Thank You!

A few days ago I got the message.

Which blew my mind.

First, I would like to say thank you to everyone that follows this blog.  It really means a lot.

When I first started blogging, I didn’t know what to expect.  I had decided I wanted to share our story.  My knowledge of autism to help others.  There are all sorts of autism blogs out there.  Which was mine going to be?

I had decided from the start that I did not want to turn my blog into a personal diary of our lives.  I thought the blog would be a great platform for me to share our family’s experiences as examples of what autism may look like.  To either spread autism awareness to gain autism acceptance, or sharing helpful tips.

And my posts were going to be positive.  Even if I was writing about something hard, like meltdowns.  There was still going to be a light.  I was going to be sure to spread a positive autism message.

I tiptoed and danced around certain subjects.  Like vaccinations and autism, I have my opinion on the matter but I never wanted to offend or be criticized for my beliefs, so I speak as openly as possible.  And I never wanted to speak about autism as “This is all you will see.”  I wanted to be sure I only spoke about autism in our family.  Because autism is a spectrum disorder, it is different for everyone and I can only talk about the autism in my life.

I bought the books on blogging.  I wanted to be sure I was doing it RIGHT.

I knew I didn’t want to share on Facebook.  Like most people, I have “friends” that aren’t really friends.  How many would question my motives for writing about autism?

But I joined other sites – Twitter, Google +, Pinterest, Tumblr – just to spread the word.  And I shared and shared away.  Yet, I got no traffic.  And I pulled out the blogging books to see what I was doing wrong.  I wanted to share a story, but no one seemed interested in what I had to say.

When I saw the message that I had achieved 500 followers, it made me think of this blogging journey and take stock of what I am doing.

These days, I do not share my posts outside of the blogging world.  Every now and again I write a post I really like, and I feel like Anthony Michael Hall at the end of the Breakfast Club – when he is proud about his letter he wrote to the principal.  I smile and pat myself on the back and will pin my post to Pinterest.   But that is it.  I feel I found my audience, or really my peeps, here.

Am I doing it RIGHT still?  In blogging terms, I have no idea.

But under my terms, I think I am still achieving my goal of writing a positive autism message, which makes me happy.  I continue to only speak about the autism in our family.  A lot of my posts are more of a diary at this point.  When something exciting happens, I want to share it with my peeps – with you guys – the people who follow the blog.  You have taken an interest in our autism journey and I am thankful to have you there.  You are important to me.  I appreciate you all so much.

The summer and adjusting to a new school year has been hard and I hope to get back into a more regular writing schedule.  I have been noting a lot of events and ideas I would like to explore, and I hope to get them out soon.

And as long as people keep reading, I will keep writing.

Thanks again for the follow.  You mean a lot to me!