I blog. I also write for magazines, journals and anthologies. I have self-published but why do I blog? That I do sometimes wonder. There are times when I feel that I am shouting against the wind and that I am like the Baptist, a lone voice in the wilderness. My WordPress blog has around seventy followers. My ‘Fan or Like Page’ on Facebook, now has over one thousand. Does each post get a reaction or is actually read by all of my followers? The answer is sadly no. Perhaps my posts are of little interest. Perhaps the email notifications go straight to the spam folder. I am unsure.
Yes, I do wonder if anyone is reading my work. There have been times when something has been asked and my thought has been; ‘If you had read my blog, you would know that.’ Yes, it is tiresome but my patience is strained frequently by the Internet in general. See link below:
Many of my blog posts get no more than a dozen or so hits. A few get hits measured in the hundreds and a few, oh so very few; can build up to a thousand or more hits over the years. My most successful blog post of all time, has been read by over six thousand people across two platforms and that total has taken over a decade to be reached. It is still, an exceptionally successful example. See link below:
I do of course post a variety of items but not all are my original writings. Interspaced between my poetry, my essays on esoterica, my book reviews, concert reviews and occasional social commentaries, are links to YouTube. These are most often documentaries on subjects of interest to me. Sometimes they are nothing more than links to the music that I enjoy.
What I have noted however, is the importance of Facebook. It is the social networking site we all love to hate but whether we writers like it or not, it is where our audience is. Although I may only garner a dozen or so hits a day, I am still averaging five hundred hits a month. Which isn’t too bad for someone who is not a big name.
The actual ‘Fan or Like Page’ is somewhat problematic. It appears that the algorithms do not promote organically. Facebook although free to use, actively encourages paid promotions and those of us who refuse to pay for this privilege, are penalised. The majority of my hits do still come via Facebook and although my ‘Like Page’ has a very limited reach, if I do not post to specific Facebook groups; then my ‘hit’ count will drop considerably.
Perhaps three or four times a year, I will receive what I can only describe as fan-mail. It is rare, oh, so very rare. Indeed it is so infrequent that the occurrence is particularly noteworthy. For someone like me and remember I am not a big name, to receive a note of some kind is unusual. That someone should take the time to contact me, to say that they liked something on my blog, something I posted on Facebook or something they saw in print. It is both a very pleasant and a very, very special event.
This time last year (9th July 2022), I received a complement so noteworthy. Well, I had to share it on Facebook: ‘Today I have been called a craftsman of the paragraph and not for the first time, a wordsmith. I’m feeling rather pleased with myself.‘ It is complements like that and those occasional instances of fan-mail, that do make my writing worthwhile. Is that why I still blog? Perhaps.
Like many who write, I keep a notebook with me most of the time, if not necessarily all the time. I have awoken in the early hours, blurry eyed and without my spectacles, to reach for my notebook. I have written some of my best paragraphs and poetry in the bath. When I say I have written them in the bath, I am being somewhat imprecise. The paper gets terribly wet. I mean, I remember the ideas and the phrases, just long enough to make it to the bedroom and jot them down. Sometimes I will write messages to myself using the mobile telephone and then send them to myself using ‘Facebook messenger.’ I understand this peculiarity of behaviour and one which I thought to be somewhat eccentric, is not as uncommon as I originally thought.
As I have outlined previously (The Joy & the Sorrow – link below), writing can be both painful and rewarding. It is also exceptionally hard work and unless one is also a writer, the amount of effort required can be difficult to appreciate. There is clearly a prestige and a sense of achievement, associated with seeing my own original work in print. I do absolutely, derive a great deal of satisfaction from the accomplishment and it would be foolish of me to deny it.
Finally, is that why I continue? Because there are a few people who genuinely appreciate my writings and my opinions? Is it the sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, derived from seeing my work either in print or online? Is it the prestige and that sense of achievement? It is of course all of these things and much more. I say more, because there is also the need to satisfy that deep seated desire for self expression. I may be that lone voice crying in the wilderness but if one other soul can hear me above the wind, then it has all been worthwhile.
Daniel Bran Griffith - The Chattering Magpie 
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