Its my first Blogiversary !

It's been a whole year since I started this Blog so it’s time for my first annual self-appraisal. Here goes.

I have published 39 posts. That's only one per week.  Hardly prolific!  Apologies to my six regular readers.  I feel ashamed at this level of productivity.

I’ve looked at my stats and I noticed a few things:

1.      I have very few followers. I know followers aren’t the be all and end all but a few more would give me a bit more motivation.  I’m hoping that this may be because subscribing on ‘Blogger’is a bit of a faff, especially for most of my readers who use WordPress and see my posts in 'Reader' anyway. On the other hand I may have to accept that it is because no one thinks my Blog is worth a regular peep.

2.      Traffic to my older posts, including some once popular ones, has virtually ceased.  I need to review them and work out a strategy to promote them.

3.      My photo challenge posts were getting way more traffic than my normal posts. That's OK but my normal posts were the product of more creative effort so I need to consider how to increase traffic or question whether my creative writing skills are up to it.

Conclusion:  blogging is harder than I thought.

12 months ago.... my Blog is born

When I started this Blog in May 2020, I had never blogged, Facebooked, Twittered or Instagramed.  That's not because I am anti social.  I just wasn’t wired to engage with people in that way. But, I thought I should make more of an effort in the world of social media, especially bearing in mind we were going to be kept prisoners in our homes for the foreseeable.  I also thought a bit of creative writing might keep my brain active and help me feel productive. 

So what to Blog about? That was the question.  Should I share my life and family affairs with my readers?  Should I focus on a hobby, something I feel strongly about, or my daily thoughts and experiences? Should I bear my soul to the world? Should I be silly, serious or both?  Should I have a nich? 

I just ploughed on with no structured approach or plan and wrote whatever came to mind. I did soon realise though, that due to the challenges of covid and my becoming more intolerant of politicians, drivers, celebrities and people in general, my posts would nothing more than a series of angry man rants unless I held myself in check.

Now.... my Blog is still here - just

A year later, I still have no real plan and feel my enthusiasm and imagination is waning further. I have  Blogstipation! If only there were tablets for this.

In August last year I posted a Blog titled ‘Help,Is there anyone out there’ – a cry for help I suppose on the apparent invisibility of my Blog.  Well, my Blog has become visible to a few more people since then and so I persevere.  

Blogging Thoughts

I hadn’t expected this at the outset but I am spending much more time reading other Blogs than on writing on my own. Some Blogs I've looked at are frivolous, banal or lack thought and yet their traffic and numbers of followers are astoundingly high. Simple bloglets are great but do readers really want pictures of cats, recipes, or a thought for the day?  I thought this was stuff for Instagram or Facebook. 

Another thing I’ve noticed is that most successful Blogs have a constant.  They have a niche, a mission or an overriding interest.  My blog jumps about a bit and I wonder if I could reach a lot more people if I wrote about fewer things. 

I can see that the best bloggers have invested much time and effort in writing and presenting their posts and in engaging with other bloggers. They also study the techniques and critical elements of blogging and blog promotion.  I must try harder at this.  Fortunately, many experienced bloggers seem only too willing to share this knowledge and I really need to spend more time applying their hacks and tips. 

But, however adept I might become on the technicalities of blogging, I can't avoid the fact that being successful means coming up with quality content, whatever the subject. I am not a frustrated journalist, author or poet.  I haven’t the patience for writing stories or the ability to tell a gripping tale.  I wish I had a fraction of the observational wit, easy style and turn of phrase of Bill Bryson.  I wish I could write in the humorous sarcastic style of Jeremy Clarkson and master the hyperbole.  I wish I could describe a scene and be a master wordsmith like Bernard Cornwell. But never mind.  My literary limitations are not an excuse for not trying.

So the old Bloggler will plod on.  I will Learn. Experiment. Tweak. Repeat.