Second bloggiversary of NRJW

Two years ago today, I took a deep breath and plunged into the blogisphere. I didn't start counting visitors until five months after that, but in the past 19 months NRJW has seen over 70,500 visitors, which works out (in my head, anyway--your mileage may vary) to somewhere around 120 visitors a day.

Those numbers prove I'm no big noise in the blogisphere, but I've been thrilled again and again by the big-name bloggers who not only visit my blog, but talk about it on their blogs. My blogging hero Terry Teachout, who has quoted me three times at About Last Night, lists NRJW in his sidebar under "Sites to See." Michael Allen, otherwise known as The Grumpy Old Bookman, has written an entire (and wildly complimentary) post about NRJW and my website. I've been quoted by Slate Magazine (in "Today's Blogs"), both Ron Hogan and Sarah Weinman over at MediaBistro's GalleyCat, Lee Goldberg of A Writer's Life, M.J. Rose at Buzz, Balls & Hype, MSNBC's Clicked, Edward Champion's Return of the Reluctant, Miss Snark, The Moleskinerie, and a bunch of other blogs you've actually heard of, including Booksquare, to whom I'm indebted because she was my very first blog pal. And last year The Internet Writing Journal named NRJW one of their Best Author Blogs, putting me on the same list with Dave Barry, Jayne Ann Krentz, and Neil Gaiman, if you can believe that.

But even more fun than seeing my name and words on so many of the blogs I admire is reading the comments people leave right here on my little blog. Some of them have really tickled my funnybone, and others have challenged me to think. If you're not reading the comments here at NRJW, you're missing out. As I've said before, the comments are often far more entertaining and informative than the posts.

At the end of my second blogging year, I'm feeling blessed. Although this endeavor has turned out to be much more difficult and time-consuming than I expected, it has also been far more rewarding than I ever dreamed. Blogging has given my brain and my writing muscles a good workout and it has helped me become more disciplined. It has been a creative outlet, a platform for sharing my photographs and jokes. It has broadened my reading and sharpened my critical-thinking skills. And it has brought me many, many new friends; people of all ages and walks of life from all over the world.

Thanks so much, everyone, for reading NRJW. I plan to keep this up for a while longer, so I hope you'll stick around.


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