Aspiration and Might: An Anniversary Special

This is it; the milestone I’ve been looking forward to. I’ve had this blog for exactly 12 months now.

For a year, Aspiration and Might has brought you stories of my life, my views on comics and the media, and slants on feminism and LGBT activism. I intend to bring you more of this. I also intend to do more reviews, give more guidance to those embarking on the journeys I’ve already completed, and to take more time to reflect on how fortunate I am. Aspiration and Might will continue to flourish, and I thank you all for your continued support.

But this is not why I am writing this post. Instead, I wanted to address something I heard a wise woman say to me.

If you can do something without giving thanks, you’re not being honest.

I have posted near-consistently a post a week on this blog. I never expected this to happen. Truthfully, I had tried blogging once before, in college. I didn’t have my own computer back then though, and it was difficult. I would blog about things during my brief breaks. It would usually be things like Kelly being off for the day, or an update from my Harvest Moon game (spoiler alert, Celia was super easy to impress). Actually, my Update from Wonderland thing was inspired by the old blog. Every major post would be an Update from Wonderland. Every smaller post would be Down the Rabbit Hole.

You may sense a theme. In college I was very much an Alice in Wonderland fan. I still am, but passions are now vast and many.

Eventually, after maybe 10 posts over four months, I decided to delete my account and move on. That was it for me. I had Student Union meetings to go to, what felt like mountains of coursework and no real access to a computer. I didn’t pay it much mind and went on with my life, neglecting fanfiction I had started to write and re-reading smut 70’s erotica about tortured vampires.

It wasn’t until last year that I thought I’d try again. And I caught the bug. It was liberating to have a place to post my rants, my thoughts and my opinions. It was a safe space I created for myself to talk about what I wanted. Whether it was to profess my love of Nick Jonas as Marius Pontmercy, or to discuss the problematic views of Glee, it was nice to have that place I could talk about those sorts of things.

I never expected to take off the way I did. Not just the blog itself, but the passion I felt towards it. I ended up becoming the official blogger for Spectral Visions, writing and editing the content submitted to the blog I admined for the University of Sunderland. I started pursuing a paying job in the field. It’s nice to have that hobby and distraction from my studies.

The support I’ve had has been phenomenal, and this is what I truly want to celebrate.

To every person who has ever read one of my posts.

To every person who has ever commented on something I’ve said.

To every person who has shared a post or page they thought others might like.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

A lot of the content of the blog is inspired by people I know. My family inspire a lot of what I do, particularly my siblings who you met in my post about selfies. I’ve made posts about talks I’ve been to, like Dr Gavin Weston’s and Dr Jamie Lawson’s talks on comics and Dr Clarissa Smith’s look at the readers of the 50 Shades trilogy. Actually, I’d like to give a special shout-out to Dr Weston and Dr Lawson, who were not only spectacular sports about my covert blogging, but were very nice about me calling them handsome. I did not expect them to follow me on Twitter. I’ve also interviewed some wonderfully interesting people, like author Darren Shan, Professor William Hughes and Dr Alison Younger. All of them inspired me in some way, and having the chance to ask them questions was a brilliant experience for me. I hope they inspired you too.

A special thank you goes to Skott Mason. Skott visits my blog so much that Google has decided that he should get updates even when he doesn’t want them. Thank you, Skott. I need Google to take more note of me.

And a big thank you to Kelly Jenkins, who shares and reads pretty much anything I do. It is all greatly appreciated.

All of my friends who have ever turned to me and said “That needs to go on the blog”… you were usually right. Keep reminding me to blog. I need that alert.

I really do appreciate everyone’s support. And I hope you’ll continue to support me in the future, because I know I could not do this without you.

And so, dear readers, we reach the end of another post.

Let me ask you this: have you had a favourite post? Is there anything you want more of? And what is it about blogging that you like so much.

Let me know your thoughts.