Well, it is hard to believe, but as of today it has already been a full year since I activated The Downward Spiral Blog. It is even harder to believe that in the past year I have written nearly 900 blog posts that have been viewed more than 450,000 times. In April alone, TDS's page view count soared to over 87,000, a new monthly record that beat March's previous monthly high by around 17,000. I guess I've managed to really strike a chord with my faithful readers.
The only downside is that the heavy blogging load has been kind of wearing me out lately (especially since I do still have my day job, damnit). Since last November or so, I've settled into a pattern where I've done one longer post each morning on a topic that really put a bee in my bonnet, followed up by two to three additional shorter posts on other relevant articles. In trying to keep up with the torrid pace I was setting, I have upon reflection been less than satisfied with a few of my recent ramblings.
To remedy this problem, I've decided to cut back a bit on writing longer posts in which I do much of the talking. From here on out I plan to compose the more in depth pieces as the mood strikes me rather than because I feel I HAVE to put something fresh up every day. Heck, it might even give me time to do some real research once in awhile. But don't worry, I still intend to do daily posts on relevant news stories, especially those from local media sources that don't necessarily get a lot of coverage on other economic blogs. The media in general does a very poor job of making any links between such related stories, and I like to think that is where TDS really provides a valuable service.
As always, my most heartfelt thanks goes out to you, my regular readers. You are what makes this effort so worthwhile.
Cheers!
Bill
Bonus: "Happy Birthday to me and to you"
Excellent work Bill! Appreciate all the posts and certainly understand the burnout issue, take a well deserved break, all of this wears on you.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Bill!
ReplyDeleteI understand the "tyranny of the blog," so I hope you don't get over-concerned with hitting "peak TDS." Eventually this will happen, even if you spent 100% of your time on TDS.
Although news aggregation sites, like 3e's, are very valuable, I for one, appreciate your efforts to step back and provide some broader context or linkages between the hundreds of news stories that fly under the main stream media's radar.
C_W
The Downward Spiral is one of my most-favored blog sites (great content, opinion and style). It doesn't matter to me how many times you post, or how long they are; i'll continue to enjoy them. Thanks so much, Bill, for your commitment to this web site, the time and thought you put into your posts. Congrats on the one-year anniv.
ReplyDeleteCulinarius
Happy Birthday Bill, and thanks for providing an always clear lens here at TDS.
ReplyDeleteCongrats and thanks. I'm a daily reader...
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on one year in the blogging business.
ReplyDeleteNow you know why I write only one post a day 6 days a week, except Saturdays ;-)
That hurts my page views -- few repeat visits except by those who comment -- but I am able to keep the quality high without getting too burnt out.
Some friendly advice from a colleague.
-- Dave
Happy Birthday to TDS, well done Bill
ReplyDeleteGreat site Hicks!!! Keep it up. Woodcraft.
ReplyDelete