Journeys of an aging, changing blog(ger)

This is the ninth December for this blog, started in May, 2009, and it has changed over the years, as has the writer, and perhaps more so this year.
What started off as a text-heavy journal the first year, modeled on a newspaper personal column  seems to have evolved, as has the blogger. This is only the 136th post this year, ranking it in the lower half of those years. It was almost comatose in 2016, and what has saved it this year has been watercolor. 

July paintings tuckered out me, Sophie and Snoops

Daily paintings in July and this month boosted the total.
I'm not so concerned about quantity, but know most blogs dry up and don't last this long because they cease to have quality content consistently. and it's not a niche blog, that makes money, so that makes it more difficult to have a voice, a reason to even sit down and compose.
What also saved it through  the years was creating and teaching a semester-by-semester blogging course at UCO, which was motivation--you have to do what you teach. But with retirement, that has also changed, as has my urge to write--writing well and blogging well takes time and commitment, and focus. 
It has been a year of looking back, and exploring the future. The blog will change even more in 2018, if it survives, as retirement sets in. But there are more stories to tell, more paintings  to go with them.
Favorite, or best  posts of the year? 

• November, and September--farewells to newspaper friends Ray Lokey, Steve Booher, respectively.
• June--Riding in the classic aircraft, Ford Tri-motor, 3 parts
• May--Mother's Day, 3 parts; last graduation, 2 parts
• April--My retirement reception, 7 parts
• February--Why do you teach? 2 parts
• January--Retirement clock
• December and July--31 daily watercolors.

There have been  about 254,000 page views, up 20,000 from a year ago, from at least 150 countries around the world. Some of this mystifies me, that readers so far away would click on a personal, non-political, non-religious blog. But I wish I knew who, because there are so many stories to tell.

Countries with the most all-time readers:

United States-- 146,300+
Russia--14,136
China--12,080
Germany-11,994
Ukraine--11,692
France--9,00
UK--3,824
Turkey--1,391
Poland--1,277
Canada--1,187

Number of posts of the years:

2017--136--December, 36
2016--137--December, 39
2015 --136--December 26
2014--246--December, 33
2013--203--December 2
2012--2013--December, 15
2010--292, December, 9
2009--339, December 47

Here are the 150 countries with readers.

Actually there might be more, but I lost track of checking it every day this year. This is the list from last year:

• Africa--Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Togo, Ghana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Tunisia, Gabon, South Africa, Mali, Mauritus, Mauritania, Cameroonx, Zambia, Mozambique, South Sudan, Senegal, Benin, Angola, Botswana,  --26
• Asia--Russia, China, Taiwan, Cambodia, S Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Kazahkstan, Azerbaijan, Japan, Mongolia, Armenia, Georgia,  Nepal, Uzbekistan, Macau, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Burma (Myamar), -26
• Caribbean--Caymans,  Sint Maartin, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, The Bahamas, Anguilla, Netherlands Antilles,  St. Kitts and Nevis, Bermuda-11
• Central America--Panama, Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador-5
• Europe--UKx, Isle of Man, Francex, Spainx, Germanyx, Italyx, Switzerlandx, Monaco, Czech Republicx, Polandx, Croatia, Greecex, Macedonia, Netherlandsx, Icelandx, Norwayx, Swedenx, Denmarkx, Finlandx, Latviax, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, Ukrainex, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Austria, Sloveniax, Belgium, Irelandx,  Bulgariax, Turkey, Portugal, Luxemborg, Slovakiax, Albania,Slovenia, Leichtenstein, Montenegro-42
• Indian Ocean--Maldives, Seychelles-2
• Mediterranean--Maltax, Cyprus,-2
• MidEast--Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait,Qatar, Bahrain, Palestine, Lebanon, Oman, Yemen-, Syria-14
• North America--US, Canada, Mexico-3
• Oceana--Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Indonesia, Guam, New Caledonia, Fiji-7
• South America--Colombia, Peru, Chili, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Bolivia, Paraguay-12

(Ignore the little x at the end of some--those are countries I wrote about. And the Flag Counter on the sidebar is not accurate because I started it long after I started counting countries)

This blog celebrates its sixth birthday

The aging blogger

Coffee with Clark was born as a blog May 3, 2009, with no idea about where it was going or if it would survive. 
On after its sixth birthday, now in its seventh year, that is still true. 
But while much has changed in the world and with the blog since then, including the aging blogger,   Coffee with Clark is a minority in the rapidly expanding "blogosphere" mulitmillions where most blogs don't last long.
As with most blogs, I think, I started off with a flurry of writing and posts, and then slowed down. There were 339 posts the last seven months of 2009, the most of any year since. And the top two of my three most active writing months were August with 76 and July with 70.
For the record, the third busiest month of blogging was May of last year with 50 articles and such. and 2014 also had 276 posts, the first increase in three years.
All told, including this posting, I have posted  1, 415   times--writing, book reviews, photography, travel, my watercolors and art and more. That's an average of about 20 times a month. There have been more than 181,000 page views from people in 133 countries. That fact alone astounds me and fuels my imagination about who reads this and why.
The blog has changed and still is evolving. Layouts, typography, content, colors, purposes. In fact, I am increasingly wondering  why I blog, what the purpose and intent of the blog is.
Some of this is because I have also changed, and also I've been teaching the course Blogging for Journalists class which spun off out of this blog. My students' reports included advice from other bloggers who urge bloggers to know their purposes.

Obviously one reason I blog is because I teach blogging--I don't believe you should teach something you can't do or haven't done. And, I am a journalist--this is part of who I am. As one friend said, "You've got your newspaper column back." I'm also proud of the blog's success, including winning "Best Writing" award for a blog in Oklahoma. So I will continue.
But if you look at the number of posts this year--just 53 so far, something has changed. Yes, I'm busier with other activities than before--and blogging, writing, takes time. 
I do know there are many articles, photography and art I've intended to write and post through the years that never seem to see the light of day--stories I want to tell.
But that excuse aside, I think it shows that I'm perhaps a little tired of where Coffee with Clark is--that it needs more change on its birthday. That's my challenge as I try to figure it out as my life also changes.
+++
I've also started other blogs, especially for the classes I teach:

• The blogging class--BlogblogUCO
• The twitter class--#clarkclassUCO
• The international media class-- Clarkinternational

 

Coffee with Clark "blogstone," by the numbers

Screen shot of blog page views per month from beginning in May 2009 til today when it surpassed 5,000 monthly views for first time.--Note: Blogspot is wrong, not May 2007, but 2009.

Coffee with Clark reached a "blogstone" today--more than 5,000 views in a calendar month. That's a long way from May 2009 when it started.

Here are the numbers:

•  5,012--December page views at 9:45 am today
• 4,459--Previous high month, July, 2013

105,000+ --page views total

Page views by country

United States	66350
Russia	4423
Germany	4282
United Kingdom	2533
Ukraine	2277
France	1878
China	926
Canada	687
Poland	670
India	607

• 128--number of countries with readers
• 33--new countries this year

Blog posts per year

• 2009--339
• 2010--292
• 2011--135
• 2012--203
• 2013--252--by December 31

Months with most posts

• August, 2009--76
• July, 2009--70
• January, 2010--57
• April, 2010--47
• December, 2013!--39--by the end of the year

Day with most page views

• Dec, 23, 2013--532! A watercolor "Christmas eve journey"

Most popular posts of all time

• 2492--All aboard for Bartlesville , October, 2010 (I have no idea why)
• 1646--All aboard, August, 2010
• Actually top six posts of all time include the words "All aboard." Lots of train buffs?

Most popular posts in last month

• 129--Flags of historic friends--Canada, Feb. 2012 (This is now the 10th most popular posting of all time) I wondered about posting articles and maps about the countries of my readers, but apparently, it's interesting.
• 114--Black Friday blues, November, 2013
• 75--A Friday night 44 years ago, Nov. 2013
• 71--Raining ice as the sun comes out, December, 2013

My favorite and most creative posts--helping earn the Okie Blog Best Writing in the State Award in 2009

•  "The booth is a verb"--More than 10,000 words in multiple chapters telling the story of the booth and my friend, the late Bob Illidge, from 2009.

This blog is typical of many, starting out with a flurry of postings, bottled up inside, or from something that triggers a passion. That's why the first year had so many postings and then tapered off. I wondered when I started it if it'd continue, and it did slump, but has picked back up.
That's due in part because I teach a class in blogging at UCO and have to be active to have integrity. It's also due to the fact that the blog has grown and changed since the beginning and I've learned a lot and changed too. 
It now includes more photographs and paintings, and more story telling I think. The design has changed with the times too. What hasn't changed in the past four months is the title photo at the top, from my back road solo trip to New Mexico. That photo tells you so much about me and my interests. But it will eventually change too.
 What's next? I have no idea, although I've said for some time I want to take the blog to the "next level," whatever that means. I hope it means switching formats and hosts, adding advertising for some income, and emphasizing travel more. But I don't really know.
Why do I do this? I guess because I'm a first-born Capricorn  and deep down, a journalist.
When I owned the Waurika News-Democrat, my weekly column was titled "Trail Talk," because we were on the old Chisholm Trail. As a friend once said to me about this blog, "Hey, you've got your column back."