Well, that’s me for this year. I’ve decided to take a couple of weeks off over Christmas and New Year, a couple of weeks off from blogging that is. This will be my last post of 2009.
I’m not one who gets over-reflective at this time of year but I did check my stats for the last twelve months and I was pleased to find that I’ve had just shy of 40,000 hits. When I started this blog back in August 2007 I never imagined it would do so well. I wasn’t even that sure I could keep up a blog for this long. I thought I’d’ve dried up yonks ago and yet here I am 263 articles later and I’m still churning them out. We’ll have to see what 2010 brings.
2010, eh? Christ, when I was a kid I never thought I’d still be alive in 2010. What I want to know is where are all the flying cars and tinfoil suits?
My most popular post this year was actually a book review, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, with 1046 hits in 9 months, however, I think that in time Why I hate love poetry, which managed a respectable 882 hits in only 6 months, will be the overall winner. My most popular post to date is still Beckett’s voice with 1441 hits, after that we have When I was Five I Killed Myself with 1329 hits and then One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. It’s the articles on poetry that dominate the chart though. There’s clearly still a great deal of interest in the subject.
I’d just like to say a thank you to everyone who has taken a few minutes out of their busy lives to share them with me. If I could perhaps book a few in advance for next year before they all get clogged up I’d be very grateful. A special word of thanks goes to all those who’ve made the effort to pass comment on my efforts. Since most of you have your own blogs I don’t need to tell you how encouraging that can be. And an extra special word of thanks goes to my good wife who proofreads and edits everything that goes up here; I’d be lost without her and that’s a fact because I’m pretty lost with her.
Can I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and, when it comes, a Happy New Year? I’ll see you all on the other side.
Jim, I'm glad to get in a quick hello again and goodbye to you for the next two weeks.
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed a stunning time on my writing retreat and I will post about it over the next few weeks, but for now I'm snowed under for Christmas too.
I've had my break though and I will continue to blog over the next few weeks but perhaps with less frequency for reasons that I will explain in my next post.
You have been an inspiration to me, Jim, during my short time as a blogger. Whenever I tell people about blogs and bloggers, I tell them about you and your reviews.
Best wishes to you and yours over the celebration season.
Enjoy the break. See you next year.
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Thanks, Jim, for a year of thoroughly engaging posts. Enjoy your two weeks back in the material world. I shall look forward to what you'll have for us in 2010.
ReplyDeleteAll the best for Christmas and Hogmanay.
Thanks for all your sharing, Jim. I don't always have time to read right through your lengthy posts first time, but I always try to make time to come back because I hate to miss all the fascinating stuff that comes out of your head.
ReplyDeleteHave some season's greetings back.
Merry Holidays and have a great time off, Jim. Looking forward to reading your posts for 2010.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas Jim and my best wishes for great posts after it.
ReplyDeleteDavide ( Tommaso )
Have a lovely Christmas and a merry new year!
ReplyDeleteJim - enjoy the break - I hope that you and Carrie have a great Christmas and New Year. Maybe 20+10 will be the year of tinfoil cars and flying suits. . . instead of tinfoil suits and flying cars.
ReplyDeleteHave a great holiday season. Look forward to many more great posts next year!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, Jim Murdoch! Thanks for your wonderful writing in 2009 and I look forward to reading more of you in 2010!
ReplyDeleteYour fan,
Molly Brogan
Best wishes to you and yours for the holidays.
ReplyDeleteI'm not much in the mood, myself. Nor am I feeling like living up to peoples' expectations about how cheery and joyous one is supposed to be. I'm all for a quieter, contemplative Xmastide this year.
Hope you have a few quiet, fulfilling moments!
I hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hurry back!
ReplyDeleteElisabeth, Rachel, Jakill, Conda, Tommaso, Sorlil, Koe, Kass, Molly, Dick, Art and FishHawk – thank you one and all for your kind words. We’re having Xmas a day early this year to accommodate my daughter who has three Xmases to fit in the poor dear. I hope all of you have a good time and let’s hope 2010 is not as hard on us as some are predicting.
ReplyDeleteAnd all the very best of the season's blessings to you and yours.
ReplyDeleteThat is quite the best Christmas tree I have seen in many a lon g day.
Thank you, Dave, and the very best to you too. Actually our Xmas starts in about an hour and there are at least two book-shaped pressies under the tree with my name on it.
ReplyDeleteJim, I had no idea that your wife edits you! That can be such a cool experience. I'm the family editor, first for my wife's work newsletters and also for my daughter's school and now college essays. They've learned a lot about writing, I like to think, and I have, too, from having edited them. Editing has also lead to some great discussions about their content, all starting in the safe realm of how they say it and what they mean, but it can go from there. I love editing the work of people I love.
ReplyDeleteHappy 2010! (That feels like such a fun number to type and say!)
Oh, yes, Peter, she's caught some awful faux pas as well as loads of typos and 'brain farts' in my blogs; I'd be lost without her. Mind you I fought her tooth and nail on ever tiny edit in my first novel. That was over ten years ago now - I'm nowhere near as possessive of every dot and dash as I used to be.
ReplyDeleteHope you have a good 2010 when it comes too.
Merry Christmas (slightly late!) and a happy new year to you and your family. It's always interesting to look back over the year - this has been my first full year of blogging, I'm planning to post a 2009 retrospective in early January. See you in 2010!
ReplyDeleteBetter late than never, Rachel C., see you next year.
ReplyDeleteMerry (belated - or bloated in my case) Christmas! Have a wonderful holiday and can't wait to catch up with your blog in the new year. Really glad we bloggy-bumped into each other this year!
ReplyDeleteRachel Fenton, yes, I've run into a few interesting folk in 2009, your good self included. Have a Happy New Year when it comes and I'll see you in a week or so.
ReplyDeleteJim -- I hope you had a relaxing Christmas and I look forward to reading more in the new year! I usually make sure I have some time to devote to your posts -- they are always engrossing, informative, and well-written.
ReplyDeleteJim, thanks for a year full of enlightenment. I hope you enjoy your break, and come back refreshed in the new year.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words, Jennifer and John. Christmas was a quiet affair and I fully intend New Year to be much the same. We’ll sit up for the bells and then to bed, the same as we do every year. It’s strange, we’re nine years into this new millennium and I still find talking about two-thousand-and-such-and-such strange. Not quite sure how refreshed I’ll be when 2010 starts but thankfully I have a few posts in hand so I can ease myself back into the swing of things gently. I had hoped to be a bit more productive over the festive season but I’m afraid lethargy hit me with a vengeance and I’ll be lucky to finish the book I’m reading and get a review written before I need to hit the ground running . . . well, strolling if I’m being honest . . . in January.
ReplyDeleteI know you are not blogging, but the finest of new years to you and Carrie.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually doing so little I'm embarrassed by it. I've not written a damn thing and I'm struggling to read an easy biography in fact I've just packed it in for the night with only seventeen pages to go. I think I'm missing my routine or at least what passes for routine with me. Carrie and I will have a quiet New Year, we'll stay up for the bells and that'll be that. Hope you have a good New Year when it comes, Dave, and thanks for your constant support over the past year - I doubt I've written a single post you've not passed comment on.
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoyed your break, I get you are going to writte even better after you stop writting for a couple of days.
ReplyDeleteHope you the best for 2010.
Thanks a lot for the marvelous thoughts you made me reflect upon.
I just came across your blog, Jim, by way of The Half Life of Linoleum.
ReplyDeleteI'll be back to read more.
Paul
Mariana, thank you for that and I hope I do as well this year as last. I'll be back on Monday but I'm afraid I've been most unproductive over the holiday period; I'm frankly disappointed but there's no point whinging about it.
ReplyDeleteAnd, Paul, welcome. All new readers gratefully reveived. Any friend of Koe's is a friend of mine.
Happy New Year Jim, a prosperous year ahead of you.
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed your blog posts, and appreciate your helpful information and advice. Hope you had a wonderful break!
ReplyDeleteSarah Allen
(my creative writing blog)
Jena and Sarah, thank you both. As I've said already it's not been a very productive fortnight but what can I say? What passes for normal service will resume on Monday.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year,Jim.
ReplyDeleteAnd to you, Reyes.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back! Happy festive period!
ReplyDeleteHere we all are back again, as if nothing happened, ready for a New Year.
Here's to the writing and the reading. :)
Amen to that, McGuire. I did have a scan through your poetry collection over the holiday but the brain wasn't working and I had to put it aside (I really have to be in the mood to do poetry) but I'll get to it soon.
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