Hot Stuff, right here at least once a week in 2018

How’s that for hyperbole? If you’ve been here a while, you’re probably guessing that by great I mean middling and by experiment I mean absolutely nothing scientific. Still, looking at the year’s blogtivities–what you liked*, what you liked less–could help us all achieve blog bliss in 2019. It could happen. But, first, some preliminary stats, because numbers are fun so long as WordPress is doing the crunching.

I published a perfectly round 100 posts in 2018 (not counting this one) to receive 9,736 views from 5,434 visitors. Thank you for being here; without you, I’m a complete narcissist. Likes: 2,515, and my favorite thing in the world: Comments: 924. (Yep, they still count if I’m the one commenting.)

Your Favorite Posts from 2018 (in descending order, based on views)

Your Least Favorite Post from 2018

The Sunshine Blogger Award: Woot (if tardy)! featured my take on 11 probing questions and my nominations of 11 blogs that are totally worth your time. (Bad post timing? Too much in your reading queue? Are we tired of the award posts? What do you think?)

OK, I’m no statistician, but I’m seeing a trend: gimme more writerly guests, you say. I’m so glad you asked! Coming up in early 2019, I will be featuring an interview with Ohio’s Poet Laureate and hopefully one with a small press publisher. Inquiring minds and all…

So, next up on the old arcade Love Meter: Uncontrollable! I can’t picture just what an uncontrollable blog looks like, but you can help me get there. The American Rust Belt is a big place with a lot of worthy lit–stories real and imagined, memoir, poetry and more. Know a Rust Belt writer with a story to tell? Let me know in the comments.

Other bloggish lessons learned in 2018

Share the work of others and you will be recognized (see above). It’s not just about garnering views, comments, and followers–the stuff of stats. It’s about being a good citizen in this writing life, wherever and whatever you write. I’ll never forget the blogger who responded to one of my very first blog posts by saying something along the lines of “blogging isn’t just writing, it’s communicating.” This is two-way street stuff. This is our blog.

Because I truly believe that, I spend a lot of time out on the WordPress Reader scoping out new blogs; I drop comments; and I share what I love. Case in point: WordPress Discover shared their 2018 roundup: A Year of Great Writing: The Most-Read Editors’ Picks of 2018, which is a great list btw, and in conclusion the editors asked for our picks. I didn’t have to think twice before hyping in the comments Ella Ames’ blog Not Enough Middle Fingers (and not just for the name). I was thrilled to maybe send a few bloggers Ella’s way for funny, poignant, deep, and daring writing plus her homegrown illustrations. Know what happened next? My comment drew visitors–and even a few new followers–to my site. (Welcome!) So, let’s all spread the blog love in 2019.

Will next year be the year my writing hits Uncontrollable on the Love Meter? I don’t know. But, together, we can make connections that count for a lot.

All the best to you and yours for a safe, happy, and healthy New Year!

~Rebecca

*Thanks to K.M. Allan and her 2018 Blog Roundup for this post idea

Wanna join me elsewhere on the interwebs? Here’s me at FB and on Twitter @MoonRuark

32 thoughts on “The Great 2018 Blog Experiment”

  3. One of my favorite posts of yours was about reviving your darlings, and it inspired me to write my own post about the topic, so it’s only fitting my last blog post should inspire you to do a yearly roundup 😊. Congrats on those stats and your posts, Rebecca. Can’t wait to read more in 2019.

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    1. Thank you! Looking forward to more from you in the new year. I’m glad we got to see your house lit up for the holidays in your latest post–just beautiful! Enjoy the close of 2018. And, I hear you–still oooing and ahhhing over A Gentleman… (I’m following the author on Twitter and hope that someday I might have something Twitter-clever to put out there he might see.) Ah well, dreams and resolutions!

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  5. Your interview with David Giffels is what drew me into your blog, and I’m so glad it did. I’ve enjoyed reading your posts and getting to know you through your blog and mine.

    Happy New Year, Rebecca!

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    1. I remember! Gosh, we Midwestern girls getting excited over talk over furniture/casket making and woodworking–ha! Likewise, Erin, it’s been so fun to see how your blog has grown and changed with your painting. You’re so talented. Thank you for sharing with us here in the blogosphere, and I’m looking forward to more in 2019. Happy New Year to you and your family!

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  6. I love how you recapped your blogging year! Your blog and your blog friendship – reaching out, sharing, commenting, visiting, and not just writing about yourself (unlike some of us/me) is what is so welcoming about your presence here in the blogosphere. 2019 is going to be an uncontrollable growth year for you! I hope you remember me when you’re even more famous, okay? Happy New Year, Rebecca!!

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    1. You are the best, Shelley! I hope we both have uncontrollable growth years in 2019. Always enjoy the window into your life through your blog–that’s what makes it such good reading. Fame, I don’t know. But fun, yes. Looking forward to more fun visiting and sharing in the new year. Hope you have a nice celebration planned to ring it in!

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  9. well from sploddy old England to the glorious sunlit uplands (in my imagination) of the Rust Belt here’s looking at you, your blog and 2019. Keep on plugging. Oh and thank you for the many visits and comments too. PS where exactly does the rust belt extend? It would be like me telling you where the Black Country here begins and ends I imagine but let’s have a stab….

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  10. Thanks so much for making my blog a regular stop! I really appreciate it. “Sunlit uplands” sound wonderful. Could use some sun here in Maryland, where I write from, and across the glorious Rust Belt. But then, if there were more sun, I wouldn’t get to visit so many wonderful blogs–like yours! Here’s Wikipedia’s answer to your locale question: “The Rust Belt begins in central New York and traverses west through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, ending in northern Illinois, eastern Iowa, and southeastern Wisconsin.” (Though I might not include West Virginia but might include a city like St. Louis, Missouri.) Really, any place that was a hub of manufacturing in the U.S. (much of it auto-related) that then began to decline (or rust) starting in the 70s/80s. Me, I’m from Northeast Ohio, which is smack dab in the middle of most every map drawn of the Rust Belt. Happy New Year!

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