Happy Second Birthday to “We Love The Stars Too Fondly”!
730 days
800 posts (a 99% increase)
13,406 views (a 199% increase, twice the linear rate of increase)
Average views per day: 30 (was 10 for the first eight months of 2013 – note that this doesn’t count the number of people who subscribe and get the post by email, just those who come to the site on their own, through Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or LinkedIn)
Top referrers: Google (obviously, 3x Facebook, 10x Terribleminds, 10x Yahoo)
Top Search Term: “P-51D Mustang Walkaround” (okay, that’s good – what’s notable but not unexpected is the #3 term being “Paul Willett hockey,” since there’s a former minor league player by that name, as well as a Minnesota high school hockey coach by that name – as far as I can tell they’re two separate people.)
God alone knows how many words (probably around 460K+)
574 words (approximately) to the average post (down 9% from year one, might want to think about pushing that figure back up just a tad)
2517 images (2250 pictures of mine, 256 other images such as screen captures or photos taken by others, 10 videos)
16 panoramic photos
100 or so embedded tweets
327 current followers (112% increase, thanks to everyone who’s subscribing and letting your friends know I’m here)
743 comments (also a 199% increase, twice the linear rate, thanks to everyone who’s joining in the conversation!)
Most number of views: 265 for October 13, 2013 and 225 for June 30, 2013
Biggest source of clicks onto the site: WordPress by a landslide (almost a 20:0 ratio over #2 Scientific American)
Number of days with nothing posted: One, April 18th, 2014
Number of days where an article was written but failed to post until the next day: Two, March 21, 2015 and April 11, 2015.
Most pictures in a single post: still the total lunar eclipse April 14, 2014 (43 pictures)
Longest post not part of the NaNoWriMo effort: April 29, 2015, 1994 words (this morning? really? I didn’t know that, didn’t do it on purpose at all)
About 2/3 of a novel written in November, 2013 for NaNoWriMo (even though I “won NaNoWriMo” by passing the 50,000 word mark)
Considerably less success in November, 2014 for NaNoWriMo (only 25,693 words written, barely half of the NaNoWriMo “goal”)
Two years ago I started “We Love The Stars Too Fondly” to force myself to be writing, be engaged, be creative, and not sit around staring at the walls sending out one resume (to be ignored) after another, watching reality television, and pounding back a pint of ice cream a day. Nearly a half million words written, over 2,500 shared pictures, four NASA Socials, one solar and three lunar eclipses, airshows and CAF events, and multiple overseas and domestic travel sagas later, I’m feeling like this has been a good thing to do. (ICYMI, I’m still looking for that job,which sucks. If you can help with the search, please get in touch with me.)
I want to thank everyone who reads my rants and goofy fiction, enjoys the pictures, and comments when I say something either stupid, inspiring, or both. I appreciate all of the folks who found me early and have stuck with me even if they aren’t family and “have to!” I also appreciate all of the folks who have just stumbled on this site and are checking to see if I can write better than your average bear.
I hope you’ll all continue to stick around as I start ranting, photographing, traveling, writing, and blatherationing into our third year.
I’m having fun, getting nowhere some days but making good time. I hope you are as well.
