I have a blog. It’s been online for a few months now. My blog, Golly Molly Aiyoh is one of 342 million registered domain names, as at the third quarter of 2018[1].  I post once a week, on Mondays, and when I do, my post is amongst over 4 million blog posts that are published on the Internet every day[2].  A very, very small needle in a huge haystack!

Setting aside the fact that my blog is smaller than miniscule in the internet space, it took me a long while to set one up, and even longer to go online. I considered, pondered and deferred until recently. In all honesty, I wasn’t sure about sharing my personal thoughts, views and experiences on a public sphere.  I still don’t. And I didn’t know if people would even care or want to read them. I still don’t.

Starting out, the one thing I knew more or less was, what I was going to write, and who might find my stories relatable. My plan was and remains quite simple. I write about what interests me. I have paid my dues by writing and skewing stories to please clients and editors all my life.  It is now my time and my choice. I highlight issues or happenings that make me feel happy for no reason at all or make me feel surprisingly glad to be part of the human race or when I feel disgruntled with what’s happening around me or nostalgic about how things used to be back in the day.

I did not contemplate giving advice, information or the top ten tips of any kind. I also did not think about including how-to’s that readers might want as takeaways.  Although that was precisely the overarching messages that blogs I visited proffered. They encouraged and generously shared with readers DIY-skewed topics, motivational tips and e-marketing processes. To be fair, as part of my research, I was seeking answers and direction from blogs such as these. Isn’t that what we use the internet for? Information. Somehow, I missed this pertinent point.

I had many favourites that I revisited many times. They were https://makeawebsitehub.com, https://www.blogtyrant.com, https://howtomakemyblog.com and https://www.dearblogger.org. They absolutely delivered.  The advice and instructions varied in terms of style and focus, but they were very useful with top tips and takeaways for a wannabe blogger like me. I learnt a lot. I learnt that I was going about this blogging thing all wrong. I was a little confused and a lot conflicted. Should I stick to my plan, albeit flawed or should I do as the experts do? 

I chose flawed. I do not own a Facebook account (2.2 billion monthly active users as at Q3 2018[3]) or a YouTube account (1.8 billion logged-in monthly users[4]).  I have a Twitter account that I tweet once a week (over 500 million tweets are sent every day[5]), and an Instagram account that I don’t use (1 billion monthly active users as at June 2018[6]). My fear has always been that once any information goes online, there is no turning back. That, of course, is absolutely true! Once it’s out there for all and sundry, there is no way of controlling, deleting or recovering information.  Being a type A ‘need for control’ personality, and not a public or sociable person with a blog seems to me a little oxymoronic, a contradiction in terms.  

Why bother then? I guess I just want a platform to write, to put thoughts into words, pen to paper or posts to blog. That sort of thing.  I don’t expect to deliver masterpieces or life changing revelations that will make everything better in the world and for human kind. My blog is a little moan, a lament, and reasonable hopes for better things. It is not intended to seek an audience, but if what I have written and continue to write resonates with people, then that would be great.

Why GollyMollyAiyoh.com? Because it rhymes with jolly and its sounds fun when I say it aloud, and Aiyoh is a lament, a moan –  very much how I feel, like some of my fellow Malaysians, when we encounter people and situations, some days.

At first, I didn’t have a clue what to expect but after these last few months, I am a little less clueless. Worst case scenario, no one, outside my family, will know about my blog or will read my posts.  With the stats pretty much stacked against anyone finding my blog or reading any of my  posts, and without any real effort on my part to increase Golly Molly Aiyoh’s online visibility, my minuscule needle may very likely be lost in the massive internet haystack. And then again, maybe not.  Ah well… no matter. I aim to enjoy the experience.