Time flees and we’re putting another year in the history of The Pink Pigtail Inn to the records. I can’t quite understand how it happened, but today I’m apparently celebrating two years as a WoW blogger.
Over time I’ve come to write several hundred posts and if you printed them all it would be enough to fill a book volume, if not two. How is it possible to have that much to say about one single video game? After all there isn’t much of what you could consider substance in those writings. There’s no theorycrafting, no strategies, no overviews of how to play a mage the best way or maximise your gold income. It’s just the ponderings from a pigtailed gnome the banter among the guests relaxing in front of the fireplace.
Still - apparently there are some people around who like this kind of blogging. When I started this place – originally in Swedish, back in February 2008 – I had less than a handful of readers. It was basically just a couple of guildies and friends who kindly had a look at it every now and then so I wouldn't feel quite as lonely. One year forward, in February 2009, the readership of PPI had grown to 200 subscribers. I was humbled and amazed and I never thought it was possible for the inn to grow much more than that, but today I’m counting over 1300.
This is of course nice, but still not overly important. The PPI is written out of the pure joy of writing. I don’t have any ads, I don’t have any costs for hosting that I need to cover and I don’t have any urge to spread any gnomish ideas over the world. As long as there is someone listening and responding to my ramblings – be it 13 or 1300 – I’m perfectly happy.
So you could ask why I even bother to mention the numbers. Well, I do it in the hope that it might somehow inspire and encourage the new upcoming bloggers out there. Don't dispair when you have 10 daily visitors and zero comments! Don't dispair even if this doesn't change within a month or two. Trust me, every single blogger out there, no matter how established he or she is, has started from scratch, tossing posts out into a big dark void, met by a compact silence. Just keep doing what you're doing, trust your own voice, blog your heart out and the readers will come. Eventually. If a middle-aged woman with no previous experience in gaming or blogging whatsoever can do it you can too.
Some inside information
Before I’ll ask you to join me in a toast I thought I should grab this moment to answer a blogging questionnaire that
Keredria put together almost two months ago. I know I’m a bit late for this meme, but I thought the anniversary would be a suitable occasion for completing it.
So here you are – some inside information about how the Pink Pigtail Inn is run.
1. How long have you been blogging? What made you start? Who inspired you?
I’ve been blogging for two years. As most other bloggers I was inspired by reading another WoW blogger, a Swedish blog called Consentire (which now is dead, as so many other blogs). I think one of the reasons I started was that I was curious about the blogging media and I thought that starting to blog myself was a good way to get to know more about it. Once upon a time I used to make amateur fanzines (here’s the story about this), but for many years I had only written professionally, which is a different thing. Through the blogging I found a way to get back to writing out of lust and pleasure, rather than for a living.
2. About how many hours a week would you estimate you spend on your blog?
Ouch. I don’t really want to think about that. Don't ask! A post probably takes at least an hour to write and I normally have three or four posts a week. And apart from that there’s all the managing and replies to the comments, and reading other blogs to keep up with the community. I can only say: waaaayyyy too many.
3. What kind of experience or background do you have with writing?
I’m a trained journalist and used to write for local newspapers. For many years I’ve been working in the information/marketing/PR area, currently I’m focusing on media relations. So writing has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. However writing in English is new to me. Apart from taking a university course many years ago, I hadn’t been into this at all, until I decided to convert PPI to English.
4. Talk about how you come up with blog topics. Where do you get your ideas? What or who inspires you? Where and/or how do your brainstorming?
I get a lot of my inspiration from reading other blogs. Blogging without the interaction and communication with other bloggers is quite unthinkable to me. Without the network and all those ideas bouncing around I wouldn’t have half as much to write about. Many of my posts are one way or another commenting on current topics. Some posts are more of diary notes, inspired by what I’m currently up to in game. I often pick up things I see in the guild chat or conversations I’ve had on vent. There can be just a statement that somehow will trigger my thoughts. The wheels start spinning and eventually it will end up in a blog post.
5. Do you have any blogging rules or guidelines you follow? Is there anything you will not blog about?
Very early in my blogging, in April 2008, I wrote a
post about my ethical guildelines and what I wrote at that time is still valid. I basically don’t write about things that might put my guild in a negative light. You know, guild drama, incidents, those things that are normal in any guild.
I’ve never ever made a secret about my blogging to any guild I’ve been a part of. I let them know what I'm doing, in case anyone's interested, and I also make sure never to write anything in the blog that I wouldn’t be able to tell people straight away. I know there are a few bloggers out there who have made other decisions, since they feel more free and comfortable when they openly can vent about the latest actions of their stupid GM or their ongoing guild drama, but I’ve chosen otherwise. I enjoy the freedom of honesty and openness towards my guild. And it rarely happens, if ever, that this feels like a restriction, that I remain silent about things that I would have blogged about if it wasn’t for my own guidelines.
The other rules I follow are pretty basic, what any other decent blogger would do. You know: don’t steal ideas, but it's ok to quote and link as long as you give proper credit. And of course I don’t have any gold selling ads, or any other ads either for that sake.
6. Do you have any sort of a publishing schedule in terms of day of week or topic? Where do you do your writing?
Since most blog readers seem to read the posts in the weeks, I normally don't publish during the weekends. There isn’t much point in doing it. For a long time I've been averaging about four posts a week, but I'm probably cutting down a bit on it this year. It’s great fun to blog, but it takes a ton of time and I have other obligations in my real life that are calling for my attention.
My writing is done in different places. Sometimes I manage to toss down a post at work, during my lunch break. But often I write my posts at home after work, late after a raiding night or during the weekend.
7. How many drafts of potential blog posts do you have right now? In what medium do you draft your posts? How often do you completely scratch or delete drafts or blog post ideas?
The flow of drafts and posts vary. Sometimes I've had posts prepared for a week in advance, but currently I don’t have anything in pipeline more than some vague ideas in my backhead. I don’t normally delete blog posts. Once I’ve started working on something I finish it. I normally write in Word and copy-paste from there. The Blogger editor is very basic and not suitable for writing or editing. For instance it has no spelling check, which is essential for me as I'm not native English speaking. I make a lot of mistakes of course, but the word editor at least prevents a few of them.
8. If you had to leave your blog in your will to another blogger, who would you choose? To ask this in a slightly less morbid way, are there other blogs that you feel are similar to yours in content, style, or voice?
A good candidate would probably be Tessy from Reflections from the Pound, who also is a guildie of mine since last autumn. We resemble each other a lot – she’s almost as old as I am, from Sweden and has children in the same age. And I think there’s something in the tone of our blogs that connects us. In the hands of Tessy, the blog would probably keep much of its atmosphere. However the question is rather hypothetical. In reality if I stopped blogging, the inn would close, not being passed on to someone else.
And that was the end of this questionnaire. One thing remains – to grab our pints to join a collective toast for the inn and people who use to hang around here.
Thank you all for the good discussions we’ve had here the last two years, for the support you give me day after day, for your love and friendship.
I've said it before and I say it again: You make this happen!
Cheers!