It's Been One Long Year: Quill of Hope's First Blogiversary

Can you believe it?

My blog's been existent for ONE year.

Quill of Hope formed from an idea surfacing from the abyss of ideas. It formed from a desire to share my writing and random thoughts with the world.

Honestly, though it's been merely a year, this blog has grown so much since then.

In this blog post, I'll be celebrating one whole year of blogging with fun things, including struggles, my design timeline, highlights from the past year, acknowledgments, and a fun challenge that YOU can make even more challenging for me!

Sounds fun? 😂Let's jump in!

- Struggles -

Instead of starting with my stats, I'm going to start with the struggles. Because the struggles are what shapes our journeys.

*folds hands* So. Let's start with some struggles, shall we?

Keeping up with a blog is difficult. Being consistent, knowing your niche, etc. takes time and effort. For me, personally, I struggle with knowing what to write. It should be a simple thing—but I tend to overthink things. A lot.

Back when my blog started, I wrote about pretty much anything. Rambles, thoughts on my mind, or other unnecessary stuff.

But when I put out a survey on how I was doing overall, I found an entry from a reader. She explained, in the nicest way possible, that she wanted to learn something from reading blog posts. Not just my ramblings.

For me, that was a wake-up call. Even though my writing didn't change, my focus shifted. I wanted to write for my readers. I wanted to serve them with my writing. I wanted my words to stand out in a world of meaningless chatter. I wanted my words to MATTER.

But with that new mindset came new challenges. It was hard getting out of the cycle of just using Quill of Hope as a place to share my random thoughts. Sometimes, when I didn't have any clue what I was going to write, I felt like giving up. Sometimes, I didn't write at all.

So I started focusing on my niche—Christian living for teens (and adults) and clean Christian YA reads.

Eventually, I realized that writing what you're passionate about really helps. And so I did.

That's not to say that I don't write a blog tag post once in a while. That's not to say that I don't write anything in first person.

But I learned that as bloggers and readers and followers of Christ, we must all be pursuing our purposes with our words. That purpose can look different for different people and different blogs.

- Design Timeline -

A word to the wise: graphic design and perfectionism do not go hand-in-hand. When I first started my blog, I wanted it to reflect a style of design I've always loved—vintage. I wanted my blog to be old-timey with lavenders and golds.

So here's how it looked when I first started out:

I soon felt like the header could be more elegant, and I loved the idea of having plants or flowers somehow rolled in to add a vintage feel to it. So I changed my header.

And nope, that wasn't enough. I had to change it. . . again. All this happened within the course of a few weeks or so. Are you starting to see my perfectionist tendencies yet?

Around that time, I also decided to shift my name from my previous writing name to the one I use now, E. C. Colton. *will not say what I was using before*

Apparently, my younger self loved this new header, because I stuck with it for a while.

That is, until I decided I hated my header and designed a new one. Looking back, this was probably the least favorite of all my blog headers. The color splotches were cool, but I just don't like the modern feel it conveyed.

In October of 2020, I decided I hated my blog color scheme, so I changed it to one of my other many favorite color schemes—mint green and gold.

I was trying to figure out a way to capture the "quill" theme without it looking weird. The theme I was more going for this time was a natural sage-green garden vibe. But I still clung to my love of watercolors, hence the new (and less off-putting) logo.

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Looking back, I really loved this logo, and stuck with that for a while. That is, until I got *bored* of it, and the home page became...

...My official writer signature. I slaved away all night trying to figure out how to get that galaxy behind the font, but I was quite proud of myself when I finished.

Then, on February 11, 2021, everything changed.

I read this post and decided I wanted to completely revamp my blog. I wanted it to reflect me and my style of writing more than anything else. I wanted it to be a mix of classy modern, natural shades, and a touch of vintage.

Sounds impossible, doesn't it?

I kind of dwelt on it for a few days, mulling over my thoughts and trying to figure out a suitable color scheme that would roll in everything I wanted.

So I came up with something else—a board with all my ideas, and a sample blog post graphic.

And honestly, I was pretty proud of my attempts. I felt like this overall color scheme conveyed specific colors that really tugged on my natural theme (fun fact: I got it from a picture of a wall and some towels XD), and captured my favorite colors and a vintage-style italic font.

Now for the hard part—putting this color scheme onto my blog.

After a whole day of tweaking, loading, and adjusting—I came up with this.

I tried. XD

Needless to say, I hated my blog during this time. It didn't reflect me. It didn't reflect my writing. And I felt bad sending people over to a poorly-designed site when it wasn't fully ready. But I wasn't quite sure how I could fix it.

During that time, I looked over other blogs and tried to see what they were doing on their home pages. And then, inspired, I decided to pull inspiration from a vintage living website.

And so that...

Became THIS.

I felt like this blog was just so much more. . . me (though I still cringe at that pic of myself I used 😂). It was—and is—natural and modern, with a hint of vintage.

And the rest is history. Well, almost. Because knowing me, I didn't stop tweaking my blog. I made a few changes to the overall font and pages, but I really, really loved this overall color scheme and feel. So I kept it.

It's really interesting to see how far everything has come. Not only did my blog design change during those times—but my blog content did, as well. I went from writing random things on my blog to focusing on my main topics—Christian living and clean reads.

- Stats -

• 135 subscribers.

• Written 54 blog posts.

• Changed my blog header design 12 times.

• The blog post that started it all: God Hasn't Forgotten You

• My personal favorite blog post: Never Let Go: A Short Story (I'd love to hear your personal favorite in the comments! 🙂)

• Topics covered on my blog over a span of one year: Reading, writing, Christian living, music, characters, authors, writing by hand, unpopular bookish opinions

- Favorite Blog Post Lines -

The blog posts in my first year will probably be the kind that I look back and laugh (and maybe cringe, too) over in the future. Here are some favorite quotes from 2020 blog posts!

This list would go even longer, but honestly, I’m getting tired of talking about myself and I’m pretty sure you are getting tired of hearing me talk about myself. — 2020 Wrap-Up

I have no idea how or even why I wrote this line, but it's hilarious nevertheless.

Was this what it felt to be victorious? To fight in this seemingly endless battle called indie publishing—and win? — Shards of Sky is Officially PUBLISHED

Ahh, such memories, even though this wasn't so long ago.

In the beginning, my dream goal for this blog was very different from what it is now. I feel like I’ve slipped into complacency—using this blog as a way to voice my thoughts, my ramblings, and my wanderings. And that’s not how I wanted it to be. I don’t want it to be focused on me. I really want to focus on serving you all, my readers, on honing my audience and what you want to hear. — Quill of Hope is Changing. . . Well, Sort Of

I actually couldn't believe I wrote this. But oh my goodness, it's so true. *smiles at my little, vulnerable self* Very heartfelt and sweet.

Change isn’t always fun. Sometimes it’s heartbreaking. Sometimes it’s just sad. Sometimes it’s a grueling, drawn-out process. — The Blessings in Change

I remember writing this when I was going through my own rough times. I wrote that whole blog post coming from a place where all my stories reside—a haven of hope.

You gear up—you grab your manuscript, prepare to hire a graphic designer, start writing up those launch team emails—and jump into the unknown of independent publishing. You soon find that there are so many mistakes that could be avoided. Potholes left and right, travelers who’ve fallen into ditches of mistakes they’ve made in the independent publishing land. — 6 Mistakes I Made When Indie Publishing

This still remains one of my most memorable opening lines.

Now, before I bore you to tears (which would be terribly unfortunate), that wraps up my favorite 2020 blog post lines!

Which one was your favorite? If you blog, what are some of your favorite blog post quotes?

- Acknowledgements -

While you just see my name behind every blog post, the level of support I've received is enough to take up a whole one on its own. So many people have contributed in many ways to this blog, whether it be yelling at me to keep working on it, giving me superb advice, or inspiring me with blogs of their own.

But I'm going to be honest here—some days, I didn't want to have a blog. The burden of consistency, along with publishing and everything else—was just overwhelming at times. But God had a plan, and His plan involved all these other amazing people. This blog wouldn't be here without them—or if it was, it would be very, very different.

First of all, I want to acknowledge my Creator. He could have given me a life so different from the one I'm living now—but He didn't. For countless hours and weeks and months, He's given me strength, love, and life to keep writing. To keep blogging. To keep fighting.

Secondly, I want to acknowledge my mom. She's an inspiration to me, and I'm so glad God placed her in my life. And of course, the rest of my family has helped bunches, not only in blogging but in life. That's more than enough for me.

I'd also like to thank my other fellow bloggers who are a constant inspiration to me as well with their amazing examples—Cynthia Lim, Liesl Brunner, Maya Joelle, Charis Rae, and Kellyn Roth. You all have inspired me in so many ways: Cynthia in putting forth purposeful content, Liesl in consistency, Maya and Charis in blog design and overall aesthetic, and Kell in being true to my writing voice. Definitely go check their blogs out—you won't regret it. 😉

And thank you to all the amazing young writers and readers who have supported and encouraged me along the way. I won't name names, but if you've ever left a comment on my blog or encouraged me in some way to keep working on Quill of Hope, your name is up here. THANK YOU SO MUCH. You are awesome, and don't let the world tell you otherwise.

- Short Story Challenge -

To celebrate one year of Quill of Hope, I'll be holding a short story challenge!

Here's how it works: In the comments, drop ONE random word. I will have to incorporate that word or that element somewhere into the story. Nothing too crazy, please.

On second thought—be as crazy as you like. 😂

Then, when I'm done, I'll post it on my blog! Hopefully, it won't be too terrible.

Can't wait to see your words! And here's to more adventures in the future! 🎉

P. S. Notice anything particularly interesting? I'll give virtual cookies to anyone who gets the subtle lyric reference in the title. 😉