Carry on blogging

Hi. I have been thinking about this post for a while now, but I wanted to wait until the end of April to share some Waffle statistics with you, and my thoughts on the blogging experience so far. Happy May Day by the way.

My first proper post was on 23 February this year. Since the lockdown I have been blogging every day. This is my 51st post. My sincere thanks to my most loyal followers who have read them all, and to everyone who has even so much as dipped their little toe into the Waffle waters. I have been struggling with a term to use for you, my blog audience. My initial thought was that I am the blogger and you are my bloggees, but that kind of sounds like something that has got stuck down the toilet so that won’t do at all. Recently I have decided to call you “my Waffle friends” as I think that sums it up nicely.

So, my Waffle friends, this blog is for me but it is also for you. And I want you to be happy. I will tell you honestly how the blog is doing, here it is in numbers from WordPress..

February 2020: 297 views, 36 visitors from the UK, China and the USA, 1 like, 2 comments

March 2020: 1014 views, 208 visitors from 15 different countries, 24 likes, 20 comments

April 2020: 971 views, 216 visitors from 10 different countries including Hong Kong as a new entry, 63 likes, 33 comments

I am absolutely thrilled with this. But what is the goal? Massive world domination? I don’t think so. I have been looking at a lot of other people’s blogs recently. Some of them are brilliant, some of them are not so brilliant, all are expressive of an individual human being and their thoughts. I love that.

The blogs I find I really like are often the new, fresh ones. On the super popular blogs it is not such an intimate community where you find yourself scrolling down hundreds of comments underneath every blog post. I think in some ways the blog has lost something when it becomes too popular. So although I am on the one hand extremely pleased to see my Waffle friends grow in number and geography, I think if it just stayed as it is that would be perfectly acceptable too. I guess it’s that age old question of whether you’d prefer to have hundreds of so-so friends, or a handful of very good friends. I like to think of us as a little Waffle community.

These are some questions I have been asked since starting the blog. You can ask me a question any time using the comments section or by emailing me here. All constructive criticism gratefully received.

1 Why don’t you post more recipes?
It is tricky posting recipes because unless you have substantially modified the recipe you have to seek copyright permission. I don’t often make up my own recipes so I try to provide website links and names of the cookbooks I use instead. I also find food blogs listing one recipe after another quite boring. I prefer to tell a story.

2 Why aren’t there photos of you on the blog?
I’m thinking about this. There probably should be at least one. But I do want the blog to be primarily about my voice and my thoughts/writing rather than “look at me everybody!” I would also have to decide which photos of myself I actually like.

3 Don’t you think people will think you’re a bit weird?
(Eg when I talk passionately about hugging trees etc).
Maybe, but I write from the heart and try to live from the heart. I’m of the age where I think this is me, take it or leave it. I’m going for it!

4 Have you completely lost the plot? What’s going on with your blog?This was when, probably without enough warning or preparation, I suddenly posted a short story (fiction), “Mr Score goes up in the world”. I like my little story and so did a couple of other Waffle friends, but perhaps The Waffle blog wasn’t the right place for it at the right time, certainly not without a bit of introduction.

5 How are all these people around the world actually finding your blog?
Apart from a couple of my friends living abroad, I have no idea. Google search, WordPress etc I guess. I’m just happy that you’ve all made it here. Welcome!

Husband has just reminded me it’s Friday night (hard to tell these days) and it’s nearly beer o’clock, yippee! I always lose track of time when I start the waffling! Chicken curry to make now… off to get my pinny on. Here’s the pretty flowers of the day. Happy Weekend! More on blogging another time.