Fifteen Year Blogiversary for Whispering Gums, with a Giveaway

/ whisperinggums

At the auspicious time of 1.18pm on 2 May 2009, Whispering Gums was born. I knew nothing about scheduling then because if I had I might have thought to published it at a more precise time. Anyhow, the point is that today, my blog turns 15. I found it hard enough to believe when the Gums turned 10, but somehow, in the flash of a few more books and a few more posts, here we are at 15.

Snow Gum, Dead Horse Gap walk, Kosciuszko National Park

It hasn’t been an easy five years though, personally. All looked hunky-dory in May 2019, but then COVID hit and my mother died in 2020, followed by my father in 2021. Then there was last year’s exhausting downsizing exercise. But, there have been great personal moments during that time, too, including the birth of a second grandchild, and a new partner joining our family circle. Things are now feeling a bit more settled – on the personal front anyhow. And so, as the Sentimental Bloke said, life mooches on.

15 years of blogging

I have written 2,350 posts, or, just over 13 a month, which is not prolific but it keeps me busy. Of these, 691 have been Monday Musings’ posts, which I started in August 2010 as an experiment. Now, although they can be a lot of work, they are among my favourite posts to research and write.

So, that’s the writing aspect of the blog, but what about you lot! I’ve had over 1.2 million views, and nearly 47,000 comments. The comments are the real gold, because they are where we readers and bloggers come together. Our conversations mean a lot to me. You make me think harder; you make me feel useful; and sometimes, you make me laugh. In Marie-Kondo speak you give me joy – and I will keep you all a bit longer if I can!

(For those who joined me later in the piece, here is a link to my first post which explains my name.)

To mark this anniversary

As I did for my tenth anniversary, I would like to express my gratitude to all of you who have made this blogging journey such a fun and meaningful one through a book giveaway, in fact, two book giveaways – one to an Australian-based reader and another to a non-Australian-based one. The book I send to each winner will be a surprise, making this a readers’ lucky dip.

The rules. Express your interest in the comments below, noting whether your postal address is Australian or not, by midnight on May 9 (AEST) and on May 10, I’ll draw from each list using a random number generator. If you win, you will need to provide me with your mailing address (privately) as specified in the post announcing the winner. If you don’t, I’ll redraw. We can’t let a book gift go to waste, after all.

Meanwhile, once again, a big thanks to you all. You make this blog what it is – well, the good things about it, anyhow. The rest, as they say, is mine!

 

108 thoughts on “Fifteen Year Blogiversary for Whispering Gums, with a Giveaway”

  1. What an achievement! And what an important contribution you have made to the literary landscape. Sending the heartiest of congratulations. Here’s to the next 15!

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  2. Been absent a short while, ST, the reason being the one you’d expect. Care home finally achieved, I’m almost at the point of being, as Dickens so cogently said, restored to life. The only other remark to make is …

    I’LL BE BACK !

    (No prizes for identifying that quote, OK ?!)

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      • Now, ST: because I completely overlooked the significance and importance of your actual post and forgot to say what an amazing poisson you are … well, that doesn’t mean I want to be standoffish !

        Please will you enter me into your book draw ?

        XO

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        • I sure will … and if you win I’ll find the biggest, heaviest, longest book I can!! Not, but I will have to put my thinking cap on, won’t I!

  6. As George Harrison wrote,

    “You were the one who imagined it all,

    All those years ago.”

    Thanks so much for being here, Sue, and for being yourself all the while. Congratulations on this tremendous milestone, too.

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    • Hmmm, my response to this seems to have gone into the ether, Glen. That sometimes happens when I reply on my phone. I think I said that I have no idea what I imagined 15 years ago, but I don’t think I’d quite have imagined the joy I’ve had from the conversations we’ve had here.

      DO you want to go into the giveaway draw?

      Reply

  7. Congratulations, Sue! It’s an amazing achievement to maintain such a high-quality blog through all the ups and downs of life and to do it so passionately and with such kindness and grace. Looking forward to the next 15 and beyond…

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  9. Hearty congratulations to you WG. As I’ve just landed on Aussie soil for a long(ish) stint, please include me as an Australian address. Here’s to many more years of successful blogging!

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  12. Hi Sue, it is us who owe you a big thanks. Your blogs have been informative and interesting. Some very good books you have introduced to me. So, congratulations to you and your wonderful work.

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    • Thanks Meg … and I love that you have been here supporting me from the start. Shall I add you to the Aussie list – though thinking of a book for you will be tricky given how much you get through!

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  13. Ah, now you should have picked New Year’s Day 2009 like I did! Actually, scrap that, terrible idea (always gets forgotten among the festivities…). Anyway, happy blogiversary from Melbourne 🙂

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  15. Congratulations, Sue. Fifteen years of steady posting is quite something. I’ll be in it for the book.

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  16. Congratulations Sue. It has been a pleasure to follow you, to talk books with you and to have you agree and, above all, to occasionally disagree, with me.

    And thank you, I’d be happy to go in the draw.

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  17. Happy Blogiversary!

    You’ve sent me a book recently enough that I think I don’t need to go on your list for the giveaway, thanks.

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  18. Happy Blogiversary! Thank you for all the years of making your corner of the internet such a lovely place! No need to put me down for the giveaway 🙂

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  20. Congrats on 15 years and thank you for the giveaway. I’d love to enter, and I am in the UK 🙂

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  21. Congratulations, what an achievement! And 13 posts per month is great, I’ve only managed 3 per month in my 5 years of blogging. Hope you will continue blogging in the years to come (I’ll pass on the giveaway).

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    • Thanks Stargazer … my average per month has dropped from 13.5 to 13 per month over the last five years (would have dropped more without Bill’s help over a tough year) due to all the things that have happened but my aim has been 3 per week. I am starting to get back to that.

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  22. Heartfelt congratulations from up over, Sue! 🙂

    What agreat achievement and I admire your stamina with the Monday Musings posts.

    Thanks for the discussions about Australian literature and Australian things in general. Between you, Lisa and Bill, I learn a great deal.

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  23. Congratulations, Sue! This is a remarkable achievement, especially considering the challenges you’ve had to handle over the past five years. I’m glad to hear things are more settled for you now. Here’s to the next 15!

    (My TBR is out of control at the mo, so no need to put me in the draw for the giveaway, but it’s a lovely idea!)

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  24. Congratulations Sue, a wonderful achievement.
    When I started blogging I didn’t really know where it would lead me but the little community I have found – of which you are a part – brings such pleasure.

    (No need to add me to the draw – my TBR stack is groaning!)

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    • Thanks Kate … and I understand. I’m very glad to have met you via blogging too. Including your posts about your week. They are a delight. And your end of year lists, your Stella predictions, and of course Six Degrees.

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  25. I love how you critiqued the time at which your blog went live. All the things we did not know when we first started blogging, eh? I started with a weebly site and eventually switched over to WordPress. I’m glad I did, as WP does some of the backend work to connect bloggers, whereas getting readers to my weebly site was more about sharing links on social media.

    I started Grab the Lapels in a fit of anger in 2013, so I’m hoping WG was born more peacefully!

    I’d be honored to be included in your non-Australia drawing. ❤️

    Reply

    • Oh it was, Melanie, though I did put it off for quite a while because I knew it would capture me and my time! It has, but it has been so worth it. I met you and so many others who have enriched my world. You might be surprised at how often I invoke my young American friend! You take me out of my bubble.

      I’m thrilled to add you to the OS giveaway list.

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      • Do you ever find yourself stumbling to explain how you have a friend who lives thousands of miles away whom you’ve never met? I catch myself saying things like “my friend Bill, who drives a truck and lives in Australia, but we’ve never met” and just feeling crazy.

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        • Ha ha Melanie, I do this all the time too. I often preface these comments now with my ‘blogging friend from…’ but it still illicits some strange looks.

        • Brona, that’s so funny. Perhaps the more we all do it, the more normal it will be. I noticed when I look at my stats that people all over the world visit my blog, though some of them may be bots, who knows, but I have my fingers crossed it means the world is opening up a bit.

        • Yes … I do. I feel less crazy now as my friends here are used to it but when I first got involved in internet Bookgroups I felt people thought I was mad because I would sound so engaged with them – and I was and am!

  26. WOW! Congratulations on your anniversary. I hope you’ll still be around and blogging for at least another 15 more years! Now, I don’t live in Australia, in fact I’m on the other side of the globe, so I’m not sure I can enter your contest, since shipping to me would be VERY expensive.

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  27. I always wondered where Whispering Gum came from, now I now.

    Congrats on 15 years. Though not a great contributor to the conversations I can promise I read, learn and enjoy every post.

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    • Thanks fourtriplezed! You comment enough that I know you are around – and that’s always nice to know.

      Would you like to go into the draw? (And if so what neck of the woods are you from. Do I know?)

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        • Excellet, Brissy bloke … you are in the list … I am a Queenslander by birth but was dragged out of there kicking and screaming when I was 14. (Six of those years were in Sandgate, Brisbane.)

        • Moorooka at the moment. Rocklea and Salisbury as a kid and came back to the area 12 years back with no regrets. I do have fond memories of watching a mate of mine play for the Sandgate Hawks back in the day. Good area by the bay.

        • I don’t know the south well, except the route from Sandgate to Coorparoo where my grandparents lived. They later retired to Woody Point but that was after we moved to Mt Isa. Sandgate never felt city or suburban to me, in a way. It felt like a country town. Not sure why. I was just a kid I guess.

  30. Congratulations Sue on reaching such a magnificent milestone!

    I started blogging in 2009 but had no idea what I was doing! I found the Classics Club community in its early days and learnt a lot from them as I went along. I felt like the lone Australian for ages, until I found Louise @A Strong Belief in Wicker. Thanks to comments on her blog, I gradually found the rest of you. I thoroughly enjoy the rigorous, robust discussions that emerge from your posts and comments, even if I don’t always have the time to keep up or contribute.

    After seeing that Bermuda Onion’s blog was no longer active recently, I’ve been thinking about all the other bloggers from those early, heady days who are no longer blogging as well. Wondering what it is that keeps the rest of us going. I suspect for me it is because, as Lisa said about my working life, I’m a ‘stayer’.

    Thank you for all your support and bookish friendship over the years; it has meant so much to me. And here’s to another 15!

    PS I would love to enter your draw, purely for the pleasure of seeing which book you might pick for me if I won 🙂

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    • Ah yes Louise … I met her through internet Bookgroups before blogging. We met in person a couple of times but I don’t think she’s as active now though I see her on GoodReads sometimes.

      I couldn’t remember how and when I came across you, or vice versa, but I remember it was a long time ago now. And yes, I’m a stayed too, when sometimes I possibly shouldn’t be!

      You are in the list … I love your reason. For some people I have clear ideas while for others I’m still thinking. I think I have one for you should your number come up!

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  31. Congratulations Sue! 15 years and a prolific number of posts. I love Monday Musings and appreciate the work you put into research and writing. I am keen to be in the draw – a surprise book is a delightful idea – and have an Australian address.

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  33. Congratulations on your Blogiversary and long may you sail! I really count on my blogs to keep me connected to the world and your posts are always interesting, even if I don’t always feel clever or knowledgeable enough to comment. I’d love to enter your prize draw as a non-Australian, if it’s still open, and thank you for all the years of posts!

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  34. Huge congratulations Sue, what a milestone and so many connections with so many people!! It’ll be my 10 year anniversary of Tinted Edges next year, I can’t believe how time has flown either! I’d love to be in the book draw, but even if I don’t win, let’s pretend I did and catch up for coffee anyway

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  35. Congrats on your Fifteenth: well done! I’m happy to see how much interest has been generated by your giveaways and look forward to hearing how the selection process turns out. Thanks for all the great conversations and explorations: here’s to another fifteen, or more. 🙂

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    • Thanks Marcie… I hope the winners announce their “prize” when they receive them. I have to sent them first though! Thanks for being such a great part of the community for so long.

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