Blogging

Retreat

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My friend Karen Swim asks, “What are you doing with your days?” 

Good question. 

My response: Taking a blogging break.   I don’t know for how long.  Probably for two to three weeks. 

Don’t worry about me.  I have some projects that need laser like focus and blogging and blah blahing keep me too frazzled to apply this focus. 

I enjoy communing with all of you and I will be by to visit you when I can. 

I was recently up in Northern Michigan getting pictures of fall color, fishermen, and yes, more barns. 

Fishing the Platte copyright Ellen Wilson
Lake Michigan Leelanau Peninsula copyright Ellen Wilson
Oak Leaf copyright Ellen Wilson
Nuthatch copyright Ellen Wilson
Barn Leelanau County copyright Ellen Wilson

 

And because I have that damn J thing going on with the Myers Briggs thing I just had to post today.  The little voice kept saying wait on it wait on it.  Who really cares?  Apparently my anal sense of puntuality does.

I’ll probably get around to it tomorrow.

Talk with you soon.  E

PS Oh and check out my RSS number since my last post.  It was up to 120.  Now it’s 108.  Hmmm.  I still haven’t quite figured this number thing out yet but I’m I’ll leave it up because now my curiousity is really piqued.

And the Winner is…California!

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Okay, I lied.

I said awhile ago in the comments I wasn’t going to check my stats for two months.  Well, I got this overwhelming urge.  You know how it goes.

I like to get my Google world map out and watch it light up.

What!?  My Michigan viewers are in second place! And California is in first place.

And to keep with the agricultural theme of my last post, here we have the winning orange, which of course symbolizes California.  And the sad corn, which symbolizes Michigan.

We get some of our oranges from California.  And today, surprise!  I found out this orange is from South Africa.  This orange traveled a long way to my mouth.

And you might get some of your corn from Michigan.  In the future we will even put it in our cars.  An idea which defeats the purpose of decreasing our reliance on fossil fuels…because fossil fuels are used in the manufacturing process of ethanol (squeaking it out of corn).  But don’t even get me started on that one…

I just don’t understand my home state.  Sure, the population is higher in California than Michigan.  And the sun shines a helluva lot more.  Is that it?  Is it the SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) factor?  Are people in Michigan depressed and that can’t make their way over to Wilson’s Words and Pictures? 

Perhaps.

Okay, here is the breakdown,

Since I’m a US citizen, I’ll start with the states first:

California comes in 1st with the most visits.  And!  This is most important to me, average time on site is 5:28.  We are operating on hours and minutes here people.  Not dreamtime. Sorry.  But I recognize dreamtime.

Michigan comes in 2nd place.  Average time on site is 1:18.  What?!  Now we also have ADD.  Not surprising.

Pennesylvania is 3rd!  I would never have of guessed this. Average time on site is :42.  Alright, a little more ADD than Michigan.  You guys need to eat a better breakfast in the morning.

This is all averaged out between cities of each state.

World Wide (in order of supposedly decreasing importance)

United States: Average time on site: 1:53 seconds.

Canada: Average time on site: 1:58 seconds. 5 seconds more than the US!  Yea!

United Kingdom: :47 seconds.  Okay, what is wrong with you guys.  Try to keep up, eh?

Where in the world do you get the majority of your visitors?

Photocredit: © Ellen Wilson

The Forward Momentum of Bloggery (continued)

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This post explores the art and science of bloggery. It is a continuation of the last post.

Comments

When I first sat up my blog I waited in gleeful anticipation for the comments to start pouring in. And waited. And waited. What the hell is wrong with these search engines?, I thought. Surprise! You will have to leave your blog house and go and make some friends. If you want people to come to your blog and comment you will have to do the same at theirs. Call it what you want, tit for tat, or whatever, but most people do not want to be part of the chorus that constantly croaks at your blog and never ever even peeps at theirs. The best relationships are pretty balanced.

Blog Relationships

My favorite part of the blog equation. You meet a lot of great people and can partner up on different projects. I’ve been fortunate to partner with Sandie Law, of Geeked Off! on a article about genetic modification of food. I’ve also been fortunate to have given advice, and have helped support and encourage many bloggers on a personal and professional level. And others have done the same for me. Barbara Swafford, of Blogging Without a Blog, recently featured Linda Abbit, of Tender Loving Eldercare and motivated me to sign up as a hospice volunteer. Something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.

And there’s Jaden, of Screenwriting for Hollywood, who also has motivated me to finally take the plunge and get the novel done and turn it into a screenplay. She’s also going to give us tips on screenwriting contests and the best places to send your screenplay to, so if you have a secret fantasy to write for Hollywood, visit Jaden’s site.

Melissa Donovan of Writing Forward has also inspired me with her writing advice. She has a lot of great blogging tips, too.

If I haven’t mentioned you specifically, recognize that I do appreciate all of you. I want to thank all of my friends I’ve found online.  I think that it is more important to me to have these relationships than become over the top popular.

That’s been my blogging journey so far. What’s your’s been like? Do you have any special tips to add that might help others?

Photocredit: © Ellen Wilson