Happy Birthday Wake Up America!

 Today Wake Up America turns one year old. Some would maybe call this Wake Up America’s one year anniversary, but I think of it as more of a birthday. I feel as though I was birthed into blogging as a newborn without any clue as to the world I was entering, rather than meeting the blogworld in a mutual way, and marrying it. Does that make any sense?

 I sat down at the computer last January 12th and created a blog, three actually, on three different platforms. I posted the same content on all of them but I figured I wouldn’t reach too many people so I would use the three blogs to reach more. Eventually I dropped the other two to concentrate on this one as this site started to gather comments to my posts.

 I started doing this on a whim after a couple days of thought. I heard a caller to Glenn Beck ask what she could do to get the word out about the threats we face from islamo-fascism and he said to her “just tell everyone you can, don’t be afraid of what people say to you”. I thought that while that may be a good start it wouldn’t go far. The blog idea hit me and off I went. I was nervous because I am not a writer, I hadn’t written anything since high school more than twenty years ago. I am still self conscious about writing, I know my limitations. I read the writings on other blogs and am jealous, but it is what it is.

 I had no idea what I was doing, hell, I never even heard of blogging until Dan Rather was disgraced by the bloggers. My first post was a simple introduction and it was a couple of days before I even bothered to update it. As I said, the main goal I had was trying to make people aware of the real threat from Muslim extremists because people have forgotten 9/11, that idea quickly morphed into just trying to fight liberal madness, and this blog became a conservative political/news oriented blog.

 I remember the first time I went over double digits in hits for one day (11), I was thrilled and surprised that many people found me. Then a couple of people responded to my posts, this was the first time I realized that I could click on their names and visit their blogs. I know how stupid that sounds now, but hey, I was totally new. I didn’t even have a blogroll until I visited one of these other blogs, when I saw they had blogrolled me I started my blogroll. I had no idea that the blogroll could be used as a type of social network, as a way to get your voice out there.

 I have made many friends since I started this, and I cherish them. I am not going to name them here, but you all know who you are. And for that alone I am grateful. Sometimes when my wife and I are watching the news we feel like we are the only ones who share our views, but I have found through this that we are not alone.

 As the months wore on Wake Up America has gathered steam and I have more visitors than I had ever thought possible. I am not saying that I have a huge following, I don’t, but I am very pleased with the progress this blog has made. I am thankful for the people that visit here everyday or whenever they can, I am thankful for those that just pop in once in a while, and I am thankful for those that come here once and never come back. Just knowing people are reading is gratifying.

 Here are some of the things that have happened to me since I started blogging:

 I wrote a post about New Hampshire that I called “New Hampshire Voters, Stop Whining about Civil Unions, You Voted for Them”, on a whim I sent a copy of it to the New Hampshire Union Leader. You can imagine my surprise when they contacted me and decided to publish it! A man who has a talk show in the lakes region then wrote an article in the Weirs Times in which he commented on my article. He invited me to go on his radio show and talk about the current state of New Hampshire. My wife told me that if I truly believed in what I was doing I should go on, I should take action. I decided not to go on, I was too nervous. It’s too easy to sit behind the computer and type my feelings, but not so easy to go on radio and express them. This decision still bothers me.

 Shortly after that, I received an invitation to go on an internet radio talk show. With my wife’s words still in my head, and also still lingering regret about passing up the last opportunity, I accepted. I appeared on Political Vindication radio, and I had a blast. I don’t know how I did, but I enjoyed it. If it wasn’t for my wife’s words, I’m not sure I would have done it.

 While posting a comment on Pro Patria, I was contacted by Chad and invited to join the Grizzly Groundswell, which I accepted. The Grizzly Groundswell is a blog that features, or will soon feature at least one blogger from every state, blogging on national or local issues, trying to spread the conservative message. I am happy to represent New Hampshire.

 I then joined the Political Grind network, where I re-post some of my articles to try to reach an even larger audience.

 I was recently contacted about covering the New Hampshire primary for another blog, the Veracifier, and I wrote a piece before the primary, and after the primary results were in later that night. That was an interesting experience, trying to gather information as it was coming in and putting it all together for an article.

 All in all it’s been a pretty exciting year in blogging to me. I have come to appreciate all the hours others must put in to their blogging, I know how much time I spend doing it, but I feel it has been worth it.

 2008 should prove to be a busy and exciting year in blogging, as we face what I feel could be the most important election in a long time. I look forward to attacking it head-on.

 Sorry about the long, self-indulgent post. But hey, it’s my birthday!