Thoughts on the Blog
The Meditations blog recently passed the 1.5 million page reads milestone. I learned this fact from an analytics program and really have no idea what the number means. I suppose it means people are reading the blog, but I can’t discern an audience out there, like I could with my books and freelance columns and essays. Sometimes I feel like I am writing to a single person. Maybe I am. Maybe that person changes.
The blog began in April of 2017 and I had no goal for it, although I did hope to raise a bit of revenue. I still don’t have a goal. I just write what interests me and post it. This process did produce the framework for the forthcoming Bonnie and Clyde Files book, but since compiling those posts about the two senior dogs at the sanctuary into a manuscript, the project took a decidedly different direction. But the blog got it going and that’s the only thing that matters with any writing—get it going—and see where it leads.
I used the blog to post new and revised Oregon Tavern Age stories that have since coalesced into a new book double the size of the e-book published in late 2016. How I’ll bring this out I have no idea. I need a benefactor who likes dive bars and taverns and storytelling in dive bars and taverns.
The blog imposed a deadline on me—six posts a week. I met the deadline. Deadlines are critical for many writers. They’ve always worked for me.
The blog also inspired me to unearth old, unpublished writing and revisit it. Some of it I have posted but there is a lot more I have not, including a full length memoir of growing up in Oregon City. Interestingly enough, having the blog rekindled my interest in short fiction and I think I might have a collection worth publishing one day.
For the first six months of the blog, I checked the analytics to determine the demographics of the readership. Then I stopped. It didn’t matter. This most recent check will probably be the last.
It was great to hear a month ago from someone dear to me that she read the blog every day. On that note, I do occasionally hear from readers of the blog, almost all of them previously unknown to me. Some had wondered what had happened to me, if I was even still alive! Some stumbled across the blog. Some were referred to it. I enjoy hearing from readers and appreciate their kind words about my writing, how it has entertained or enlightened, or simply made them think or consider.
I don’t know how long I will continue the blog, but it still feels fresh and the material keeps coming. I was never able to monetize it after the initial launch, and didn’t really try outside the message asking for support that appears at the end of most posts. If readers wanted to contribute to a writer at work, they would. Many have. Thank you. Perhaps now is a good time to renew that one-year subscription. And if not, that’s fine. Keep reading.
(If you found this post enjoyable, thought provoking or enlightening, please consider supporting a writer at work by making a financial contribution to this blog or by purchasing an NSP book.)