My Most Significant Bloggable Event in 2010

On this blog post, I would like to answer the question "What is the most significant bloggable event that happened to you in 2010?"  This will also serve as a reflection of my blogging experience in 2010.

I've been blogging since 2007 but it was only this year that I came out of my shell and mingled with other people in the blogosphere.  I'm still a newbie in blogging compared to the likes of Winston, the blog owner of Batang Yagit and Jehzreel Laurente, the sponsor of this giveaway.

I joined some contests and giveaways online, some of which I won (thank You, Lord) - prizes ranged from $5 to $100.  The contest that earned me $100 was very timely because it allowed me to help my sister raise funds for her recital, she's studying Voice in UP.

But the most widely participated and probably the most significant was the Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards (PEBA).  PEBA is an alliance of international Filipino bloggers which recognizes the best and outstanding blogs of Filipinos living and working abroad by staging an annual international blogawards.

I wrote a blog post entry in late September entitled "Dalawang Mukha ng Pag-ibig ng Ina" which was among the 28 nominated entries that was voted upon worldwide by OFWs and non-OFWs.  The reason I joined the contest was simply to express my thoughts on this year's theme about Strengthening the OFW Families and hopefully to inspire other people. I really did not expect to win.  But thank God, I did - top 9 among the top 10 blog winners.

What I also like about the contest is that I made friends (though I'm not really a person who has good PR) and learned about the experiences of other fellow OFW contestants.  Also, I was happy that some friends liked my entry; one friend even campaigned for my post in his Facebook Wall.  That was really touching.

One more thing I'm thankful for in 2010 is that because of blogging and joining contests, I was introduced to earning as a freelance writer.  This opportunity was also very timely because with the money I earned I was able to help in the expenses of my mom who recently was hospitalized because of heart attack.  She actually had to spend about half a million pesos to undergo angioplasty.  But thank God that she's recovering now, though she still has many medication expenses.

This year was really the most fruitful year for me in terms of blogging though I have merely scratched the surface of the blogging experience.  Where it will lead me in 2011, I still don't know.  But I'm ending 2010 with a heart full of gratitude to God.