The Little Corner’s Second Anniversary!!!
I’ve read in a couple of places that blog readership has declined somewhat over the last year or so, as social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter allow us to “microblog”, and we’re more likely to follow tiny posts than invest the energy and attention in longer ones.
If that’s the case, I’ve seen no indication of it with the numbers for my site. Now granted, I’m no Charlie Sheen, with the whole world following my steady burn, but I’m doing okay. Hits and visitors have steadily increased over the past months (and my tracking software SUPPOSEDLY identifies bots and spiders, so my numbers are more or less clean). This past January was an absolute blowout.
I don’t know how many of you have been watching this space the whole time it’s been here, but I’d really love to thank you. You’ve made me want to continue slogging away with this site, trying to entertain, inspire, and inform you on all the little things I like to talk about. At this point, I’ve been doing it for TWO WHOLE YEARS! And for those of you who are relatively new to willkenyon.com, thank YOU for stopping by, and please come back. Again and again.
Recently, I did a little housekeeping, and started a couple of new side navs, which are over there to the right. The purpose of them is twofold: First, to provide newcomers access to some popular older posts, and to some of my more creative endeavors. Second, to provide “old-timers” quick delivery of some of the items that they liked from the past. With two years of posts, it can be a little daunting to wade through all the stuff I’ve written in order to find the gems. Also, if you happen to visit here and you think the stuff currently on the front page is crap, you can click through and be reminded of why you came here before.
So check them out. Check out the Greatest Hits link, and check out the Short Stories and Poems link. Go ahead. I’ll be here when you get back.
Finally, come back to THIS page sometime in the next few days, and I’ll tell you about something exciting (at least to me, and hopefully to you) that’s in the pipeline.
Thanks again, everybody. Here’s to another great year.
The Little Corner’s ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!
That’s right. One year ago TODAY, I posted my first blog post at this URL - after years of altogether resisting the idea of blogging. Don’t ask me why I resisted - I know why, but that’s a story for another day. Just suffice it to say that, despite my initial resistance, I have not regretted a single moment that I’ve spent writing and sharing with my readers over the past year.
Which brings me in short order to YOU. After a year, all I can express is a genuine heartfelt gratitude to every one who comes to this site, especially those who come on a regular basis. Over the past year, the traffic at www.willkenyon.com has steadily increased. I have more and more unique visitors, more and more page views, more and more hits. And my SEO/tracking software does a good job of weeding out the bots and spiders, so I know that most of the traffic is real people.
Thank you, real person, for making my site the (qualified) success that it is.
A couple more things and then we’re finished for the day (and again, thanks for stopping by). First, allow me to briefly wax philosophical about writing….
In the many years since I decided that my calling was to write words, I have realized that writing is, in fact, TWO things. By turns, it morphs from the one into the other and back again - and my (qualified) success has increased as I came to this realization.
Foremost, writing is an art - a high art. (Duh. Right?) I think the only art which is higher is music. (And I believe THAT because I believe Kurt Vonnegut’s quote regarding his epitaph: “If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC”.) As noble callings go, I’m proud that I chose this one and that I’ve been able to do it for several years. I am an artist, thank God.
Secondly, though, writing is a product. OK - not all of it. Some of it is personal and - as good as it might be - not meant for general consumption. But for many of us who decided to follow this particular Muse, our writing IS a product, meant for consumption by as many people as will consume it. To that end, we must create work which will attract readership. It must be entertaining and provocative, engaging and meaningful - or at least approach those things. And to continue gaining readership, we must continue to produce. Writing more material not only makes us better writers, it also gives us more product for you, the reader, to enjoy.
I hope my “product” is enjoyable. It must be to somebody, or I’d have hung up my hat a while back. On this site as well as my career….
OK. Enough philosophy. Let me now share with you some choice offerings from this site. MANY of you are relatively new to it, so you might have missed a few of my “greatest hits” - and some of you old hands might have forgotten or missed a certain post way back when. So here are some highlights - ten of them (ten’s always a good number, eh?) for your (hopeful) enjoyment.
FYI, I compiled this list by looking at the hits and page views on or around the date I posted each post. I “tweaked” the list by trying to spread the high points over time (naturally, newer posts will by default have higher numbers than older because of the increase in traffic, but I wanted to be fair to some of those older posts). Here goes:
Not A Christian Nation. Never Were. (wherein Will puts a quote from his President back into context)
Creeps and Assholes (wherein Will takes a look at the two kinds of people in the world)
Will’s Mini Beerfest (William likey the beer)
Advances In Technology (acknowledging the power of communications technology in my life as well as my business)
Zombies of South Beach (scary!!!)
Conquering Venus by Collin Kelley - A Podcast Interview with the Author (thank you, Collin!)
Defining Moments from High School (wherein Will tells you a little bit about himself)
Where Do Poems Come From? (etiology of a poem and a bonus piece of poetry!)
A War Between States: Novel Podcasts (I wasn’t sure how this podcast thing was faring, but hits and visits seem to slide upward around each podcast. This link will take you to the latest compilation of all the podcasts.)
Ah, Hypocrisy (wherein Will pisses off half of South Alabama)