This is the End

The end of 2014, that is. And I feel like I should have something deep and powerful to say, but I’m all out of bang. All I’ve got is a whimper. Which is not to say the year was awful or ended badly, although Pneumonia November wasn’t what I had in mind. It’s just been a very family-filled couple of weeks (as it should be). I haven’t had a lot of time to think about blog posts (or to hear myself think). But as the year wraps up, there is one thing I’d like to celebrate.

Mission Accomplished

In 2014, I made a lot of writing resolutions. Most of them failed. I did not add the desired number of new paying clients or complete my National Novel Writing Month project. But with this post I complete a resolution of consistency (which is not a human trait).

I set a blogging calendar and met it all year long. I decided to publish twice a week while working full-time, and three times a week once I went freelance, and for the entire year, I did exactly that. (To be completely honest, I did miss one day by accident, but I’m still claiming the win.) I even exceeded the schedule in the last quarter.

When I noticed that Sundays had almost no traffic, I added a Sunday still photo-post that seems to be relatively popular. As a result of the regular posting, I saw a big jump in subscribers and overall blog traffic – welcome and thank you to all of you! I also probably benefited from the discipline, etc. etc.

Looking Ahead

I have thousands of unused concert photos, and a lot of old travel photos, too. So in 2015, I will probably keep up the photo posts. But I hope to have enough freelance work to require slipping back to a twice weekly publishing schedule. I still want to finish my NaNo project. I don’t think it’s a great book, but I like to finish what I start, and it’s good practice to finish projects. Considering my current finances and the fact that I still haven’t read any of the books in my October Tsundoku post, I also resolve to read four books off my TBR bookcase for every new purchase. I haven’t decided out how library books will figure into the formula.

New Year’s Bang

I may be a blogging whisperer, but if you prefer a bang, might I suggest streaming the Reykjavik fireworks? Icelanders are living in continuous darkness at New Years, and by all accounts, their craving for midwinter light leads them to do fireworks right.

Visit www.IcelandNaturally.com on December 31 at 7 p.m. EST / 4 p.m. PST to watch a live video stream of Reykjavik’s massive fireworks display and welcome 2015 with a bang.

Let me know what you think. I won’t be able to watch them. I’m taking my kids to the library this afternoon.

Thanks for reading, and see you next year!