Anyone that has visited my site over the past year, has been along for the fabulous ride I have had here at On The Upside - and I thank all of you!
My readership has grown tremendously and I have made so many great friends and met so many wonderful women and fellow bloggers. I am very grateful for the time that people take out of their busy days to come by my site(s) to read my stories and leave their heart-felt comments.
As most of you are aware, I receive lots of comments on my posts every day. And, I know you are aware of this - as you are probably one of the people that leaves me comment after comment after comment.
I - like most bloggers - enjoy receiving comments. It is our way of hearing what people think about our stories - our ideas - our writing - our families. It is very rewarding and it - above all else - is our link to one another. It's how we connect and bond and form relationships.
I - for nearly a year - have written on my blog almost every single day. My archives show that I have 431 posts. About 50 of those are drafts - yet to be published. The rest are stories that I have written and posted for my family and friends and new readers to read. That is a lot of writing and publishing for me - and ... that has been a lot of reading and commenting for you!
For nearly a year - I have responded to every single comment ever left on my site. There have been a few days, recently, where I was unable to visit, but before those days - I never missed a day where I would go back and visit anyone that left a comment on one of my posts. Some days 50 sites - some days 80 or more. And ... often - I would and do visit other sites on those days as well. On any given day - I probably visit 100 or more sites and leave comments on every one. I read posts and I comment. I've gotten to where I read very fast and I have gotten to where I do all of it very fast.
I have a system. If my system is running smoothly - I am able to keep up and it does not interfere much with the other duties, obligations and routines of my daily life. REALLY! I work the blogging in during the hours during the day that I can (early morning - late morning - mid afternoon and late evening) - usually about 4 times a day, I sit down and blog for at least an hour. Because I write my posts well in advance and keep them in my drafts - I am not necessarily pressured to write/publish - I just go to my drafts and pull a post that I want to publish for the next day. I do spend time writing posts - but usually I will write 3-4 posts at a time - leave them in my drafts and then I won't write again for 3-4-5 days later. This helps a lot.
This is what my daily spiral looks like:
These are two full spirals that I happened to have kept - but, there have been MANY more filled spirals over this past year.
What I do is write down the commenter's names on that day's post and then I go visit their site and when I have left a comment, I mark them off. I do this everyday.
I tell you all of this because I am considering changing the way I do things.
I love visiting other sites - I DO! I have done it for so long and visited so many, that it is not only a habit that is hard to break - but, if I don't visit some one's site for a while, I find that I miss them - feel left out of the loop - left out of what is going on in their lives.
But ... I am going to cut back on the number of sites I visit everyday. And, it's not because I don't want to visit - it's because I just can't keep doing it at this rate and pace.
I hope that people are coming to my site to read my stories. I hope that people actually DO read my stories. That is why I am writing them - for myself, my family and also for other's to enjoy.
I hope people feel that I have been a good friend - a loyal friend - as, I have worked VERY HARD at building relationships with a lot of people and it has taken a lot of time and effort.
I hope people don't just come to my site because they know I will come back and comment on their site.
I hope people will still come to my site and read and comment - even if - on that day - I can not get back to their site and read and comment.
I still plan to visit sites and comment (I am a COMMENTER - I like to leave comments) - I am just not going to do it like I am doing it now - to every single person that leaves me a comment - every single day.
Some days, I might do that - if I feel like it and have time. But - on days when I have too much going on or just don't feel like visiting every site - I am no longer going to do that.
I am sure I will lose readers because of this change - but, I hope not.
I will continue to write my stories on this blog and over at On The Flipside and I hope everyone continues to come and visit.
At the BlogHer conference I went to in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, someone said to me, "Why do you do it? You don't have to do it."
I don't know how not to do it. I've always done it. I have so many people that are simply - true friends and I don't know how - nor do I want to - cut them out of my time and my life.
One last thought.
I'm very aware that not everyone wishes me well - enjoys my blog(s) or its success - cares a thing about supporting me - REALLY (the BlogHer conference - meeting bloggers I thought were friends - proved that - even though I sensed it - knew it, already). For those people - this is a moment I'm sure they have been waiting for. Wanting to see if my blog is really capable of sustaining itself - through my stories - through my writing - because people actually like it - and not merely because I reciprocate comments.
It might very well - crumble, and I might very well lose lots of readers - but ... I have complete confidence that I offer more than just friendship here at On The Upside and On The Flipside. I am confident in my writing and in my story telling. I am confident that even if I lose some readers - I will eventually gain others. I could be wrong. Only time will tell.
Thank you and I hope to continue to see and hear from you here On The Upside and hope you know that I will visit/comment when I can.
Also ... If you have time - go over to On The Flipside (my other blog) and enter my weekend contest.