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It’s almost the end of the year, plus I’m nearing the third anniversary of The Big Thing, a blog I started so that I could talk more about teaching writing.

I’ve been looking at my stats, seeing what I can learn.

Here are my most popular posts, according to Google Analytics:

 about visiting Linda’s grave.

Why is it so popular? Every time someone sees De-Lovely, they Google “Linda Porter Rose� and boom, they find me. I get at least one comment on that blog post every other week.

°Õ³ó¾±²õÌý and this  about applying to MFA programs.

Why are they so popular? Every time an MFA hopeful Googles, “How do I write a statement of purpose?� or “How do I ask for a letter of recommendation?� they find my blog.


I have no idea why this information isn’t available anywhere else. Probably because all the other people who could write these essays (writers my age who are academics) don’t blog.


Here’s the rub: I should really repurpose these essays and submit them to P&W or the AWP Chronicle. Then they would count for me as “real� publications, but they would also be harder to find and therefore less helpful.


Basically, I’m “giving away� these two essays. You could say they’ve helped me to extend  as a writer, or that they’ve helped me to meet a lot of new people. The fact that I have opted not to repurpose and publish these essays but rather keep them on my blog is a form of literary citizenship.


That’s what I think on a good day. On a bad day, I think I’m a chump.

°Õ³ó¾±²õÌý about period dramas that are like Downton Abbey.

Why is this post so popular? Duh. Because people Google “What can I watch that’s like Downton Abbey?� and those Googlers are my potential readers, since the novel I’m writing is set in the same period as Downton Abbey.

°Õ³ó¾±²õÌý about what to blog about.

Duh. Because every time someone Googles, “What should I blog about?� they find this post.

°Õ³ó¾±²õÌý about how the hell you’re supposed to know if you’re really a writer or not.

Because, yeah, because people Google that shit up all the time.

Please note that none of these posts are about teaching, which is what this blog was supposed to be about.

You have to go down to the 15th most popular post on my blog–and it isn’t even something I wrote! but rather .

What does this mean?

Over time, I’ve learned that if I frame a post toward teachers, about the classroom, it will not reach as many people as if I frame it towards writers looking for writing tips.

Simply, there are more writers out there than there are teachers of writing. 

Hmmm.

Stay tuned for the next few weeks as I continue to work through my issues re: this blog.

And Happy Holidays!