I find it hard to believe, but next week is the fifth anniversary of my blog.  Over the past 369 posts (chapters?), I've gone from being a neophyte on Blogger to a WordPress pro with a site hosted on my own domain.  I've imported and exported, uploaded, commented and moderated and eventually added visuals after eschewing them at first because I felt this blog would be about writing alone and didn't need 'pictures'. As some of you know I used to feel the same about standup comedy and realize the importance of combining words and delivery in order to get your story across. 

When I started, I wanted this to be a blog about ideas – communications and social media ideas primarily – and that's what I still want. I also like having a publishing platform, a voice, and a repository for some of my other random thoughts.

Here's how I described what I hoped my blog would be in the first post:

• 1 post per week (to start) – I've pretty much kept to that; well, a bit higher with approximately 72 posts per year.
• 500 words or less – Because that seems like a manageable amount for me to write and you to read and I've always been a fan of brevity.
• Quirky and personal – You tell me.
• Focus on ideas and trends – Yep.
• A signature sign-off – What was I thinking? Fortunately, I had the good judgment to abandon that silly notion after the first couple of months. I was trying a bit too hard to be quirky. Looking at it now, it's just downright embarrassing – yes, my cheeks are flushing as I write this. Chalk it up to opening night jitters…please…

This year, as I go from toddler-blog to my primary-school years – I'm hoping to try a few new things including posting three times per week (not right away… I'll be working up to that). The plan is: Mondays, I'll write about ideas and what's new. Wednesdays, I'll feature a post from the archives and occasionally Inside PR posts (when I do the show notes).  And on Fridays, I'm going to try something a little different.  I'm still in the development stage, so stay tuned.

I'd like to give a big thank you to all the people who've helped guide me, taught me, kept me honest, gave me constructive feedback, shared differing points of view, and just generally found me along the way! I hope you'll stick around for more. And, if you have any ideas or topics you'd like me to write about, please let me know.

I started out thinking this would be my column and realized it's more of a columversation (at least I hope it is).

See you around!

About Martin Waxman

Martin Waxman, MCM, is a digital communications strategist. He conducts AI research, leads digital and social media training workshops and speaks at events across North America. He's co-founder of two PR agencies, president of a consultancy and has worked in the industry for nearly 30 years. Martin is a LinkedIn Learning instructor, teaches digital strategy and social media at McMaster University, the Schulich School of Business, University of Toronto SCS and Seneca College. He's a member of the Institute for Public Relations Digital Media Research Center and a past-chair of PRSA Counselors Academy. He has a Master of Communications Management (MCM) from McMaster-Syracuse Universities.

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