It wasn’t particularly horrible, not superlatively awesome, but, well, it was okay. I didn’t do much by way of getting stories published, though I did get some nice rejections. I was hired to run a blog and then, when it turned out the company hadn’t budgeted for real pay for writers, things went south, very quickly. All the writers did get paid, I’m proud of that, and I feel good about standing my ground on the way I’d want work with bloggers when at the helm. I learned a lot, enough to get hired to run another blog under a different but ultimately better model. I had plenty of tech work and I paid my quarterly taxes mostly on time and I never once cried about work, an improvement over last year, that’s for sure. I got to hang out with all kinds of great people in amazing places — New York City, Santa Barbara, Hawaii, Alaska, Seattle… So when I look back, I think, yeah that was okay. A good year for travel, a good year for work.
Usually, I recap my adventures for the year, but there were so many little local ones and a few that were, well, kind of huge. The little ones weren’t less awesome than the bigger, far away adventures, though, sometimes, something small and close to home can knock you off your feet. But this year, rather than recap the “best of” stuff from my weird year, I’m going to pull my favorite posts and list them. They’re kind of random, subject-wise. I picked two that are essentially single photos, and there’s some stuff here that’s kind of meta — writing about writing, you know? And even though I didn’t publish much, I think it was a good year for writing.
- January: You never know who you’re going to meet. Sweethearts of the Rodeo
- February: An impassioned whine about pay rates for travel writers. Ten Dollars Worth of Crazy
- March: Everyone should get to play a dive bar once in their life. Beer, Back Stage
- April: I won’t pick a favorite. That’s because I ran guest posts all month and I want you to think that YOU were the best. 29 Guests
- May: Finally fessing up, I admit that I sucked as an expat. Focus
- June: Well lookit that. I decided to stop complaining and quit my gig at a monster blogging network. Well, That’s That, Then.
- July: On Moloka’i, I had a strange conversation with a tour guide. Waiting for the Apocalypse in Paradise
- August: During the peak of summer camping season, I pondered finding quiet places. You Have the Right to Experience Silence
- September: John Muir, that great bearded naturalist, introduced me to Alaska. I totally didn’t believe him. Muir’s Alaska, My Alaska
- October: Most! Comments! Ever! Eight Bad Habits of (This) Highly Unsuccessful Blogger
- November: When I learn that I’m bound for Antarctica, I get all kinds of whimsical ideas about gravity. Falling Up
- December: More impassioned whining about writing. In which we ask, “Is writing a blog the same as giving your work away for free?” Open Studio
What did you write this year that you loved? I get to post 12 because it’s my blog, but hey, why don’t you leave me your favorite of the year in the comments? I’d love to read your best work from the year that’s about to leave us behind.
Hi Pam,
I had big writing year this year myself — not so much in quantity (I cut back on number of posts published per week) but in finding my voice and gaining a readership. This was also the year I discovered that other people besides me have travel blogs (who knew?) so it became a year of reading other people’s stuff & trying to figure out where my stuff fits in with their stuff (and if it even fits at all!).
I still really like this post that I wrote back in March for my old URL:http://www.unbravegirl.com/2010/03/how-i-roll-confessions-of-a-seriously-slow-traveler/
I was just starting off on my current trip and coming to terms with who I was as a traveler after 3 years of being an expat… and realizing that maybe I wasn’t the big bad traveler I had envisioned myself as.
Reading this makes me feel a lot better about how, when we were in Costa Rica, we did almost nothing but go make more coffee and then, move back out to the porch to look at the toucans. Also, once I spent days and days in Italy NOT going to Rome. Mostly, I was reading. We could travel together, I think.
i always enjoy your writing, Pam, and especially love some of the meta stuff because it’s so honest. i don’t have a favorite post of the year, but here’s a recent one that sort of sums up the whole shebang for me and reminds me why getting to know people like you makes blogging worth the effort.
http://marilyn.typepad.com/tongueandgroove/2010/12/reverb-10-future-self.html
“…you’re going to discover something called blogging and it’s going to change your life in ways you can’t even imagine.”
You said it, sister.
What a lovely idea for a blog post – am looking forward to checking back and seeing what other people’s experiences have been. For my part, my pleasing discovery of the year was that after ten years of writing for a living (features, some news, recently non-fiction books, copywriting etc), which I thought had comprehensively crushed the creativity out of me, a one-off event while I was travelling sent me back to my laptop at 11pm, itching to bash out a story before I lost the inspiration. I was very pleased with it and I got some great feedback, and it’s inspired me to aspire to more creative writing. Let’s see what the new year brings…
Oh, I love this idea, Pam. I may steal it, if that’s OK? I’m always unimpressed by my writing when I look back on it, and start to pick out all the faults in it, but I’m having fun reading back through my archives and reliving memories. Quite a lot’s changed in my life in the last 18 months – and it’s only when I go back through my blog that I realise quite how far I’ve come. Thank you for prompting that.
Steal away. but come back and leave me a link to your favorite, okay?
Deal!
On reading through, I’ve realised that all my favourites involve food. Hmm. I’m beginning to realise why I’ll always be too big for Italy. Still, I made my peace with that a long time ago, so bring on the pasta, I say!
I didn’t put this one on my list of 12 on my blog, but I have a real soft spot for it nonetheless. It really reminds me of a fabulous weekend, and always makes me smile when I think about la nonna with her milk-bottle glasses and mismatched housecoat. http://www.katebailward.com/drivinglikeamaniac/?p=312
“It seems that it’s just short-sightedness, rather than anything more ominous, that made her look so gloomy. She’s a rotten waitress, dropping plates and handing the wrong orders to the wrong people all over the restaurant, but she’s so cheery while doing it that no-one minds at all.”
This. This I love. Thank you.
2010 was interesting for me. I have been blogging since 2008 and did a few hundred posts during my RTW overland trip on my old blogspot.com blog, basically as a way for me to take notes for the book about the trip (that I still haven’t made much progress on). What I didn’t know until 2010 was that there was this whole travel blogging community out there. I was basically just writing for family, friends and a few other followers.
So about 2/3s the way through 2010, I moved to a self-hosted site, “manned up” and tried to learn a bit of HTML code and such, and made the dive into having a real travel blog/website. Although the result has been a huge time suck for me away from working on the original project of this year, the book, it has been amazingly rewarding as well. And having the chance to get to know all great writers out there in the blog’osphere has been fantastic.
Although Pam hates the concept of writing for free — this was one of the first posts I did once I went to a real website format — and the first one I did, for free, for the Huffington Post. And I like it.
http://www.goseewrite.com/2010/09/reasons-everyone-should-travel/
It’s a good post. Good enough that you should have been PAID FOR IT. And for the excellent photos as well.
’nuff said. And thanks for playing.
Part of my job requires me to be a tourist in my own backyard. My backyard happens to be the state of Vermont. I love when a resort asks me to come and put it through the the punches with the the family. This year I was lucky enough to stay at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont. It made me fall in love with the Sound of Music all over again.
http://blog.findandgoseek.net/2010/03/these-are-few-of-my-favorite-things-trapp-family-lodge/
Since I have a past (and maybe future) life in Austria, I have an absurd affection for The Sound of Music. I’ve never been to the Vermont lodge though — so thanks for taking me there.
Pam, instead of inciting me to pick a favorite your post led me to realize that I hardly wrote anything (relatively speaking, of course) this year. Lightbulb moment and subsequent resolution for 2011 are here:
http://evaholland.com/2010/12/26/my-year-of-rarely-writing/
You know, I actually wrote less this year too. I hit publish less frequently, but I spent considerably more time on what I did let go live. And I actually held some stuff and pitched it for pay, instead, too. I was surprised — some months I posted less than twice a week, which is very light for me.
I think I’m okay with that.
Really brilliant, Pam. My favorite article of the year was from my short time in Rwanda. I was surprised at the level at which they are driving ahead in making technology available to citizens and was compelled to tell the story. I think the country still has a great stigma from the recent genocide, but there’s so much more going on.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/annemarie-dooling/will-the-internet-delete_b_646366.html
If you hadn’t left this link here, I wouldn’t have read it. This is a really cool story and a totally unexpected (to me) perceptive on a place I know almost nothing about.
2010 was a crazy year. I’ve blogged in the past (blogspot & Bootsnall), but this was my first full year becoming attached and committed to one blog. In the past year, I pushed through my own personal travel boundaries. I return to countries I visited in the past, and I also made visited one of my dream destinations -Mongolia.
I think one of my favourite posts was from my time in Mongolia and how I almost became a Mongolian bride. That night still makes me laugh and I can remember the panic I felt like it was yesterday.
http://www.spunkygirlmonologues.com/florence-nightingale-how-i-almost-became-a-mongolian-bride/
I still struggle with the popularity contest that seems to happen within the Travel community -I tend to go in the opposite direction. But, I’m not letting it bother me. I’m here to stay.
That was a helluva a story, I tell you what.
And as to the popularity issue? Pretend you’re imagining it. Seriously. Maybe it’s real, maybe it’s not. If you operate under the assumption that you’re imagining it, you can get back to working on your own best stuff and not worrying about being popular.
Pam, thanks for your recap and the spotlight for a second. My favorite piece is something recent that resonated today as I tested my own theory and do indeed favor rejection over regret. Not that it makes the rejection any easier, but I’m more calm knowing, rather than letting opportunity slip by because of a wall of stupid fear.
http://thecareyadventures.com/blog/2010/rejection-is-cheaper-than-regret
There’s great advice here for everyone. It’s a fine time of year to think about missed opportunities. And to think about not missing them again next year.
Pam, reading this end of year post enticed me to go back and read couple of your posts that I had missed. I especially enjoyed the one on Moloka’i.
My favorite post of 2010 strayed from my usual informational article into narrative territory:
Coming Home to the Beat of a Baby Boomer Band: http://myitchytravelfeet.com/2010/05/16/discovering-music-tehachapi-ca/
I always enjoy it, Donna, when you say “I don’t really do narrative” and then, you show up with this kind of thing. It’s sweet and it made me smile. Thank you.
I struggled with blogging a lot this year, and even had four months when I didn’t write anything at all. There are many reasons I could cite for it, but ultimately, I think it’s because I didn’t really have a clear purpose to my blogging.
Now, Noah and I are starting a new project. It’s kind of big and scary. Nothing I’ve ever done before. I wrote about it just a couple weeks ago.
Give Me ButterFly Wings: Why I Needed A Big Blog Break http://thefutureisred.typepad.com/onedayatatime/2010/12/murder-tv-intrigue-.html
Thanks, Pam, for this call for all of us to share our writing and blogging. It’s a really great idea.
I’m so glad you posted this. Your project sounds amazing, just amazing, and I wish you all kinds of success.
Thanks, Pam. We have a lot of work to do, but it’s the good kind. And I’m definitely learning a lot. (Often the hard way.)
I hope you will come and visit one day. We’re not all THAT far from Antarctica. 😉
It’s late. I have about 10 minutes before the caffeine in my bloodstream runs dry,and I need to have something under me that’ll break my fall, like a mattress or a sofa. A laptop will just break my face. So this is a cursory glance and I’ll return tomorrow, because there are other posts I want to read in the comments, on top of your well-worth-rereading posts…
Briefly, though, I’m proudest of these:
http://www.mikesowden.org/feveredmutterings/breaking-the-ice-hook
There were follow-ups called Line and Sinker, so three in total. I had fun. They made me realise the kind of blogging I wanted to be doing: lengthy, irreverent, filled with other people’s pictures. Ahem.
Also, I like how your comment streams are turning into a who’s-who of my favourite people. I like that a lot.
One minute! Need to find somewhere soft to land….
I remember reading this series the first time. Is it too vain to say that I like the “be like the Americans” part best? Yeah, maybe, but I’m saying it anyway.
It’s been an interesting year, to say the least, with one disaster after another. Truth is, enough happened for me this year – a world cruise, being stranded in Oslo, surviving a 7.1 earthquake and it’s thousands of aftershocks – to keep me writing for the rest of the decade but somehow I can’t get it out of my head and onto the computer.
But there is always a silver lining, as I found out while being stranded in Oslo…
Finding the Silver Lining in Oslo
So I’m calling 2010 my ‘year of disasters’ and 2011 my ‘year of opportunities’. After all, sometimes you have to make your own silver linings…
Wishing you Happy holidays from New Zealand,
Liz
This is a lovely idea for a post. Back when I actually used my Livejournal (born in 2004, dying a slow death since I got my own domain back in springtime) I used to do an annual ‘first line of the first post of every month’ post, which was always rather surreal in the end. Like Sally up at the top, this year was a whole ‘nother story, writing-wise because I moved from just writing for friends and family in a personal journal format to actually having very public blog and slowly nudging my way into the greater travel-blog community.
It’s an odd fit through, as I’m not on my way around the world, nor am I going anywhere ambitious or brave. I have no quest. I’ve not given away my stuff. I have no tips for anyone. I live and work in China and a few times a year I pack my bag and head off to somewhere. Last summer we went to Myanmar; in February we are going to Cambodia for a few weeks. Mostly I just write about the world around me: the doomed chickens, mops, markets, drying fish, bicycles, laundry. I wonder if I should do more, if I should think deeply and write at greater length about…more thinky things. Maybe next year.
For now, I’m proud of this post, as compared to everything else I wrote, people actually responded with lots of comments. I don’t tend to get many comments. This was cool. It’s a lovely feeling to know you’ve struck a chord: http://www.ephemeraanddetritus.com/2010/07/24/on-travelling-and-on-staying-put/
This is such a great post; I love the zoo/themepark analogy, and I’m so glad you dropped a link here because now, I have a great new (to me) blog to read.
And for the record, I’m not going round the world on an ambitious quest or getting rid of my stuff or anything like that either. I have a house in Seattle with a couch and a car in the driveway and I got places a few times a year, too.
Really nice to meet you, MaryAnne.
Lovely to officially meet you too, though I’ve lurked here on occasion several times before. I’m not much of a commenter though, as I don’t really know if I have anything to say besides, ‘hey, awesome post!’ Yours made me think, which helped. Besides having a lot of pointers to your favourite posts, I now have leads toward lots of other people’s thinky thoughts. I like that.
I always love these posts. We are actually hosting a Carnival of the Best Travel Posts of 2010 at GGTG. All are encouraged to submit their favorite post from the past year.
http://gogreentravelgreen.com/green-links/submit-now-to-1st-annual-best-travel-writing-posts/
You’ve got lots to be grateful for this year Pam! Here’s to an equally successful(and more fulfilling) 2011 for you.
Plan on writing up a personal year-in-review post within the next day or two
A lovely and generous idea, this. I enjoyed writing this somewhat self-indulgent piece: http://matadornetwork.com/trips/5-reasons-why-i-want-to-travel-to-lebanon-right-now
Really liked your post on your “bad” blogging habits, btw 🙂
I’m proudest of this piece http://whereamiwearing.com/2010/12/15/in-relevant-one-day-in-the-slum/ that appeared in Relevant Magazine. I don’t write about faith much so it was a real challenge.
What a great read. Really, really great. Thank you.
well- well. I can say that this is the best round up piece so far this year, as it actually lets you learn something new, about writers and how they think about themselves.
Brava!
Mine, well after complex plans and promises to write more this year, I found, of course that I did not. Somehow, I spent most of the time from April thru December luxuriating is not doing, but being. Just, being.
But I like this piece a lot: http://tiny.cc/gopn2
Written on the last day I worked. And this comes in at a tie-the last piece I have written this year. http://tiny.cc/c7sb2
Who knows what 2011 will bring–perhaps a surge of writing during my first full year of real freedom.
I liked the piece I wrote on Santa Rosa and Charles Schulz and Snoopy. http://www.roamingtales.com/2010/11/04/snoopy-santa-rosa/
Here’s the post I had the most fun writing in 2010, partly because it was a departure for me (I write a lot of how-to posts), and partly because the act of writing about it fixed in my mind an afternoon and an experience that made me very, very happy. http://www.dogjaunt.com/2010/11/photo-friday-le-tagine-restaurant-in-paris/
Some of my favorite posts are music-related, and that’s no surprise given Detroit’s music heritage and growing up here with all sorts of great local music!
I particularly enjoy the Detroit’s annual Concert of Colors world music and diversity festival. This year, I scored a media pass to cover the festival for Midwest Guest. I was able to get some great photos because of that, and I was offered the chance to do a phone interview with Grammy-Award winning music producer Don Was!
Was is a legend in these parts and had recently wrapped up working with the Rolling Stones on their reissue of “Exile on Main Street” when I talked with him. He was a pretty chill guy, we had a great time talking about some of the great new music coming out of Detroit these days, and I was particularly proud of the resulting article.
http://www.midwestguest.com/2010/06/where-i-live-don-was-the-concert-of-colors-and-the-great-spirit-in-detroit.html
Happy New Year, Pam…and enjoy the penguins! 🙂