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March 28, 2006
Life : A year on the web
Despite the year going out with more of a whimper than a bang, this is the first anniversary of my starting this blog and thus an obvious occasion for introspection and evaluation. I started this blog for a multitude of reasons. Some were achieved, others not.
First some raw statistics.
In 365 days I made 218 posts, or an average of about 4 posts a week. Obviously the last two months reduced that average significantly. To those posts there were 197 comments from other 12 people and 111 replies to those comments from me for a total of 308 comments. The fact that the ratio of posts to comments is nearly 1-1 over the year is very satisfying for me. Just looking at the posts (my comments would significantly increase this), I wrote over 92,000 words which, when formatted as manuscript for submission to a publisher, would fill 271 pages. So essentially, I wrote a book this year.
Beyond the numbers, how well did this venture “succeed” at being what I had hoped it would be? The answer is somewhat mixed, as were the reasons I started this.
One reason I started this blog was to encourage myself to get out of my shell. I am by nature a reserved, almost reclusive person. I am most comfortable either alone with my (many) thoughts or in the company of one or two other people I know. My hope was that doing this blog would encourage me to be a bit more open – not just on the web, but also in every day life. On that goal I am please to say this was a success. Putting my thoughts out on the web (even if it is read by only a couple dozen people) has managed to make me more comfortable talking about myself in general.
Another reason I started this blog was I wanted some outlet for all of the random things I think about. Again, a success. Looking back at the entries I posted over the year, I do think they are a fair reflection of what I think about normally. Being able to put these thoughts down in ones and zeros has been a great release for me.
Another reason I had was to make some new connections to the world – to find some people with similar interest and develop some new friends. Here the blog was somewhat less successful. Of the twelve people who commented on this blog, only 5 were not known to me before I started blogging, and those 5 only accounted for 33 of the 197 comments. While it was never my plan to become a famous blogger, read by millions, I had hoped my audience would extend a bit farther outside my existing associations than it did.
My biggest disappointment?
While the lack of contact with new people rates fairly high, I have to say the difficulties I have had the last two months is probably my greatest disappointment.
My biggest surprise?
I was most surprised by how much I like writing non-fiction. I have always viewed myself as an aspiring fiction writer, even though I have never managed to finish any of my larger projects. What I discovered with this blog is how much I like writing essays, and that has led me to wonder if my pursuit of fiction has been misdirected. I am now contemplating putting an effort into writing a non-fiction book and laying fiction aside for a while.
What’s next?
Well, my intent is to continue blogging here; but I’m still not sure how often or on what topics. One challenge I have (other than work) is that I seem to be able to focus on one writing project at a time. Some of the gaps in the blog are from times when I was busy writing things for work or church. If I do in fact start to write a non-fiction book in earnest, that will almost certainly impact my ability to also write for this blog. On top of that I have the issue that a lot of what I have been thinking about lately is related to my faith and I still am unsure how much of this blog I want to see dedicated to that one (albeit important) part of my life.
Posted by Steven at March 28, 2006 09:11 PM
Comments
well, I suppose congratulations are in order even if the last 6 weeks have been spotty.
Most novels run 80,000 to 120,000 words. You are certainly in the range of a novel. Too much more and the publishers wouldn't touch it (unless ye be Michener).
Posted by: roland at March 28, 2006 03:32 PM
Yeah, I acknowledge I kind of limped across the finish line this year. Hope to correct that; but we’ll see.
I was shocked by how much text all this added up to. If you include comments, you probably have to add another 15% on to the totals.
Posted by: Steven at March 28, 2006 04:46 PM
92,000 words is only an average of 422 words per post. Given the depth of topic exploration, I'm surprised the total is so *small*.
Posted by: roland at March 29, 2006 06:48 AM
