The Prompt: Are you good at what you do? What would you like to be better at?
This is an interestingly timed question – last week was a heady experience on our blog as the posts on “Mike and Molly” took off, breaking records for days on end. Then came the Huffington Post response, nearly 10,000 likes. TMZ tweeted about it and devoted a segment to the story. Yesterday, the LA Times actually referenced both Trish and I with a bit of in-depth examination of our points.
Is any of this a reflection of being “good” at blogging? Well, yes, certainly in the sense that we tapped into a sentiment that resonated. A lot of people cared about this topic. I don’t consider it among my best written posts, even in simple terms of writing quality. But it resonated. And Trish wrote three follow-up posts from her vantage as a trans woman who added a lot of depth to the bigger picture.
And here’s how I know it resonated:
Letdown. 🙂
When I took a closer look at the blog stats, I noticed that thousands of these hits were from HuffPo to the pieces Trish and I wrote earlier in 2013 about a similar incident on the same show. Folks were soaking up the bigger picture by reading 4 or 5 posts on this topic and then sharing some aspect of it to their own networks.
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But now we are back to business as usual which is 200 visitors a day, not 3,400. LOL. And that’s okay because being “good” at blogging means keeping those 200 people coming back and sharing content on a day-to-day basis, not just the occasional knock out of the ballpark. It gives Trish and I the opportunity to build up the posts that add credibility and context to the bigger stories when we do pursue them. And engaging our everyday readers is our goal – you are the people who make this more than hollering into an endless hole.
December marks our 8th anniversary as a blog. We have lots of room for improvement and growth, but I think we’ve got this on the right track.
What would I like to be better at? (cringe at the grammar)
I’d like to take better photos, but part of that is an issue with my physical well-being that won’t be cured anytime soon.
I’d like to better insulate myself against the unrelenting emotional toll of living in a marriage equality battleground state. That’s very tough for me. 
I’d like to do a better job providing resources for our neighbor living in poverty, educating our readers about poverty and connecting the dots to motivate people to take action.
And I’d like to figure out Tumblr.
It does feel like a letdown to see that graph drop so suddenly, but you are right about what actually makes a “good” blogger – keeping those 200 people coming back day after day to read your words. It is easy to get caught up in the numbers, but this puts those numbers in needed perspective.
I would like to figure out Tumblr, too.
In a strange way, it was a relief – like having a giant party at your home and that feeling when they all leave and its just you and your close circle. I spent two days staring at my dashboard with my jaw agape. And I’m not sure that I gained new readers or followers, etc. Learning Tumblr is probably a better use of two days, right? LOL Thanks for commenting!
Glad I am not the only one who finds Tumblr confusing. And for what it is worth, I think you are a great blogger!