A Million Words


A blog I look after reached 100,000 Page Views recently, which was deemed worthy of a celebratory snippet in their company magazine. That blog has about 800 posts, each with an average of 200 words. After some light googling, I worked out that amounts to the equivalent of a couple of fiction novels, or around one weekday edition of the New York Times.

That got me pondering.

 Veg Plotting turns 8 today and I've published 2011 posts including this one. I'm twice as wordy here as I am on there, and if I take a few extras like Pages and captions into account, then we're looking at around one million words written so far. Phew.

However, according to this blog post, I'm at the start of becoming a writer. I've enjoyed the ride so far and I hope you've enjoyed the read too.

As my Irish ex-colleagues are fond of saying, "Thanks a million" for reading and all your comments so far. I couldn't have done it without you!

Update: By a spooky coincidence Sally published this thought provoking piece about the so-called death of blogging on the same day as this post. I've commented over there about the splintering of the virtual world since I started 8 years ago.

Since then I've been pondering on who exactly says blogging is dead and I believe it's mainly those who are seeking to make money from it. I think that's an over-simplification; people blog for a whole host of other reasons. I believe it's still the best platform for anyone who wants to experiment with all kinds of self-expression, or say anything deeper than what other social media platforms have to offer.

What do you think?

Comments

  1. CJ2 November 2015 at 10:03

    Very well done on 8 years of blogging and a million words, that's quite an achievement. I'm looking forward to carrying on following along. CJ xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP2 November 2015 at 10:27

      Thanks CJ - I was a bit gobsmacked when I worked it out :)

      Delete
  2. Flighty2 November 2015 at 10:37

    Good for you and well done. I hope that you still enjoy blogging as much as I do and will continue for a while yet. Flighty xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP2 November 2015 at 11:24

      Thanks Flighty - we started blogging around the same time and you were one of my first garden blog discoveries :) Yes, I still enjoy blogging, though I think it'll take longer to reach two million words!

      Delete
  3. Anonymous2 November 2015 at 14:25

    Well done VP. That's a great achievement. I enjoy reading your blogs and seeing your photos. KG xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP3 November 2015 at 16:25

      Thanks Karen - BTW I haven't forgotten your email. I'm flipping between Brum and her at the mo'

      Delete
  4. Anna2 November 2015 at 21:21

    Wow! A million words - that's takes some doing VP so many, many congratulations. Your posts are always enjoyable and informative so it's a pleasure to visit.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Diana Studer2 November 2015 at 21:22

    Congratulations on the 8th blogaversary!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP3 November 2015 at 16:26

      Thanks Diana - so pleased we're in touch with each other again :)

      Delete
  6. Caro3 November 2015 at 16:07

    I'm not only impressed by your total - and across two blogs to boot! - but that you managed to work it all out. Eight years is a definite commitment to blogging and always finding interesting things to write about - congratulations, well done, top hole effort and here's hoping for many more entertaining and informative posts! C xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP3 November 2015 at 16:29

      Thanks Caro - you've touched on an important point I've been pondering after I read The Constant Gardener's post yesterday. So many blogs fall by the wayside for many reasons and I think mine would have too if I hadn't found fresh things to write about. That's the great thing about gardening, there's so much to learn and find out about.

      Delete
  7. rusty duck3 November 2015 at 22:14

    A million words is mind boggling but I think 8 years even more so. There are so many times when I've been tempted just to give up, it isn't anywhere as easy as it looks. Well done and many congratulations.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP4 November 2015 at 11:52

      I don't know a blogger who hasn't been tempted to give up Jessica, I certainly have! You have the means to keep going - it's clear you enjoy what you're writing about :)

      Delete
  8. Mike the Gardener5 November 2015 at 19:36

    Congrats on the success of your other blog. I wonder if it has to do with the content. I find that writing about gardening, in my case, vegetable gardening, has a narrow audience. Seems like more of a niche.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP6 November 2015 at 15:03

      Welcome Mike and well done on keeping your blog solely about vegetable gardening. That was my intention when I started and I soon realised I wanted to talk about other subjects too.

      Delete
  9. Sarah 5 November 2015 at 21:46

    That is a wonderful achievement and what an amazing archive you must have to look back on. I read Sally's post about the death of blogging and felt quite nostalgic for that half hour on a Sunday when I used to sit at the computer and catch up with Victoria's Backyard, The Patient Gardener and An Artist's Garden. I liked these bloggers because they were inclusive, actually did stuff in their gardens and wrote about it honestly. Occasionally I would hop to other blogs but often I would feel I had gate crashed a rather exclusive party. I've recently started blogging as a way of recording my garden. I've always been a journal keeper and nothing will ever replace those notebooks but I am enjoying connecting with like-minded people from around the world and especially in different parts of the U.K. I find it very therapeutic to know that everything in the garden is not always rosy and that there is always something to learn and try.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP6 November 2015 at 15:10

      Hi Sarah - you've mentioned the very people who started blogging around the same time as I did and have become friends in real life too. I was chatting another blogger recently and we concluded blogging is the ultimate way of keeping a journal as you can add all kinds of bits and bobs to the diary element. Good point re bloggers showing gardening as it really is, not the polished way of magazines. I was also thinking about whether there is a natural cycle to blogging and that recent starters like yourself have found your own peer group and might be wondering what all the fuss is about.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous5 November 2015 at 22:52

    Thanks for the mention VP and I'm glad you found my post thought-provoking! You've made me think yourself - who exactly is it who deems blogging is dead? In my case it was my employers - they clearly weren't getting the hits they wanted from the blogs so have decided that video is the future. Got no objection to that - especially when it pays the bills - but it's a totally different medium with a different way of consuming it (from the watcher/reader's point of view).

    I too have thought about giving up blogging many times - in fact I have given up blogging many times, But I've always come back to it, however sporadically: it is its own thing and allows a short but more thoughtful bit of writing than say Facebook or Twitter.

    But I'm hijacking your post. Well done on your million words - makes me tired just thinking about it - and here's to a million more!

    Sally x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP6 November 2015 at 15:19

      You're welcome to hijack away Sally, seeing I decided to carry on the conversation over here :)

      If your employers have signed up for the advertising option with YouTube, then they've found a way to bring some potential income from the vlogging itself, instead of relying on people clicking through to buy which would have happened with the previous incarnation of the blog. However, I seem to remember the old blog was rather disconnected from the sales site, so they didn't maximise the potential. Also in some ways I believe relying on vlogging narrows the potential as it's more suited to the more 'How to' style of blogging. E.g. they could have utilised memes such as Wordless Wednesday to post mind blowing images of their stock as well as including vlogs. But it's up to them - I mix up my formats and occasionally post videos too (alongside other media such as slideshows, infographics etc), but I think my YouTube channel is so bad it's funny ;)

      Delete

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