Today, I did a thing that I have never actually done before, and that is to look at all my site stats and calculate how many hits I got this past year. I actually goofed on this and counted 25 months because I had a brain fart, misread my stats, and also forgot that last month was May. I then proceeded to calculate pretty much everything wrong again before I finally just gave up and used a calculator.
Anyways.
My expectations were low, I guess. Like, I was expecting maybe a couple hundred hits. Maybe three hundred. Probably 350, because that was the first number that popped in my mind when I was asking myself what I was hoping to find. Or 352, because that number has prettier colours (it’s a synaesthesia thing). I then immediately prepared to be horribly disappointed, because that’s about how it works every time I check my total book sales on Amazon, and it’s also been the rule of the day for my daily/weekly site views for the past, like, forever.
As it turns out, I really need to hand in my math tutor card or something, because my number was off. By a lot. Observe the actual calculations for June 2013 – May 2014:
(Yes, I did all that math in pen. If any of my students ever read this, they will probably use it against me forever. My #1 rule for math is, as they only know too well: Always use pencil. Always. No excuses. I’m sorry, students. I got so excited that I didn’t realize what I was doing until it was already done. *cries in a corner*)
Despite all that fancy mathifying, I made a couple errors somewhere that I have decided I don’t care enough to correct. The actual, calculator-verified number for these past twelve months is 2,659. Which is still incredible, and worthy of misspelled astonishment.
So, I want to say this to you right now:
Thank you thank you thank you thank you.
Thank you for consistently reading this blog. You’ve given me hope today, and that is the coolest thing ever. For writers, or artists of any kind, the knowledge that they have an audience is hugely encouraging. Also motivating.
Honestly, I’ve been wondering for the past while if I even have enough of an audience yet, almost three years after publishing my first book, for the money I earn off my books to allow me to create more and better stories. I may not be there yet, I don’t know, but you’ve shown me that I’m a lot closer than I thought, and that’s given me the energy I need to keep going and writing for you the very best stuff I can.
Thank you so much.
And keep your eyes peeled for the next post, which will be up before next Thursday. I came across a really neat, fun thing that will allow you to see characters from upcoming books (almost) the way I imagine them. Seriously. It’s awesome.
See you then!
