogger account
and started a new geneablog, West in New England. And that's why
the first five posts are all dated Jan 23,2007.

And that's also how I learned the first rule of blogging, "Don't forget
your password!"

In these seven years I've had 244,479 views of my 1477 posts. I have no delusions
that means I had 244, 479 actual people read my blog but apparently the web
crawler programs find it a lot. Nor have I actually written 1477 posts since I repost
some every year, especially in December with the Advent Calendar of Christmas
Memories posts.

Last year I included a list of my alltime 5 Most Viewed Posts. This year's list has
an entirely new set of posts:

THE FIFTH ANNUAL GREAT GENEALOGY POETRY CHALLENGE ...
Nov 28, 2013  2484 views.

MEMORIES OF MALDEN 
Oct 4, 2013, 1 comment  925 views,

ANCESTRY.COM'S NEW MASS. VITAL RECORDS INDEXES: FI. 
Sep 10, 2013, 2 comments  602 views.

THE BOOK OF ME, WRITTEN BY YOU 3: THE SKIN I'M IN...
Sep 16, 2013, 3 comments  589 views

THE SHAKING LEAF AND THE MISSING FILE  
Nov 11, 2013, 3 comments  515 views.

Wow, I hope those people who viewed the Poetry Challenge post followed the links
to the great posts from the geneabloggers who took part in it last year!

The geneablogging community has really grown in these seven years, but it's still a
great one with people who I've come to think of as my friends although I've only
met a few face to face. If I started mentioning names I could go on and on, so I'll
simply say thanks to all of you! 

Writing a blog can be hard work but it is so rewarding. I've had so many distant
cousins find me because of West In New England with whom I've enjoyed sharing information. It's given me a place to tell the stories I've found, to ask questions about
things that puzzled me, to vent over things that irked me, and to sometimes just be
silly. I thank you all for the comments and encouragement I've received.

And yes, after seven years, I'm still having fun writing about my family history!