Review of 2020 / Reset for 2021
What makes a post popular. / My future plans.
As we drag our weary minds and bodies over the 2020 finishing line, I've taken some time to analyse what is my most popular writing and why those pieces might appeal to visitors. I started posting in July (it seems an age ago) and the fifteen items break down into seven prose pieces, six poems and two blog posts.
There have been over 1200 views across all content, with almost 500 visitors across 27 countries. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read, like and comment, either directly on the site or within the various social channels where you can also find me - Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
In case you didn't catch them the first time round, here - in reverse order - are the 'Top 5' most popular posts by number of views:
Cognitive Dissonance (Flash Fiction)
Male, Pale, but not yet Stale... (Blog Post)
Nature's Test (Poem)
The Hour (Flash Fiction)
A Difficult Autumn (Poem)
Readers' reactions to an author's first tentative steps always provide some welcome insights. Here are some lessons I've learnt from the varying popularity and comments to what I've written, which I'll be taking on board when publishing new material in 2021:
Emotional resonance: Readers want or feel attuned to writing that resonates with what they're feeling, or what the consensus may be amongst their family and friends. If it's too jarring then they won't enjoy it.
Thought provoking: Readers want something to get their teeth into quickly, either a fresh take on an old topic or something new. If it's got a degree of inter-personal conflict in it, so much the better. Stream of consciousness rambling/meandering doesn't cut it.
Strong opinions and beliefs: Some subjects - for example, religion, health and deep-seated political views or cultural values - create strong reactions. It's perhaps best to leave such topics to journalists.
Simplicity: My readers don't want to read anything that's too complicated, either as prose or poetry. They want to relax, be distracted and hopefully entertained for a few minutes. They don't want to be thinking too hard. My writing stall should emulate a cake shop, not a classroom.
Variety remains the spice of life, and going into 2021 I'm already lining up more short pieces of prose (a.k.a. 'flash fiction') and poetry to publish again to a fortnightly schedule. Most of them arise from warm-up exercises for my day's major writing efforts, but I may include a short story or two as we go through the year. All these postings should take me up to my showcase's first birthday in July.
All the above reflects my publicly visible activity, but I've spent the bulk of my time in 2020 writing the first draft of my first novel - now just tipping over the 100,000 word mark. It's been a thoroughly enjoyable exercise and I've gotten to know my characters intimately (even the dead ones!). I've also learned about the book editing process during this time, similar to how I spent 2019 learning to write. So I aim to start the manuscript's story editing stage as soon as January, which will no doubt provide a different tempo and exercise other brain cells compared to the earlier stage of 'getting the right words in the right order out of my head'. I won't pretend it wasn't sometimes painful.
I'll close by thanking you again for helping me to keep my writer's wheel turning and wish every one of you a safe, successful and all-round improved year in 2021.
Happy New Year to you all.
