"When dawn spreads its paintbrush on the plain, spilling purple... ," Sons of the Pioneers theme for TV show "Wagon Train." Dawn on the mythic Santa Fe Trail, New Mexico, looking toward Raton from Cimarron. -- Clarkphoto. A curmudgeon artist's musings melding metaphors and journalism, for readers in more than 150 countries.

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Of time and a blog...another December

"Blogging takes time," one of my students said this year.
Yep, and as I think back on this seventh December of blogging for me, and the posts I've been postponing, or never got around to, I'm amazed Coffee with Clark has lasted this long.
This is the 134th post this year, and the 1,630th since the blog began in May 2009. The blog faltered this year, with fewer posts than usual, but that's still an average of about 20 a month over 79 months.
Coffee with Clark milestones this December:
  • More than 200,000 page views since I began.
  • 139 countries with readers --Kyrgyzstan, and Botswana clicked in this month.
I think it proves I'm still a journalist, because it doesn't make money...it's something I do because I want to--having an itch to write, and  because professionally I'm teaching blogging. 
The vast majority of it has been original content, essentially an old-fashioned newspaper column, but with color, photos, videos and more--without guest bloggers.
Certainly over time, it has changed, along with me. There are more visuals now, less lengthy writing, and more art work. I told Susan yesterday that  it's easier to paint something and post it with a few words, than to do all the research necessary to produce an intelligent written blog post. An example--this post took almost an hour.
Cases in point are two more I want to do today, if I have time--and I've been putting them off. One is an article about our earthquake crisis. Part of that is because I avoid politics, and the issue involves politics. Another post is our visit to see the First Folio of Shakespeare in Norman yesterday.
You just can't post photos and spout off...as a journalist, accuracy of facts is essential to me.
Anyway, this December's page views were the most since August. Told you it fluctuated. Here are the stats.


  (The chart shows the blog started in May, 2010, but that's an inaccuracy caused by the blog host, blogspot. Can't figure it out.)

                                  Year-by-year post totals   
2015 to date--135: December--24
2014--276: December--33
2013--252: December--39
2012--203: December--2
2011--134: December--15
2010--292: December--9
2009--339: December--47
(Note--most blogs start off strong, and then sort of fizzle out. While mine has fluctuated, I'm proud it is still going, and being read. Thank you.)

1 comment:

  1. Yep, you have kept your blog going and going and have changed quite a bit over the years, just like anything that is alive. You are a "must read" for me.

    I don't have near the writing skills you have and I relate to the concept of letting an image tell part of the story.

    You and your family have a Great and Prosperous New Year.

    I'm kind of wondering where this earthquake thing is going. A major company thumbing their nose at the entire population of the state is a big thing. The lack of outrage from our Governor astonishes me. After all she let them decide how much severance tax they wanted to pay.

    ReplyDelete

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