Another July 1st, and another blogging anniversary: my second.
In looking back over the past year, I am generally happy. Traffic is still modest - somewhere between 1,000 - 1,5000 hits a week, tending to the higher end of that range in the first four months of 2007. And that's OK. I have learned that my content and style are not going to generate the attention of the big blogs. Traffic is not my goal here.
Two years ago I started this with the expectation of writing about one post a day and I have generally kept to that pace: 743 posts over two years comes out to 1.02 posts a day. Perfect. I do this to explore the ways in which ancient Chinese thought can speak to contemporary issues. The best thing about it is that it keeps my head in the classic texts on a daily basis, and I like that. Most days I review the news and ask: what would Confucianism or Taoism or Legalism or Sun Tzu have to say about this or that story?
Highlights of the past year include: blogging from Beijing (starts here and runs for a couple of days); my Beijing Weekend and China Daily gigs, which are now in limbo (perhaps to be revived soon); and the stained glass of Saint Chapelle.
But the post I care the most about was titled, Without Him, my memorial to the first anniversary of Aidan's death.
The year ahead will be dominated by the book I have started. A draft of the first chapter (actually it is the second chapter, but the first one I have completed) is done, right on schedule. This evening I will dive into the next. I will likely bring some of the questions and quotations I am working on there to this blog, but the book might also steal some of my time away from this space. At the very least, I will try to keep up to my post-a-day average (which sometimes means no posts for a couple of days and then a couple of posts a day...).
Happy new blog year!
Happy Blog Birthday! I stop by everyday for your 1.02 posts.
Posted by: The Western Confucian | July 02, 2007 at 02:01 AM
Great job, Sam. I have a blog myself, but I find it very difficult to keep up with it the way you do.
Posted by: Chris | July 02, 2007 at 09:24 AM