My blogging goal for this year was never focused on numbers. It never is, really. I can understand the desire to achieve a certain tally of subscribers or followers or hits or fans and I’ve been told I really should worry about it more if I’m going to be a ‘Serious’ or ‘Professional’ Blogger.
[But while I’m thinking about it, it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the new blog look this year was a way to unify the ‘brand’ of the ‘Miscellaneous’ names by having the MM and MP logos/badges etc.]
I’ve been around long enough to recognise when a blogger begins this particular journey; takes a last suck of a cigar before throwing it out the window, puts their hands on the wheel in a 10-2 position and shifts gear, gets faster, burns away. This is the dream. It can happen. That’s the beauty of the game.
But to get back to my original point, I measure success by other ways. My resolution for 2011 was to ‘Dig Deeper, Move Less Earth‘, meaning to take a longer, deeper look at what I really want to say; to not be as piecemeal or erratic. Consistent, yes, but gratifyingly so.
Did I succeed? On the whole, yes. For this I am pleased.
On the other hand, I am disappointed too. There have been a handful of arguments and debates on the interwebs this year that I have either stayed completely away from or have commented on after-the-fact. This is because – mostly – these have been none of my business. When I feel I should’ve said something – certain social media fracas come to mind – I’ve often been tongue-tied out of fear. Fear at being misunderstood or misinterpreted, at causing trouble. There’s also been a dash of ‘there are so many bigger problems in the world, I can’t believe I’m wasting energy on caring whether people choose to flog their posts 10 or more times a day by various means or are earning peanuts by ways which are only serving to alienate existing friends’. See? It’s not an easy conversation to start.
So perhaps my resolution for 2012 should be ‘Be Braver’. Is that a cliche? Is that even enough? I’m still thinking about it. But this isn’t that post. That will come.
Because I believe people like to have a ‘look at the books’ at this time of the year I’ve made a list below of the most viewed posts of 2011. Place 5 is a guess, however, as there were about a half dozen posts vying for the position. I chose this one because it is personally significant (for reasons I will explain later).
The top couple might be a little surprising – they’ve been ‘sleeper’ successes. They were also the ones I had particular pleasure writing. Maybe I should write more.
5 Top-Hit Posts of 2011
- It’s Not Hermoine’s ‘Fault’: Hollywood, Myths and The Hero’s Journey
- Why They Banned The Ad, Or, It’s About More Than The Yoghurt
- Writers vs. Bloggers
- An Absent Mother Apologises
- Scenes From A Train
Snapshots of 2011 from Instagram
I’m a lucky girl.
