The story of my blog

Hey reader! I am Anupriya, and this is the story of my blog.

*This is a long post and it took me a great deal of time and effort to write it and post it. So, anyone who reads it till the end, Thank you ❤

It must seem pretty clear to you that all the posts, pages, and other content of my blog is deleted. Before I get all emotional and say why I did this, I’d like to talk about the story of my blog!

MY FIRST CRAFT BLOG –

It all started in 2016 when my elder brother gave me the idea of creating a blog. After hours of research and taking continuous help from my brother, I finally created a blog at Blogger.com.

Back then, I couldn’t think of posting about dance although I wanted to because I was still learning and super doubtful about my skills. I did think of making a YouTube channel but that was not really possible since I was 12 and a really dumb one too. So I made a blog.

I  instantly named my blog, “Craft with Anu” because crafting was my other hobby at that point of time (It isn’t anymore though  because I simply don’t get any time to pursue it!). I worked a lot on that blog! HONESTLY, A LOT!

I would create new things and click pictures as I made them, just like I had seen on other sites. YouTube was also a great inspiration for me. I would post tons of different craft ideas and get BARELY ANY VIEWS! After Months of failure and no likes or views, I deleted the  blog. (a classic 12 year-old’s  move )

CLASSICAL DANCE WITH ME, ANU –

After a few months, I created another blog, this time without the help of my brother. I thought and re-thought before I created a blog this time and concluded that this blog should be about “Dance”.

I was pretty serious about this blog and was kind of confident that my blog would flourish. Because, as of then, I had never come across a website solely about “Dance” especially “Kathak”. It started out well. I named my blog, “Classical dance with Me, Anu” and told everyone about it (basically my 5 school friends and close family). My Blog URL, I guess, was – dancewithmeanu.blogspot.com

I joined a lovely community called, IndiBlogger and met a number of fellow bloggers there and gained some followers. Their blogs and the views and likes on their posts would leave me astound. I was so motivated by them that I made it clear to myself that I must work harder and get a couple of followers too! As a matter of surprise, I did! 1 comment in 3 months, would make me feel like I was on the top of the world.

MEETING WORDPRESS –

After a few months of struggle at blogger, I came across “WordPress”. I decided to move my blog to this platform because I read that WordPress brings in more readers and has many in-built features as compared to blogger. After a lot of struggle, importing and exporting, I moved to WordPress, with huge expectations and endeavors. I started feeling  desperate for more readers, popularity and views and likes.

I posted very, very frequently so that I could make my readers like my blog at WordPress and there was an average amount of support that I got from them. When I think about it now. I feel that maybe I shouldn’t have shared so much about myself.

After a couple of months, I made some progress. I gained 30 followers or so and in no time I had completed a year. I used to post about little things and tried numerous ways to bring in more followers.

Somewhere in between those adrenaline rushes on seeing new comments and likes and followers, I pretty much forgot why I created this blog in the first place.

A few of my posts, like the ones related to Kathak got many views and I felt somewhat satisfied but now I was running out of topics to “write” on because I feel like dance cannot be written and I was trying too hard to do exactly that.

CUSTOMIZING MY BLOG –

I decided to customize my blog. I tried different themes and styles. I tried various things to attract more readers. EVERYTHING IN VAIN!

Below is a list of Blog Titles that I tried over a period of two years!

• Classical Dance with Me Anu
• Dance With Me, Anu
• Dance With Anu
• Dance Craze With Anu
• Live With Anupriya
• Anupriya Indites (This one is the only one with which I was truly happy)

I changed my blog URL a couple of times too! Now, I suppose you can get an idea of how stupid I was and am.

Till “Dance craze with Anu” my blog was still all about Dance but soon I realized that Dance was not something easy to write about. I concluded that YouTube is a better platform for dance and I deleted everything! EVERYTHING.

“Anupriya Indites” has been going well. But….

NEW IDEAS?

I knew exactly why I did this but I deleted all my posts about dance  and chose to start “Writing”.

It is true, 100% true, that I loved writing from the very beginning! I used to write a journal, short stories and little poems when I was very very young and I still randomly scribble in my diary and cook up poems.

So, I thought maybe I should write about my musings.

I created a beautiful “About” page where I spilled out about my feelings and how much blogging has affected me. I wrote everything I felt about words and poems and novels and books and blogs. I posted many poems and quotes which represented what I thought. I gained much, much more attention after this change but was I satisfied? NO!

I guess, I am just too selfish!

Almost 2 years, it has been, since I started this wonderful journey!

And only, only the first six months were how I had hoped this entire journey would be like!

I was writing what I wanted to but not to relieve myself of my thoughts and turn them into Art.

I feel pity for myself! I feel guilty and I feel like a loser that I gave up so soon! But Dear Reader, You must not! (haha, classic influencer move!)

I chose not to delete this blog because I WILL BE BACK soon and this time, without greed and the endeavors of being famous. I should have realized this long back but I could not!

Dear reader, I am glad you are still reading this post! I never thought I’d share so much.

I am not a lady, I am not a smart, thoughtful woman. Not yet! I am young and stupid. But I’M GROWING.

I have no idea how many of you are understanding me at this point. You might think I am an over-smart teenager who should be concentrating more on her studies than spending time here for that’s what everyone seems to think!

But everyone’s different and this is ME! A 15 year old, who loves writing and dancing and reading and laughing and crying. I will be different a year from today. I will keep changing but this is me now.

I am a dumbo who doesn’t know what to share and what not.

I wanted to blog, I did.

I wanted to share my thoughts, I did.

I wanted to share about dance, Well, I did that too! But I guess I cannot, anymore.

We can never REALLY know each other, Dear Reader! You can never know me completely and neither can I ever know you. But blogging and writing brought me close to hundreds of people and I want to thank you guys. All the amazing bloggers who were with me since the beginning of time! Thank you for helping me create this little family!

I deleted everything because I think When I start again, I’ll start fresh and this time I’ll write without worrying about who is seeing my post and who is not. Being famous is not important but I realized this much later than I should’ve and I feel like I need a break.

I haven’t permanently deleted my posts or pages. Who knows, I’ll re- create and re- love myself again someday! ❤ I have changed and learnt a lot. All I need is a break from this.

So, here it ends, my beautiful journey of blogging and writing and dancing (No, I’ll continue dancing :D). And creating a beautiful family!

*6TH AUGUST 2016 TO 9TH JULY 2018 

I’ll be back 😉 Love you guys ❤

P.S. – I wrote this when I was ….15? Gosh I don’t even remember what 15 was like. So much has changed, including me. Well, thanks for reading this anyway! I hope you’re doing well and taking care of yourself and the people around you, staying indoors and taking all necessary precautions to stay safe from Covid. Byeee!