2,158 View Upstream On Feb. 7. So What?

2,158 people stopped by to look at Upstream on Feb. 7--1,431 at mohawkvalley.blogspot.com and 727 at our sister site, mohawkvalley.wordpress.com. That’s nothing compared to the big bloggers out there, who have more people than that stop by every hour. But it took me by surprise because until Feb. 7, my biggest day was when 140 people stopped by following the review that Albany Eye wrote on Upstream.

Some bloggers say that statistics don’t matter, but unless we are like the poet Emily Dickinson, who said that “publication is the auction of the mind,” I think most bloggers write to be read and write to be read by as many people as possible.

I will be honest with you. I want to be read by as many people as possible. Even though on this giant, rotating, revolving ant hill we call Earth, I am known only to a few; and even though when I die the only biography about me will be chiseled on cold stone, paid for by my relatives at so many dollars per word, I still want to have my say. And if there is no one to listen, or no one to read, will I have said it? Will I have written it?

Anyway, this is the first of a series of posts about my blogging experiences during the past week. These posts may not be of interest to the non-blogger, but from the e-mails I have received from fellow bloggers, I know that other bloggers are interested in comparing notes.

In case you think this post is an exercise in hubris, wait until I share with you my statistics from the past day or two.

For those of you not interested in the subject of blogging, I will be posting on other topics in between. Upcoming topics include: How New York State Balances Its Budget On The Backs Of Prisoners' Families, Animal Hoarders Need Psychiatric Help Not Prison Time, Books As An Alternative Fuel Source and a whole host of other subjects that are swirling around in this restless mind of mine.

Hopefully, my fellow contributors to this blog will chip in with a post or two as well.


blogging