Tuesday 7 January 2014

Milestones | 1000 and Counting

Way back when, in January 2010, I launched The Speculative Scotsman. Why? In large part because I wanted to talk to the world about Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay: a book that moved me hugely.

I wasn't sure what I'd do with a blog about genre fiction in all its multifarious forms afterwards, but I figured I'd cross that bridge when I came to it, and I did, I think. I had a tower of books to be read even then, and The Speculative Scotsman, in the beginning, gave me a great excuse to dig into it a little.

It wasn't long before review copies of new novels started arriving, lending the site some small sense of acceptance, but the icing on the great cake came when, to my surprise and delight, a few of my favourite bloggers blogged about this new blogger they'd noticed.

Me, I realised. Me! :)

It'd be a fib to say I haven't looked back since. I have, from time to time. I've struggled to keep up the pace; I've come close to burning out on books; I've lost my faith in fiction only to find it again, and again, and again. For a blogger, this is par for the course, of course. These questions come with the territory.

And what with the superblogs out there — the Tor.coms and the IO9s — the landscape looks a lot different today than it did then: one of the many ways I've been feeling my age of late. Between that and suddenly turning 30, I just don't have the energy I used to. I can't compete: that's clear.

But this was never about winning; this was about sharing something. Something special. Something I crave as much today as I did in the beginning.

Today, in any case, marks a very special blogaversary for me. One I wasn't sure I'd ever see, because sometimes it has been hard. But never mind my more maudlin moments: the vast majority of the time it's been absolute magic. Blogging is in my blood now. I don't know what I'd do without it. Without you, in truth.

This is the thousandth post I've published on The Speculative Scotsman. I can't imagine I have another thousand in me, but together... together we'll see, won't we?

Now, because it seems so fitting I can't resist, I'm off to celebrate with some Guy Gavriel Kay...

8 comments:

  1. Wow, that is a huge milestone! Congrats!

    Can't think of a better way to mark the occasion than with some Guy Gavriel Kay. :)

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  2. Congrats on the epic milestone Sir! 1000 posts is quite impressive, hoping for AT LEAST 1000 more...

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  3. Congrats on the milestone. Love the blog. We demand more immediately, if not sooner.

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  4. Congratulations, Niall - tis my favourite blog by far so here's to another thousand!

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  5. Congrats on the milestone, but in regards to age/energy, keep in mind that I started my blog a month after turning 30...back in late August 2003. Tempus fugit. Maybe soon you'll adopt a rodent of your own as a blog mascot/attack totem? ;)

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  6. Congrats! I am a big fan of the Scotsman. Hope you do have a few thousand more posts left in you. :)

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  7. Congrats Niall, Greetings from Sven from Belgium ;) Ik keep following the blog and I will always remember winning an ARC from the Scotsman :D

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  8. Congratulations! That is really impressive!

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