Greetings! I trust you are all well and have had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. My internet went down Christmas Eve so I have been pining for all of my bloggers friends whilst occupying myself with films, DVDs and of course books, of which I am painfully aware that I am overdue a review or five.
I do enjoy these look backs at the year, mainly because I don’t have to do much preparation work for them but perusing the stats I was disappointed to see that I hadn’t grown the blog as much as I had wished, in fact I received 500 fewer hits than the previous year, which disappointed me as or most of the year I was on course to beat it.
Click here to see the complete report.
It isn’t all misery for me though, as in the last year I have found (or been found) by some wonderful bloggers, many of whom have become good friends and have been the source of much inspiration for my own humble work. it’s this aspect of the cross pollination of thoughts that generates even more interesting posts throughout the whole community and I know my writing would lack something were it not for my fellow creatives.
On a personal note, this year I have made an effort to write a lot more varying types of posts as well as opening up a lot more which is again thanks to your encouragement. Scrolling back through the archives, I am amazed at how the time has flown but of course time waits for nobody as the saying goes, because time is impatient and annoying like that and really needs to stop and have a nice cup of tea and let us all catch up.
What can you expect from this blog in the coming year? Well more of the same for a start, I would expect. Plenty of book reviews, perhaps a few trips out to get photos of fascinating places as well as some more quizzical musings, of course. Although I wrote a grand total of 114 posts last year, that still leaves 251 days when I didn’t post, so perhaps this year I will be able to squeeze in a bunch more and do something ‘a bit special’ when I reach the milestones of posts 400 and 500.
Anyway click the link if you haven’t already and check out my vital statistics and I will come around your blogs once the backlog of internet correspondence has been tackled. So all that remains is to wish you all a happy new year and then take the shine off it a bit by reminding that you will be spending the whole 365 days with me for company.
Book to the Future 
My visits were down by a few thousand this year, but I expected that. I changed from photo of the week to photo of the day. So there was always going to be less.
I hope this year picks up for you and that you get more than last year.
Have a great year
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Thanks my friend, I am hoping my desire to grow the blog can last through the whole year. I think in this last year, all the bloggers that I have grown up with as it were, on down on visits, for various reasons. I hope that this year is a successful one for us all this year though! I have a feeling it will be.
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My hits were down a couple of thousand too but it doesn’t bother me. Anything is preferable to the empty wasteland of the first few weeks of a blog, when nobody at all stops by!
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ah yes, I remember that misery. It took me almost a month to register 20 hits in one day and I was so proud to have achieved that milestone. I think the hit rate is down due to the WP reader, apparently that gives WP the hit and not the blog which seems a tad unfair.
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Now that is interesting. If you go to the old-style dashboard, it has a little black and white graph at the top showing site views per hour, and that is often higher than my site views for the whole day. I never understood what was going on there before.
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Oh, my, I need to check that out. Didn’t know it was there and I’m not sure if I use the “old style” (?)
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If you check on your stats the page there is an option to use the new one…or there is on mine but after a while they all fade into one…
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Thank you, Ste J 🙂 I just looked and can’t find anything. It’s OK. At some point I’ll pay closer attention to stats and look more then, I guess. I don’t know if my versio is old or new lol
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I don’t think there is a new style one actually but it’s got a bit confusing navigating WordPress with the new back-end design. As I’m a bit of a Luddite, I use the old stats page etc whenever I can!!!
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Thanks, Alastair 🙂 I was looking and it seems I’m using the “old” version which I definitely prefer. Now I see the difference. I’ve been seeing that “new” format for creating posts, too, and I REALLY don’t like it. New is not always better 🙂
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Let’s hope so
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Wishing you a wonderful new year, my friend! I always look forward to your book reviews, your creative writing and your general musings on life. A toast to another year of great posts!
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And a fine and magnificent New Year to you as well. I am hoping to write more this year and some new things, of course I haven’t figured out what I will do yet but I am sure I can come up with something. I see you posted yesterday and I shall be over shortly to have a goosey.
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Ste J, your blog is one I sincerely enjoy and am so glad I found. Yours will be one of the few I keep following with “instant posts,” keeping your post delivered instantly to my inbox. Most blogs I will be manually visiting when I can. I’m on the cusp of figuring out a schedule so I can spend less time following, more time writing posts and hopefully, much more time reading and writing my fiction. And I happen to love the variety of your posts and the quality of the content, my dear 🙂 Btw, you were one of the top commenters on my blog, too! I had no idea and certainly didn’t expect to be one here since you get so many wonderful comments and interraction 🙂 Happy to be one and be here!
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I am honoured to be gracing your inbox my friend, it pleases me that you enjoy my jumble of words, I shall keep mixing up the posts to keep you entertained. A schedule is a great idea, I always struggle to keep to the ones I make but being a new year and all I suppose I could try again. I am glad to be one of your top commenters and to be able to help you push up your stats, I am blessed with plenty of wonderful friends who follow me on here and who leave great comments, it pleases me that you were in my top five and here is to many more mutuals comments!
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That all makes me smile—really BIG 😀
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Happy New Year, Ste J. I think our blogs ebb and flow from year to year, don’t you?. For health reasons, I blogged a lot less in 2014, but I managed to contribute something at least every few weeks. And, I agree with you…2015 will be a successful year for us in many ways. Looking foward to your posts:)
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Happy New year to you too! It is strange that there is no discernible pattern to blogging but I am hopeful for everybody to get bigger viewing figures this year, the standard of posts is being driven up by the quality of the writers that I see all the time so it promises to be an exciting year all round. I look forward to seeing more of your words too!
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Well, I certainly enjoy your quizzical musings. Wishing you a shining good year!!
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And a Woof-derful New Year to you as well, there shall be much quizzicalness this year as I am in the mood for it.
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I think your blog has gotten better and better. And, for your New Year’s edification I want to attach a post from another blog that ties in with your post(s) about reading in the pub. If you could combine these two concepts, then – to quote Chico Marx from night at the opera- “Tthen you got – a some-thing. http://biblioklept.org/2015/01/01/nude-study-reading-kenyon-cox/
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Well that would certainly be something to talk about down the pub and make for an intriguing post…perhaps if it were tastefully done…
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Good morning, Ste J. Glad you had a nice holiday. Isn’t computer troubles the worst. I need a new one. I just spent 15 minutes trying to load and read your stats. This old dinosaur just keeps getting slower and slower. I tried wiping it and reloading windows, but it just seemed to make it worse. I wouldn’t worry about less hits. It’s probably just because more and more people are using the reader. That gives WordPress the hits instead of the blogs. I only use that thing on rare occasions. It doesn’t like me and I return the nasty compliment. 😀 Looking forward to all your fab posts in the coming year. And your stats are great, my friend. Congrats! ❤
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I don’t use the reader either, I prefer to give the hits to each writer as they deserve them. Isn’t it amazing how much we rely on the internet these days, I was lost without it and didn’t really know what to do, luckily I had one or two(!) books floating around that caught my attention. I think it will be a year of fab posts from all of us and I can’t wait to get reading.
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You know, I tried using my Reader and although I like that you can “see” the posts easily, I found it was not really more convenient AND it would go wonky on me anyway. Sometimes it wouldn’t show posts so I’d miss many and other times it would repeat the same batch repeatedly. It’s a nice idea IF it works, but I, too, don’t like that you can’t see the true amount of people who may be following or reading since, generally speaking, only a handful bother to comment. (Thank you, btw, for that 😀 )
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You’re right, it is our hard work we put in, it would be nice to have the true number of views we get displayed, that would give us all even more inspiration to put the hours in, after all WP is getting its name out there on the back of what we post.I will leave the reader alone and stick to my habit of bookmarking all my favourite blogs for easy clicking. Whilst we are on the subject, I don”t get this need to just like, fair enough if you have nothing to say on a particular post but to just lurk defeats the purpose of the social aspect, even just a hello would be nice. Not that I want people to think me ungrateful, I am just wary of bloggers that spam like.
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Happy New Year to you too! I also have had fewer hits this year, but since I’ve been doing considerably fewer posts, I figure that I deserve such treatment. Though my New Year’s resolution is always to avoid making resolutions, if I had one it would be to get back on target with posting, or at least closer to it. In the meantime, we’re making leftover turkey soup, and planning a roast for dinner, and playing card games. My holiday is officially over tomorrow, though. Then I’ll be at home and will get crackin’ with the posting. Give yourself another day or two to firm up your resolve, then start, is my advice. I hope everything is good for you in the new year, as few people deserve it more.
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You are too kind my friend. Holidays being over is always the worst feeling but getting that early year feeling with all the excitement of a new year is always a good thing and I always look forward to your posts. I haven’t made any resolutions as such, just to write a few more posts which shouldn’t be too difficult and to broaden my horizons with a bit of travel which will help mix it up on the blog. So far the year has been a calm one but who knows where we shall end up…have a great year my friend.
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I love reading your blog Ste J. It’s versatile, fresh, and informative. I’m sorry your stats was a little bit disappointing, mine wasn’t that great too, and I think it was my fault; I didn’t post as often as I should, I hope this year would be better for you ‘stat-wise’ and every other aspect of your life. On my side, I am your friend for life and would be delighted to visit as often as I can. I look forward to your posts Sir Wordsworth! 🙂
Bring it on dude! As the Americans would say.
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I think a lot of bloggers posted a lot less this year, I am hopeful that we all have a more successful year with being able to post and being suitably inspired to write some great words. Sir Wordsworth, I like that and it reminds me that I need to read The Geology of the Lake District as that is where Wordsworth wrote. I wish you all the luck and success in the world and rest assured I shall be your constant blog companion and and devoted friend always.
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I don’t worry about the stats so much anymore. I found that I was obsessing over them and spending far too much time in front of the computer. Quality over quantity wins out with your posts Ste J. I am always impressed by how that mind of yours works. 🙂
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I know what you mean about spending time in front of the computer, my reading has suffered in the last year in the drive to keep up with everybody and write. In fact I spent all morning writing a two part review but hopefully that will keep the quality up. Quality is what keeps so many people flocking to your blog, you make me feel like I am there with you, just without the mobile meth lab!
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Glad to have discovered your blog last year. Hope you’ll be reviewing some modern classic / existentialist / dystopian / contemporary experimental novels among your selections. Looking forward to whatever you do. Happy New Year!
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I shall see what I can do, I do have at least four books off the top of my head that would fit the bill. I am hopeful of a heady mix of interesting novels and this year I am really up for reading. Happy new Year to you as well sir!
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You have a great blog, full of intellectualism. I like that very much though |I admit my visits here are so infrequent. (sigh).
The stats will pick up for sure my friend. That is my wish for you this 2015, and a year of good health and peace, full of joy. 🙂
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Why thank you my friend! It is tough to keep up with all the blogs and wish there were a few more hours in the day with which I could go see everybody with a good rate of frequency. I am hoping to keep working to better stats and with your support, I am sure they will come rolling in. I wish you the bestest year so far, with many smiles and magical events.
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Well I am so happy to have met you here my friend, I really am. I thoroughly enjoy your posts, love your blog and also really appreciate all your visits and wonderfully encouraging and humorous comments over at the Summerhouse.
Stats are a funny thing aren’t they? I’ll be talking about mine in my next post and the results of my review. I think that more than the stats, what you share here is far more important: the relationships you’ve made, sharing more about yourself and also branching out into different kinds of posts as you feel led.
I’ve seen blogs start out about the same time as me (January 2013) who have far more followers than me yet I have more ‘hits’. Go figure. Maybe that means I get lots of views but they don’t stop for more…or maybe I’ve got one helluva a stalker, LOL!
I think your blog is truly successful and I really look forward to sharing another blogging year with you. So just keep doing what you’re doing…I’m very happy with that.
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When I started blogging, I had no idea what it would actually do for me, giving me confidence, a bunch of free books and most importantly making fantastic friends and even travelling to another country to meet a couple in the US. It has been great to meet you this year, and to read your words and to have met so many other wonderful writers who always inspire.
I know what you mean about people starting out and getting more hits, I have noticed the same thing and I am fortunate to have many of those bloggers still blogging with me three years later, pretty much all have better hit rates but it pleases me that they are so successful. Blog stalking, I like that, well I don’t condone it but I mean it is amusing to think of somebody constantly refreshing your blog to read your next post hungrily.
Thank you for your kind words, once work slows down I am hoping to be a more consistent poster (the dream we all have!), it will be great to have a whole year in your company and see how everything progresses with you.
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Numbers schmumbers… You have a wonderful blog. Although – I don’t (have time to) read – I enjoy reading your book reviews. I like to hear what you have to say about what’s out there & make mental notes for book gifts. And – I enjoy the outside of book review surprise posts that you sneak in here & there. You have a unique way of telling & sharing stories. It’s almost as if I am reading a book!
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It is amazing how, when thinking back on things that happen to me I see a lot more detail than I used to. It is fun to mix the posts up and keep you all guessing and if I can get you kudos for picking great gifts then that makes me even happier.
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Like you I am going to try to publish more posts this year. I wish you much writing success in 2015, my friend!
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It started not so well for me with an nine day hiatus but I will get back on it now, I wish you more success than you can shake a stick at and I bet you are a very good stick shaker.
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A bit late to respond (mea culpa) but wp is not as pressing these days (or perhaps it is my severe writers block that keeps me away). Your blog is always much appreciated by those of us who venture here so please blog on. Your voracious reading is inspiring, esp. for one who works around books all day. Cheers to 2015 – may it bring you great blessings ~
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I hope you find your words again soon, there is nothing worse than struggling through a barren spell. I will keep reading and finding new and obscure titles to tempt you with, or not as the case may be. I always appreciate your visits my friend.
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