I started this blog at the end January this year, and sometime during the night last night it received its 10,000th hit. I'm not sure how that compares to other blogs, but I know it's far more than I ever expected. (Warning: boring introspection follows--no need to read.)
This blog gets between 50 and 100 hits a day, but I don't know who is reading it. I can see what country you are from, if you come from a referring site, and what browser you use, but since there are so few comments from readers, that's about the extent of my knowledge. If you ended up at this blog by using a search engine, I sometimes can see the keyword you used. But by and large, I don't really know who you all are, even if I have some idea of which posts interest you.
When I began this blog, I had two goals in mind: one was quantifiable, but not knowable by me, and the other was knowable by me but not quantifiable. So concerning the first one I am unable to gauge if I have had success, and the second one I have not achieved. On the other hand, lots of things I did not expect have come out of this blog.
The upshot is that I am having an introspective moment, and you may see some changes in this blog in the future. Originally, I had meant to post twice weekly, once with an essay-style post on something I was thinking about or learning but which was largely original material, and once on something interesting I happened to find and wanted to share. Mostly it's turned into a site that reports almost daily on interesting things I see on the internet. Only 2 or 3 times a month do I post that essay-like original post I had intended.
So I need to rethink the direction of this blog, what it is I now want to achieve with it, and whether it is a useful way to spend my time. So, onward and upward. You may notice changes; you may not. I have not figured it all out yet.
Cheers.
4 comments:
Jessica, I've appreciated your "information" posts, but especially enjoy your first-person accounts of your experiences as a poet, a mother, an ex-pat, and fellow explorer. Keep up the good work; people are reading!
Thanks, Mari, for your kind remarks. I too feel my time would be better served writing original posts, but it turns out I have less to say than I originally thought....
I would imagine, too, it's hard to know what you feel comfortable disclosing in a public forum. At least information is impersonal (for the most part) and often helpful to your readers. Your dilemma is why I've put off a blog of my own, and will likely continue to...
It's always and ever about balance, isn't it? And while achieving balance is healthy as a life skill, I don't think it's all that good for art. Such a dilemma, when one is responsible for providing a healthy environment for others and can't morally afford the excessive which might lead to artistic creativity.
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