One Year Later

One year gone.  One year older.

When I was thinking about what to write to commemorate the one year anniversary of Alternate History Weekly Update, I decided to go back to the first post published on this blog.  Go ahead, take a look and come back.  I will wait for you.

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Wow have things changed.  I learned to not be afraid of pictures, to underline and to the drop the bullets in the Links section.  Just look at last Monday's Weekly Update if you want to see more differences.  I don't even remember the last time I wrote about "Important Events in Alternate History".  Do you think I should bring that back?

So much has changed since then.  I only planned to post once a week, now I am posting 5-10 times a week.  I wanted to improve my writing, now I am going to be a published author (more on that later this week).  A blog that began with just one author, now fields a team of contributors and regularly posts interviews with creators in the genre.  I had to buy the books I reviewed, now some are sent to me without even asking.  The blog paid me nothing when I started, now I hope to use the funds raised to start a podcast.

Sure I had my setbacks.  My plans to have full-time contributors never panned out.  Articles that I worked hard on were barely viewed.  Polls and contests went unanswered.  A few people turned down my request for an interview.  I even once got into a bad argument with my wife over spending too much time on the blog.

Nevertheless, my successes and failures together were the sum of an experience that I do not regret.  I enjoy reading new books and talking to interesting people.  Plus I have not yet loss my drive to try new things, like seeing the Sidewise Awards be presented at Chicon 7 or unveiling the new banner to the blog (more on that later as well).

A lot can happen in one year.  June 19, 2013...here I come.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a volunteer editor for the Alt Hist magazine and a contributor to Just Below the Law. One of his short stories will be published in the upcoming Echelon Press anthology, Once Upon a Clockwork Tale (2013). When not writing he works as an attorney in the state of Illinois and enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana.