10 years of blogging!! The Celebrations have begun!! :)

Ten years. A decade. A long long time. It was on his day in 2006, that I wrote my first blog post. 

 A hesitant step. Born from extreme pain.  I had no idea what I was getting into then. I was writing mostly for myself.  I was devastated. I had no one to turn to. The  anguish from losing my dad engulfed me day in and day out.  It felt like a noose around my neck. There was anger that he was taken away so quickly, resentment, shock. But mostly grief.

Mind numbing grief. I never knew there could be so much pain.

There was no escaping from the fact that life, as I knew it was over. My days were dark.

I remember I happened to be reading  The Economic Times that morning, and there was a small article buried somewhere in the last pages which talked about a new trend called blogging. I had no idea what a blog even meant till then. (This was a decade back—remember? ) I decided to go online and see for myself.  And then I decided to start one anonymously. That first post I wrote is full of typos and errors which I have left untouched till date, as it reflects my state of mind at that time.

My blog was my constant companion throughout my dark days. I met so many people because of my blog.

You can read my 500^th post  HERE.

My blog grew as I grew. I made friends with people from many parts of the world, and later I met them in real life too.

My blog really catapulted me into a different realm, and my life changed in way I never even thought possible even in my wildest dreams.

Imagine going from an anonymous unknown somebody to where I am today. (An author of 8 books that too all bestsellers) . One of the big moments for me was being invited to be a keynote speaker along with Bruce Dickinson ( yes yes, The Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden)

I spoke to him in the green room and he wanted a copy of my book, which he made sure that I signed. Here is a picture:

I was also the keynote speaker and a guest of honour along with Shruti Hassan at an event organised by Madras Management association.  Here is a pic from my Instagram:

Had a wonderful time last evening. Shekhar Gupta was in conversation with HRD minister Prakash Javadekar and he had invited me personally. Felt good to interact with so many amazing people! In the photo with me (clockwise): priya ramani, nandan nilekani, vickramm sampath and Shekhar Gupta holding a copy of #ItsAllInThePlanets Feel blessed.

A photo posted by Preeti Shenoy (@preeti.shenoy) on Oct 8, 2016 at 4:02am PDT

Have met and interacted with people like, Prahalad Kakkar, Nandan Nilekani, Shekhar Gupta, Priya Ramani, Vikram Sampath, Amy Chua, Kiran Nagarkar etc. So many writers, editors and publishers are my good friends now.

I have spoken at Ted x events, spoken at IITs, IIMs, and many corporates like Accenture, KPMG, Infosys etc. Have been invited and been a panelist at so many many literary festivals too.

I have also now lost count of the number of times I have been featured in Cosmopolitan, The Hindu, The India Express, Times of India, Femina and many may more publications.  In 2008, When my first media mentions came out, I was super excited. You can read the post HERE.

More than anything, the amount of personal connections that I have been able to make because of my blog (and subsequently my books) is something I feel so good  and grateful about.

One of the most treasured moments was when I got a  beautiful beautiful gift from Brazil.  You can read the post by going here.

Over the years, I have been asked why I don’t monetise my blog ( I refuse to even put google ad sense) . Lots of corporates have offered me lakhs of rupees for a mention of their products on my blog. I have turned each one down.

A blog is where I express myself . It is my own space.

At the moment, I am doing  an international course on  Illustrated journaling, and as a part of my coursework, I had to make a little book, about myself.
 

What better occasion than this to share it with you? Here it is!

You can see the pages better here:

To me, my blog is the most authentic part of me, that I share with genuine readers. It is my go-to place when I need comforting. It is my blessing. It is my sacred spot.

And I thank you for being with me on my journey so far.  

(The celebrations continue over the next one week. There will be a new post every day. So see you tomorrow! and don't forget to leave me a comment here, for a chance to win this BEAUTIFUL mug that my team designed.)