Usually we’re not supposed to toot our own horns but I’m going to start this post by saying that I am really proud of myself. Next week marks the first birthday of GeorgieNink.com!

I’ve been writing here almost every Sunday for a year – about my current work, my past work, my marriage, my family, my struggle with burnout, anxiety, my wedding, life overseas, life in the US (my only listicle!), traveling, and more.

I have a full time job and write in the margins of time. But my essays kept telling me they were desperate to get out of the “Documents > Writing” folder on my laptop, in which they had been hidden for some years, to see the light of day.

So despite my scarcity of time and abundance of fear, I launched this site last June and have grown to love it so much. I love that I can come here and be myself – loopy, cranky, hopeful, tired, or joyful.

As a writer, I can’t go by numbers of comments or views, or positive or negative feedback, as my main metrics of success. These go up and down all the time and don’t seem to follow a logical pattern.

I do care about the numbers (and I’ll share them with you in a minute!), but my two main metrics of success for myself are being consistent and believing in what I write here.

Publishing almost weekly for a year was a big accomplishment for me. I tried to always have my post queued up well in advance, but there were plenty of times I was scrambling on Sunday afternoon.

Sometimes I posted essays I’d written years ago; other times I had an idea for a story, wrote it and posted it all in the same day.

This past year, my husband has heard me say both “Why did I ever decide to do my website? Whyyyyy?” (while flopping on the couch), and “I am so glad I’m doing this! Look at what so-and-so texted me about my post on Sunday, that’s so nice!” (while excitedly showing him my phone).

Regardless of the swings in enthusiasm and external metrics, I kept it up. On consistency, I wrote recently,

It’s like I said to my writing, “I believe in you, and I want to try to be brave and put you out there on the huge scary internet.”

In order for that to work, I have to be consistent about it.

If I’d said to my writing, “I’ll put you out there when I get around to it / when work is less busy / when I feel you are perfect / when I get over my own insecurities about you / when I have a book deal,” then I would never do it.

I’m proud that, over the last months, I’ve published my writing despite that work was busy, I did not feel it was perfect, I had insecurities about it, I didn’t have a book deal. That’s the point. I did it anyway.

My other metric for success (my own definition of success) is: I have to believe in what I share here. It’s important to me that I can say about every single post, “Yep, I believe in that. That’s me. I’m telling the truth there.”

But the numbers are also fun to look back on, and here they are: I’ve published 44 posts this past year, totaling 48,900 words, which Google tells me is more than half the length of the average novel!

I’ve had 1,110 visitors to my site (and around 2,600 views), and I don’t know how many of them were robots. My “most popular hour” is Sundays at 9:00pm (Boston time!).

My most read piece this year was You’ve Had This Great Love All Along, in which I wrote about why I felt like a very lucky queen on my wedding day.

My most read piece last year was Rough God Goes Riding (Part 1), in which I honestly examined my motives for working in a refugee camp.

To finish this little recap, I’ll share some of my favorite stories from GeorgieNink.com’s first year. I’d be so honored if you shared one of these – or any of my stories you enjoyed – with a friend who you think would enjoy it too. That would help me grow this little community!

1. For your friend who needs a quick and humorous read, nothing too heavy:

Why I Moved Halfway Across The Globe At 22

“Besides Arabic I had no qualifications for this job. I did not know much about the camp when I started. I knew nothing about how the humanitarian system worked. I had never worked with refugees. I was ill-prepared for the onslaught of case work I would take on.”

2. For your friend who loves to travel:

My Ongoing, One-Sided Battle With the Atlantic Ocean

“One of the central puzzles of my life is that my husband and I have two different passports and our lives will always involve flying across the Atlantic and I really feel like settling down in a Midwestern suburb, buying a house, having children and a small vegetable garden, making homemade pesto every weekend, and never getting on a plane again.”

3. For your friend who feels everything:

The Day Rafat Left for Canada

“And the unspoken words rain down on our salads and pastas and sandwiches: Manar and I don’t know when [Rafat] will see his family again, and he doesn’t know either…

I’m really excited to see where the next year will take us.

Next week I’ll write to you about what’s next for GeorgieNink.com.

Thank you for being here. I couldn’t have done this without you coming along for the ride. I really appreciate you!