{Miscellaneous Mondays} A Year Ago …

… I started this blog. *cue cheering*

To be precise, I actually started it a year and a week ago, on September 20th, 2014. My first post was a short story, Worldchanger. It’s hard to believe twelve whole months have passed, but they have, and here we are again, with school starting up and NaNoWriMo beginning to loom.

Many people like to commemorate their bolg (misspelling intentional) anniversaries with various stats, and while that has always felt a little awkward and self-centered to me, here are a few that I found the most interesting:

• I have published 143 posts including this one.
• I have received 990 views, 1108 likes, and 625 comments.
• Speaking of comments, my top commenters (besides me) are, in order:  Victoria NIghtSky, sarahtps, proverbs31teen, Judith L. Livingstone (my wonderful grandmother), and Lalaithiel.
• I have 193 followers in all.
• I published the most posts in April, with all those NaPoWriMo poems. My worst month was June, when I first injured my arms.
• My most viewed tag is “Andrew Peterson,” and my most viewed category is “Miscellaneous Mondays.”

I’ve published quite a variety of stuff on here—poems, short stories, book reviews, musings, music recommendations—and you can find my most popular posts on the sidebar, under “The Best Scribblings.” But here are some of my personal favorites:

Short Stories

Hunger

The End

Poems

A World Where Stars Die 

They Say

Book Stuff 

The Maze Runner review

Lessons Learned

Miscellaneous

Living vs. Dying (And How it Relates to Us Writers)

Preparing for the Beast ~ Get Inspired (part of my preparing-for-NaNo series)

I couldn’t talk about my blog without thinking of all the amazing people I’ve met in this blogosphere. Every person who likes and comments means so much—I read all of your messages on here, and they always make me smile or think, both of which are good. Thank you also for your words on your blogs—they inspire, challenge, and bless me. Thank you for everyone who is willing to share a little bit of their hearts with the world. And thank you, most of all, to everyone who uses their talents to point us all to God. You are all heroes.

Lastly, a note about the schedule: As many of you know, I have two weekly features: Miscellaneous Mondays, where I discuss anything from music to football (Speaking of which, I haven’t misspelled “miscellaneous” yet! Aren’t you proud?) and Fireside Fridays, where I write about anything book-related. I post something else on Wednesday—usually a poem or short story. However, I’ve decided that I’m going to have halt these features. I know, I know, all the websites advise you to stick to your schedule to keep up traffic and gain a larger audience, but right now, there are more important things in my life than getting followers. Things like school and the PSAT, primarily.

Please note that this does not mean I’ll stop posting completely, and it doesn’t even mean that I won’t post Miscellaneous Mondays or Fireside Fridays at all. In fact, I probably will continue those most weeks. I’m just taking the pressure off myself to have to do it every week. I don’t want to burn out, and I want to keep up the joy of blogging, instead of viewing it as a duty. Plus, I want to provide worthwhile content for you guys, which I can’t do if I’m exhausted and spinning off the first random, ill-articulated thought that comes to mind.

Thank you all, and I look forward to seeing what God does with this blog in the year to come!