Five Years, What a Surprise

olivesOn this day, five years ago, I started this blog. When I began (at a different location, with a different name, explained here), I didn’t have much more in mind for it than an online diary, which was all most blogs were back then. I’d never kept a diary before, but somehow, like everyone else, I thought I’d have something interesting to share on a regular basis. Interesting or not, I certainly was regular, for a while at least.

Then, I actually got something of a focus, and I fancied myself something of a literary blogger, commenting on the world of publishing, reviewing books, etc. I even started getting review copies from publishers, until I stopped having the time or follow-through to actually review the books I was getting (at which point I stopped accepting them).

After that focus faded, I added some old philosphy papers to my online home, and then turned the site into something of a craft blog. But since losing my way even with that focus, I must admit that I’ve gotten out of the habit of posting, and I’m still searching for something to give this blog a meaning worthy of bringing people here regularly. To be honest, I’m really not sure how many people will read this. I go so long between posts now that I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d dropped out of most people’s feedreaders or bookmarks for sites to visit regularly.

What I do know, based on my traffic stats, is that my one strength is a certain article I wrote for Make magazine, then posted to a wiki, and then finally moved over here in an effort at consolidating my various online projects. To date, here are the search terms that have driven the most traffic to this site, in order:

  1. book binding
  2. diy book binding
  3. bookbinding
  4. bookbinding tutorial
  5. bookbinding tutorials
  6. book binding tutorial
  7. diy bookbinding
  8. brian sawyer

Yes, all but one of those search terms land on this page (actually, I think at least some of them land on my roundup of tutorial links), which has been viewed over 38,000 times since I moved it there. (Incidentally, though those searchers likely won’t read this, because they bypass the front page completely, they might be interested to know that the article may end up almost ended up appearing in a really interesting book sometime soon.)

If it weren’t for the strength of my backlist, I’d start wondering if it was worth keeping this site up at all, but I’m happy to see that people are finding something they like here, even if it isn’t fresh content. But if you are reading this, thanks. Please let me know why you’re still following me, because it might give me some idea of what I might be able to offer around here with a little more regularity.

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