Might as well face it, I’m addicted to love blogging if 1000 posts is anything to go by.
1000 posts over 7 and a bit years looks like a few million visits, 22,050 comments, two kids, two cats, two chickens, five house moves, three “real life” jobs, countless “let’s see if I can make some money with a blog” experiments, a billion hours reading other blogs, the invention of Instagram, almost 10,000 folks signed up on my Facebook page, and me still trying to make Twitter at thing.
It’s been fun, it’s been terrifying, it’s been a millstone around my neck and it’s been so unimaginably liberating. It’s been interesting and unexpected and it changes so much it keeps me thinking I’ll stick around if only to see what happens next.
Someone told me last week I should have my own radio show, and that I should get a YouTube channel and and and and and all these other things that they’ve just realised the internet affords. They can make you money, they said. You’re well-known, you could make it work! they said. I smiled a weary smile and told them patiently that after 7 years giving those things a go, they’re just not my bag.
I started my blog thinking it would help me get a job writing. Then part of my job became writing on this blog, Wayne’s World quotes and all. Then brands wanted more, they wanted visuals, they wanted video, they wanted 56k followers on Instagram, they wanted the next big thing.
I dabbled, I mean – why not? A new frontier, let’s see what I can make of it. But the further “influencing” got away from writing, the more I realised I was too, and that wasn’t making me happy. I am no photographer, I can’t style a shot, I can’t edit video and as much as I could spend time learning those things, it’s currently about as appealing as doing a week-long maths exam. I want to write. I want to write my book. I want to write lots of books.
This blog is a testament to those experiments, but it’s also a whole bunch more. It’s a fun reminder of shit I’ve done, places I’ve been and food I’ve eaten. It’s (I’ve lost count), well over 200 recipes. There’s jokes I forgot I made and hundreds of sleepless nights and 6000 photos and Black Books references and bad hair and and at the end of it all, the whole seems more than the sum of its parts.
Ask anyone why they blog and they’ll likely all have different answers, but we also do it just because. 1000 posts and none of which are totally quite explainable. Why do I do this? Why does anyone do this? What is bark made out of on trees?
Thank you, for any one of the 1000 posts you’ve read. Thanks for your comments that make this more of a collaboration than a dictatorial monologue. Thanks for pointing out mistakes in recipes, still reading actual words when life is so busy a scroll through our IG feed is about all we can manage, thanks for telling me your stories. Thanks for sharing a soup recipe with your mates, chatting about me in playgrounds, sending me your great emails about how you read my posts on no sleeping at 2am with an overtired 9 month old if only to feel like you’re not alone, for tagging me in memes that I die laughing at, and the times where you’ve done nothing more than spent a few pleasant minutes reading about the life of what is kind of a complete stranger but also completely not at the same time.
Thanks to the folk who read and never say a word, you’re so appreciated. Thanks to the readers who comment on every. single. post. ever, you are as comforting as a really pretty blanket with a great sense of humour. Thanks to everyone in between because you are rad af. This blog feels simple and real in a world where everything is loud and shiny and very, very white. Like, blindingly white. I cannot take a photo that white. So I write, and I’m here, and here’s to the next 1000 posts of everything but also nothing at all. It’s been a trip.
Josephine says
Thankyou for just being you across those 1000 blog posts! It’s why I read them! Felicitations on the milestone, and high fives for giving it all a go. Here’s cheers to the experiments to come!
Btw, your veggie sausage rolls and the stuffed pasta shells recipes have become faithful standbys in my household!
Stacey says
It’s so great that stuff I love has actually landed in other people’s houses and is MAKING THEM HAPPY. Nothing better than that! And to be able to do it totally in my own way in my own voice at my own pace and according to my own rules really is something special. Theyre probably going to have to drag me off the internet kicking and screaming, haha. It’s just to insane and cool.
Vanessa says
It was only yesterday that I realised I had reached over 800 blog posts and went WHAT!? I don’t care what blogging says is a success, I’m still going to keep doing it. I like it. I liked it when I hand-coded my own sites. I liked it in LiveJournal days. I’ma just gonna keep on because it’s good to and it’s fun.
Here’s to the next 1000 posts!
Stacey says
I’ve no doubt more successful bloggers have thousands more posts than I do, but I’m proud of me being me. I had a Diaryland account haha and I still miss learning code by pimping my myspace page! Thanks for being a true dude on the Internet, I’m glad it made us friends x
Shauna 'Round the Corner says
Congrats Veggie! That’s some milestone. I love your writing. I love that you are so candid and honest and gloriously ‘imperfect’ yet so widely read, engaging and respected. You inspire me to keep writing, to cut myself some slack and to just be me. I needed to read this today. Thank you. Here’s to a thousand more blog posts! I’m lveru much ooking forward to those! x
Stacey says
Yikes! That’s quite a testimonial! My cheeks are on fire!
I agree though, we can get fancy important things anywhere, we can only get one of you x
Kez @ Awesomely Unprepared says
Congrats on 1000! I love this. I am nowhere near being in your blogging league but I hear you on so much of this! That love of writing is real!
Right now I’ve been staring despondently at my website which has had a bunch of technical hiccups lately and this post has inspired me after a period of feeling like I’ve lost my mojo (temporarily I’m sure but it’s frustrating). I am so glad that you are here and I hope you write a thousand more posts!
Stacey says
WRITE OR DIE!
Jen R says
Congrats! What an exciting achievement. I really enjoy reading your posts. Thanks for writing
Stacey says
I may have a celebratory drink! Thanks so much for hanging around x
Pamela Hayward says
Well done you! I think your writing is wonderful. ..you have a gift! Ì enjoy hearing about your kids, chooks and life etc. Keep it up
Stacey says
I love that you enjoy it! They say truth is often stranger than fiction and I guess it translates to blogs – real is more interesting than formal. Let’s stay real for ever. Also, you’re not allowed to leave me ever.
Madeleine says
Your blog is like wholemeal toast with butter. Something you enjoy with a cup of tea during nap time with fluffy socks on, while everyone else is wearing off-shoulder play suits in Portofino and eating those weird giant milkshakes with brownies and doughnuts on top.
Stacey says
SALTED BUTTER, I HOPE?!!!! Speaking of which, I’m about to put the kettle on – I’ll pour you a cup x
Pinky Poinker says
Congratulations on the milestone. I would argue that you actually can style a shot and are quite a photographer. Whatever you are doing works so keep it up x
Denyse says
Oh so well done YOU! I can’t remember when I first started reading your blog but I’m pretty sure Bigs was still in a high chair & you would do those cute little food posts of what she “might” try! You were teaching then too & then we actually got together for lunch with Nikki & I think you might have had “small” on board by then! Gosh! We do go back. Thanks for staying true to you whilst giving other things a shot & then coming back home to what you love most! Congratulations! Denyse xx
Tina Lacy says
Happy 1000!!!!!!
Thank you for always being real……and Im kinda hoping you stick around for 1000 more……..and by then youll be losing sleep to rouge teenagers!!!
Pauline Richardson says
Hi there Stacey all the way from Scotland! (First time I’ve commented on anything,)
I’ve been reading your fab blog for years. Thank you so much, I love your writing it just feels like your chatting to a best friend due to your honest & insightful writing on kids & the everyday mixed in with a rad dose of humour 🙂
Thanks again & congratulations X
Sia says
Congratulations on your 1000 post Stacey! A fantastic milestone. I love reading your blog and listening to you speak. Thanks for all the stories, tips and inspiration.
Sammie @ The Annoyed Thyroid says
As Dr Seuss would say “you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You” and that’s what makes every one of those 1000 blog posts totally you-nique! Love your work – looking forward to the next 1000!
Bec says
1000 – go you good thang! I love your writing, keep on doing that plz 🙂
Kate Ulman says
Happy 1,000 Veggie Mama!!
I love your blog. I love your honesty and your writing and the way you see the world.
In a world that is becoming more clean and styled and designed by the minute, it makes me feel relieved when I click on something that feels real and truthful. Thank you for keeping it like that.
I can’t wait to buy your book.
love xx
Stacey says
I’ve been thinking about this comment ever since you wrote it… and it’s been super helpful and just really bloody nice, so thank you a million times over for taking the time to stop by and say it. You are one hell of a human x
MissyD says
Congratulations! 🙂 1000, wow, what a milestone.
Stacey says
Thank you! It feels weird/cool.
Angie says
OMG, I can’t take white photos either! What am I doing wrooooooooong?
Waiting patiently for the lots of books you’re writing. xx