Thank You, Dear Readers

Yesterday morning when I posted the blog, I was very close to another milestone, which quietly arrived without notice or fanfare from me as I worked.

For bloggers that are famous and bloggers that attract huge traffic to their sites, this milestone may not seem like much.

But for me, who started with nothing except an idea and a desire to build, it's enormous.

I'm talking about total reader views. 

Yesterday, I hit 300,000 total views since I began this blog on Aug. 1, 2010.

Yes, it's taken a long time to reach it.

Back in 2010, when my daughter Sarah Stegall offered to help collect recipes for the BryonySeries cookbook, she became so entranced with the project, she created the Bryony Facebook page as a Mother's Day gift (I had no idea how to start a page and probably still would need help today) and the next month, she offered to build a website (She had no idea how to build one. But she had the time, at the time, to figure it out and she did).

Then she created a Twitter account and a Flickr account (we've never used the latter). I'd read authors should have something called a blog. She researched that and set up this blog. then she researched SEO, keywords, and hashtags. For the first year, I wrote the blog (based on Sarah's ideas because I had no idea what to write) and she tagged them because tagging was a concept I could not grasp.

We cheered the first few views, the first double digit views, the first 50, the first 100.

With blogging nearly every day, it took almost six years to the day to reach that first 100,000 in total views. And we cheered that, too.

The next 100,000 took just fifteen months. That number got a bit of a boost late last year when I began blogging twice a day to attract a wider audience. Since the start of the blog, I'd posted links to all my feature stories on Friday, a story round-up. But the bulk of my work since I became an employee in 2014 doesn't have a byline and yet contains valuable information for the Joliet area community: local events and the great projects people are doing. 

So I began adding links to those in a second blog, posted in the evening, as a way of letting readers know those stories are available, too. The analytics show some people are reading them.

And we attained the third 100,000 in slightly less than nine months.

Since that time, my youngest daughter Rebekah Baran has become my partner in all things BryonySeries.

Every now and again someone mentions to me he or she reads my blog. Every now and then someone posts a comment on Facebook. Overall, I really have no idea who you area. Comments on the blog are even more sparse than the ones on Facebook.

But the analytics also show all those views aren't (albeit some probably are). I hardly ever have huge jumps in traffic that would alert me to bots.

Most of the traffic comes from Facebook, followed by Twitter, and then Google. 

Whoever you area, I'm thankful. Thankful, thankful, thankful, thankful.

And so I'm sharing this with you today. Because it's your milestone, too, probably more than mine.

Without you, dear readers, there would be no milestone to celebrate.

Thank You, Thank You

In 2010 I reluctantly started a blog because I'd read authors should have blogs.

My daughter Sarah Stegall, who was teaching herself the technical side of BryonySeries things (web design, social media, SEO, keywords, all the while collecting recipes for the BryonySeries cookbook) researched blogs, narrowed it down to WordPress and Blogger, and decided on the latter, for many reason, none of which are important here.

But I had a bigger problem. I had no idea what to write. Features, fiction: fine; ideas abound. But, blogging? Is't that like "Dear Diary," but online?

Sarah had ideas. Write about anything and everything connected to me writing: my work writing, my fiction writing, the setting, the plot, the characters, the themes (Victorian, 1970s, food, Irish, leprechauns, blood, roses, piano, white cats, fishing and fishing villages, gothic architecture, gothic literature, and so on), self-publishing, my struggles, my victories, and some of me personally.

People would want to read that? Sarah assured me they would. And she was afraid.

Still, I was afraid of being spammy, a fear that persists to this today and helps keep me on track. For instance, here's a piece I'd bookmarked four years ago: http://annerallen.com/2013/10/social-media-secrets-for-authors-par/

We decided to launch the blog Aug. 1, several months in advance of a November release date, never guessing my June surgery would be postponed until August and that the small I press that was readying Bryony for publication would push the release date out a year (and eventually go out of business).

Still afraid of running out of material, I prewrote the first month's worth of posts. Except for some exceptions in 2013 when we were losing our home, I've blogged every day. I haven't run out of ideas and have some new (and will be resurrecting some old) ideas for 2018.

Sarah and I together cheered the first couple of post views, then cheered again when views hit double digits (Ten people read it??? Really???) We cheered when we hit 50 views and when we hit 100. We celebrated 100,000 all-time views in mid-2016 and watched the numbers continue to climb.

Before the holidays, the blog averaged 13,000 views a month. And we almost closed out the year at 200,000 all-time views. I can't tell you how humbling that is.

And yes, even when one doesn't count the Throwback Thursdays (another of Sarah's ideas), some of those older posts still get views. Amazing

I'm convinced the experience Sarah received from learning this stuff helped her land the job (and manager's role) she has today in her company; I'm convinced I work as a features editor today because of the skills I acquired while writing, editing and marketing novels.

Although Sarah is now too busy to play "web administrator" to the BryonySeries anymore (her exact current title is "web administrator emeritus"), my other daughter Rebekah Baran has stepped up into that role.

Rebekah designed the current website at www.bryonyseries.com. She does most of my book formatting and cover creation. She formats and uploads the eBooks. And she's gradually teaching me how to do these things, only calling on Sarah when she runs into a snag.

I never could/can do this without my girls. Their help, expertise, willingness to learn, and ease of navigating technology is invaluable and appreciated beyond measure.

Why am I sharing all this?

Because if you're a writer, hang in there. Be persistent; be consistent. Take the long view of building a writing/editing business. While overnight successes are rare, this industry has a way of rewarding those who keep learning and improving, possibly because the competition quits too soon.

While I'm far, far, far from being a household name, I spend most of my hours (weekdays and weekends) writing and editing something, which is the career I've wanted ever since I was a little girl. The career grows a bit more each year.

If these are your goals, too, I want to help you get there. Because it's possible, you know.

If you'd like to self-publish a book this year for little cost, and you live in the Joliet area, check out this event on Jan. 11: https://goo.gl/aRY4uC

If you're a WriteOn Joliet writer, I want to hear your writing, editing, and marketing goals so we can help each other in 2018. We have local memberships (for those who can attend meetings) and remote memberships (those who live far away and cannot). So the group is open to all adults writers age 18 and up. For more information, visit www.writeonjoliet.com.

If you're a reader, I'm humbled with gratitude.

Thank you for finding something worthwhile to read here.

Thank you for checking back each day.

Both add up to encouragement to me. Page views help let me know what readers are enjoying; they help shape the future of this blog. They fuel my inspiration for yet another post on another day.

Ultimately this blog is meant to entertain you, provide you with information, share great stories from the greater Joliet community, and help connect us with each other.

So readers, if there's something you'd like to see on this blog, message me at bryonyseries@gmail.com. I'd love to hear your feedback and ideas.

For me, 2017 was a hard, challenging year for my adult children and me in terms of work. In fact, as soon as I post this blog, I'm working the rest of this day. Praise God it's work I enjoy!

But.

I'm leaving 2017 with sharper skills than I began it and so are my kids. I hope 2017 brought, for you, many blessings, even if they came disguised.

I look forward to journeying the new year with you. Here's to 2018! (virtually cliinking my coffee mug against yours).