Today represents the final day of the 5th year of this blog. The first post on Thursday will mark the beginning of year 6. It's been a weird and wild ride thus far. I expect it will continue to be so as long as I have the ability to peck out posts from my computer keyboard.
In the beginning, I was like most novice bloggers. I didn't know if my little experiment in virtual self-publishing would last more than a few weeks or months. I also faced the nagging question: What in the hell will I write about?
As I think anyone can easily see, the answer to that question has turned out not to be a stumbling block at all! I write whatever pops into my head on a given day at a given hour. Sometimes I go off on tangents. Some nebulous idea gets stuck in me noggin and you'll see three, four, five or more consecutive posts on the same generalized topic.
At other times, the subject matter is wide and diverse. It is sometimes quite funny; at other times quite sad. I don't hold much back. What you read pretty much is who I am -- for better OR worse.
During my first few months of blogging, I would be deliriously happy if more than 5 or 10 folks dropped by this blog in a day. The first time that total exceeded the amount I could count on my fingers and toes I was almost dumbfounded!
Of course, as my writing frequency has increased, so has my traffic. Over the past 7 months or so, I average around 100 - 120 visitors per day plus another 300 or so via feeds. That's not a significant number, but it's not insignificant either. It merely represents my virtual bloggging community.
In all this time, I have noted one interesting trend. Like society, in general, people seem to like fire. Ever notice how a crowd quickly gathers around a burning building to watch the fireman work to put it out?
When a controversy has erupted on this blog -- a flame war -- my traffic shoots up appreciably. Sometimes I'm in the center of it, but there have been just as many times when I'm an innocent bystander. Two or more readers leaving comments get in a major spat and, like the rest of you, I decide to take a hands-off approach.
It just strikes me as odd that, when this blog is more calm and centered, readership drops down a notch or two, but when tempers are exposed, more people want to watch the carnage. I don't know. I guess we humans are weird that way.
Not much more to say here except thanks to each and every one of you -- that even includes The Crow :>) -- for enriching my life, broadening my horizons and challenging me to view life and existence in new and deeper ways.
In the beginning, I was like most novice bloggers. I didn't know if my little experiment in virtual self-publishing would last more than a few weeks or months. I also faced the nagging question: What in the hell will I write about?
As I think anyone can easily see, the answer to that question has turned out not to be a stumbling block at all! I write whatever pops into my head on a given day at a given hour. Sometimes I go off on tangents. Some nebulous idea gets stuck in me noggin and you'll see three, four, five or more consecutive posts on the same generalized topic.
At other times, the subject matter is wide and diverse. It is sometimes quite funny; at other times quite sad. I don't hold much back. What you read pretty much is who I am -- for better OR worse.
During my first few months of blogging, I would be deliriously happy if more than 5 or 10 folks dropped by this blog in a day. The first time that total exceeded the amount I could count on my fingers and toes I was almost dumbfounded!
Of course, as my writing frequency has increased, so has my traffic. Over the past 7 months or so, I average around 100 - 120 visitors per day plus another 300 or so via feeds. That's not a significant number, but it's not insignificant either. It merely represents my virtual bloggging community.
In all this time, I have noted one interesting trend. Like society, in general, people seem to like fire. Ever notice how a crowd quickly gathers around a burning building to watch the fireman work to put it out?
When a controversy has erupted on this blog -- a flame war -- my traffic shoots up appreciably. Sometimes I'm in the center of it, but there have been just as many times when I'm an innocent bystander. Two or more readers leaving comments get in a major spat and, like the rest of you, I decide to take a hands-off approach.
It just strikes me as odd that, when this blog is more calm and centered, readership drops down a notch or two, but when tempers are exposed, more people want to watch the carnage. I don't know. I guess we humans are weird that way.
Not much more to say here except thanks to each and every one of you -- that even includes The Crow :>) -- for enriching my life, broadening my horizons and challenging me to view life and existence in new and deeper ways.
Congratulations! Thank you for writing your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteReadership. Well I don't think in your case readership has to do with content. It's just that you're too hard to keep up with. Sometimes you write 5 posts in one day, so it is hard to read all of your posts.
But hey, every time I drop by I like the one post I read!
** Lorena **
Lorena,
ReplyDeleteI have a degree in journalism and my dear 'ol dad used to bemoan the fact that I didn't have a regular writing gig. Well, lookie here.
I publish a weekly ezine, Greener Times, and this blog has morphed into a sort of philosophical magazine.
See dad, I'm finally putting this degree to some use! :D
Congrats and job well done. I hope someday my traffic exceeds my fingers too. I fell in love with writing working on the high school newspaper and I wish I'd have chased down that journalism degree I wanted - spilled milk.
ReplyDeleteMy problem used to be what to write, but now that I've got new and more responsibilities at work, the problem is finding time before the ideas, and the feeling disappear.
happy aniversary! i've enjoyed every moment thus far
ReplyDelete