If you write it, they will come
Annnnnnnnnnd it's that time of year again, my little ducklings. Time to light the candles and bust out the party hats. The approach of New Year's Eve, you ask? Surely that's a good reason to party like it's 1999 2009. After the year I've had, I'm going to be mighty happy to start a new year and a new decade, but no, that's not the reason for the candles. The particular event I'm celebrating is... 
ED Bites Turns Three!!!!
I remember when I started my blog (you can read my phenomenal/awkward/boring first post here. I know, I know. Awwwww. If ED Bites ever got married--and at the rate I'm going, it will probably get married before I do--this would be the embarrassing baby photo that parents show at the reception.) and I really didn't know if I would stick with it. I had started a blog or two previously, but it kind of fell to the wayside as it consisted of public navel-gazing that was best suited for private audiences, and I soon returned to scribbling frantically in my journal. Of course, this blog has its fair share of navel-gazing as well, but I soon began to write for an audience bigger than myself. You know the saying "If you build it, they will come" from Field of Dreams? Well, if you write it, they will come.
I suppose I should thank my former co-worker who started the Big Fat Losers contest, because this blog became my sanity lifeline during the whole mess, and I think it was one of the things that first caused people to keep coming back, if for no other reason than to find out: is this girl's co-workers for real? Why yes. Yes they are.
My life has changed dramatically since then. I'm still a drudge most of the time, but at least I'm a drudge doing what I love. This blog has been crucial in my decision to become a writer, and has shown me time and time again that it's not really work when you're doing what you love. Because I'm a professional science writer and amateur geek, I soon found myself blogging about ED science-related topics. For one, there's a LOT of interesting research going on out there that we don't really hear about. For another, no one else was really doing any in-depth blogging about ED science. I have hardly any training in psychology, sociology, anthropology, women's studies, or any other field that helps contribute to our understanding of eating disorders. What I do know is the hard-core science stuff, the function of genes, the intricacies of neuroscience, the magic formally known as statistics. This I know.
Oddly, I feel most at home behind a computer, with a keyboard under my fingers. I (obviously) write a lot about eating disorders, but I also write a lot about microbiology, about biogeography, about evolutionary biology. Sometimes, my ramblings even get published. I enjoy these ramblings, looking at topics from a really bizarre angle and asking "why?" like a two-year-old.
I guess now I'll be asking "why?" like a three-year-old on this blog.
Thank you for all of your support over the years. I write this blog for me, yes, and for nameless people who may plug strange searches into Google that lead them to my blog, but I also write for you, my readers. You are as much a part of this blog as I am, and I couldn't do it without you.
See also:
(I didn't bake cupcakes to celebrate, I baked apple date oatmeal scones. I must go try one now!)
15 comments:
Happy Birthday, Ed Bites!
Congrats on ED Bites turning 3! I'm sure there will be many more!
Come to think of it, I actually think I missed my blogaversary again.
Apple date oatmeal scones...damnnn...sounds amazing!
HAPPY BLOGAVERSARY, Ed Bites...never ceases to give me some mental fodder
I'm glad I found ED Bites (in October 2009 - to be precise...).
You write: "I have hardly any training in psychology, sociology, anthropology, women's studies, or any other field that helps contribute to our understanding of eating disorders. What I do know is the hard-core science stuff, the function of genes, the intricacies of neuroscience, the magic formally known as statistics"...
As another science nerd I am probably biased..., but I honestly don't believe that EDs, and especially anorexia nervosa, have much in common with the likes of 'women's studies' or social sciences. The feminist writings of Susie Orbach, Susan Bordo (etc.) may apply to non-ED women, but my belief is firmly grounded in the fact that EDs have their root in neuroscience.
Happy Birthday ED Bites!
I just found your blog last week and it's already become my latest OCD obsession. As a "professional" writer myself, I appreciate the skill, but more importantly, I can relate to EVERYTHING you write. It's scary...
Currently teetering about the same place you were when you started this (yup, went back and read your first entries), I see so much of myself in those posts. Not only that, but it authenticates the fact that you have worked your ass off, but recovery can be achieved.
Thanks and I'm so glad I subscribed! I wish I "knew" you in real life, as I feel we're pretty similar...no offense :)
Happy Birthday to your blog! Thank you for keeping it up, it's been an endless source of information and inspiration for me :)
Happy 3rd Anniversary! I am so glad to have found your blog. The way you present science-related ED topics is so interesting.
Happy 3rd anniversary! I'm like you, Carrie. I have started several blogs, profiles on social networking sites, etc. At best, I visit them sporadically and sometimes I just abandon them completely.
Lately, I have been getting back into blogging on a regular basis, and I am building an audience. I'm even getting back into my MySpace profile and hopefully, I will have my camera up and running to do vlogging on YouTube. Sometimes, the problem is I just don't have the time and other times, I am just too lazy to sort out my thoughts and put them into words.
Anyway, I started reading this blog on a regular basis almost a year ago, and it has been my sanity too. I live surrounded by people who are obsessed with their weight and who think I should be too. You and Junkfood Science keep me grounded.
This is your blog anniversary, close to the anniversary that I started reading it...and here is MY anniversary. Last year, on New Year's Day, I made the resolution to stop worrying about my weight, stop counting calories or feeling guilty about eating, etc. I succeeded. I have been diet mentality-free for a while year.
Don't we rule?
I too am an aspiring writer. I am trying to get a diet book published. I have read countless blogs about ED as part of my research for my book on how to LOSE weight. I see the 400,000 people in the US who die each year as a result of eating themselves to death as a bigger problem than the 100 or so who die because they are unable to eat enough. I am also concerned about the 1 in 50 who die from gastric bypass surgery.
I have a blog on blog spot called Bigger Fatter Blog which is a spoof on the fat acceptance movement and the normalization of obesity and gluttony. As part of my research I compared the attitude of ANA's MIAs and run of the mill fatlings and it is my considered opinion that of the three groups the only one with an ED are people with AN.
Today everyone is making excuses for Tiger Woods by saying he has a sex addiction. I hear the food addiction excuse constantly. Perhaps Tiger Woods is just a low life phony who can hit a golf ball and perhaps fat people are simply gluttons. Maybe it is really that simple.
Mias IMO are fatlings who puke so that they won't get fat and so they can eating again. Fatling simply don't regurgitate what they eat.
If we want to assign psychological causes to this thing we label ED then why not include sociological and morality to the equation? The US is a nation of greedy gluttons. Our corporations are gluttonous and greedy just like most Americans.
IMO, the only people with EDs in the US are the 200,000 Americans who have a disease called anorexia Nervosa. I think it speaks volumes that we are still talking about Karen Carpenter while the death toll from obesity in now the second leading cause of preventable death in the US. The leading cause is preventable medical errors but we don't talk about that either. God, ooops I mean the MDs would get angry. Obesity means big money to the medical industrial complex. They are exploiting obesity for 100's of billions and they are doing the same with medical errors but we still talk about Karen Carpenter and lost Michael Vick's dogs.
When I see a slender fit and well groomed person I see an advanced life form but when I see some waddling fatling looking for its next junk food fix I see a waste of protoplasm.
Let's get our priorities in order and give the scientist who invents a cure for cancer the billion dollars Tiger Woods got for hitting a golf ball.
We all like to watch train wrecks so stop by my blog and add to the twisted wreck. Out of chaos comes order or so they say and it is not true that I think therefore I am. The truth is, I am therefore I think.... I think.
Hey, Proud FA? Teh Interwebs are full of places that welcome the hate and misinformation you are spewing. You are hereby invited to go to any of them, since you have decided to make yourself unwelcome at THIS party.
Happiest of Blogaversaries, Carrie!
Love,
Happy birthday to ED Bites! I've only been following for a few months or so, but I've thoroughly enjoyed reading the entries here. They are very educational, very recovery-focused and positive, and often quite helpful for me in thinking about my own recovery. I'm glad to be able to follow along. :)
Happy Birthday ED bites, and thank you Carrie for it.
Proud FA,
Normally, I'm happy to sympathize with people on the difficulties of being a writer in general and getting published in particuar. However, and call this a character flaw if you would like, I really can't muster any sympathy towards someone writing a diet book. You were aware that I am in recovery from an anorexia nervosa and that I already know more than enough about how to lose weight.
Feel free to take your message of prejudice and hate-disguised-as-health-advice elsewhere, mmkay?
Happy BIrthday ED Bites! Carrie, you've done a great job. Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to your fourth (and beyond) years. My blog, Leaving ED, just turned one! (It's a baby, I know.)
Proud FA, as a recovering anorexic, I am appalled that you troll websites written by people who have suffered from eating disorders, illnesses that KILL many people each year, looking for tidbits for your book. As a professional writer, I hope you never get published. Happy New Year!
Happy Blog Birthday (and Happy New Year)! As you know, I'm such a fan of you :) You always get me thinking... We need writers like you, especially in the ED world :) Here's to a great 2010!
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