I know I just did the Monthly Roundup & Rambling yesterday but I’ve seen the Mid-Year Freak Out tag going on all through June and I like the idea of a Mid-Year look at how things are proceeding
Now that the year is ACTUALLY half way over (yes, that is a jab), let’s look at some numbers shall we?
Books Read:
98 – On track for passing 150, check!
Pages Read:
31,190 – On track for 50K, which is my unofficial goal each year now.
Average Star Rating:
3.25
Most Viewed Post so far:
Algorithm of Power is so far ahead, almost triple the views of any other post, that I doubt anything I write for the rest of the year is going to surpass that.
Most Liked Post of so far:
I can’t figure out how to see this data. I can see Top Liked overall using the sidebar widget, but can’t seem to drill down on just 2018 stuff. If you know how, would you let me know?
General Info:
3300+ visitors
3000+ comments – to be accurate, half of those are me 🙂
130 Posts
78K words written -that’s a 300 page novel! (Just call me the next Brandon Sanderson, hahhaaha)
Best Book so far:
I have given no book the coveted “Best Book of the Year” tag yet. I guess I better get cracking! Or I’ll have to ret-con some of my high rated, favorite books. I suspect that is what is going to happen.
Worst Book so far:
Gods of the Mountain. Not that the book is actually the worst, but the author’s demanding attitude where he began acting like he paid me to be his editor, definitely rubbed me the wrong way.
Sandworms of Dune was horrible in the worst of ways by being so mediocre that vanilla pudding was exciting in comparison and Curse of the Wendigo had some horrible moral content.
Cover Love:
I am torn between Jackaby and Stranger of Tempest. They are very different from each other and so trying to choose between is rather hard. So I’m going with both!
98!! Wooooow! Please tell me your secret^^
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Read and pretty much ONLY read. I only watch tv/Prime now when I’m writing reviews or posts. My biggest time sink is hanging out here on WordPress, but that is one thing I think is worth a book or two a month.
Also, comics 😀 Those little suckers are only 32 pages. Which is why I also include page count.
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Your page count is still nearly twice what mine is. 🙂 The visitors/comments count is also impressive!
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I suspect my work load is a LOT more leisurely than yours though. “It is raining buckets outside? Oh, not working.” That kind of thing lends itself to reading more 🙂
As for the numbers, I realized I needed to start recording some hard numbers so I can see how I’m progressing here at WP. I’ve been here almost 2 years now and this is the first time I’m doing something like this post. Even with the free plan I get a lot of info from WP so I figure I might as well take advantage of it 😀
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LOL, there is that, I guess. “Raining buckets outside” usually just means my commute takes twice as long. And yesterday, “quarter end” meant working half the day on my day off due to a variety of issues. But, on the bright side, “a couple of snowflakes spotted” does mean I get to work from home!
That’s convenient that WP provides such stats.
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And if you go dot com or dot blog, you get a whole bunch more stats. Right now it isn’t worth it to me, but maybe after another year or so…
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98 😱 How do you do that?! Also, both those covers are Stunning
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Magic! 😉
Actually, it comes down to time commitment. I just don’t have any other hobbies besides reading. I tried Spellweaver based on Dave’s recommendation and that lasted for about 2 weeks. I’m just not interested in much besides reading at this stage in my life.
Just like I was heavily into anime in my 20’s, right now I’m into reading. Give 5 or 10 years and I’ll probably be into something else then 😀
And aren’t they great? I wrapped up the next Jackaby book and I think it will probably take the Cover Love for July. They just outshine everything else!
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I tried spellweaver as well. I enjoy playing it against him but otherwise I lost interest in it as well 🙈
I find I can’t concentrate on reading for very long. It’s rarely the books fault, after an hour or so I just need a break… and then I get sucked into youtube or some other evil.
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Holy cow! You can write your reviews while watching telly?! 😀
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Truth is, the television just gives me background noise. I’ll stick on something like “Kung Fu” and just let it run for 6 episodes and when I need a break from writing, I’ll actually watch part of an episode. I am NOT focusing on both 😀
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I have such a hard time tolerating noise. I can’t even listen to music and do another thing …
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Ha. I’m SO the opposite. I have a hard time concentrating on anything (except reading) when there is silence.
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The diversity of the human race never ceases to amaze me. 🙂
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It also helps me to keep humble when I feel “right” about something that isn’t explicitly laid out elsewhere 🙂
That way I don’t go tromping over too many toes.
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I vote for Jackaby in terms of covers 😉 98 is impressive! Need to see where I am at. Probably up there thanks to bedrest haha. I am not sure about the “likes” and whether you can look at those in terms of stats. I would be curious to know if you figure it out. Hope the second half of the year is great for you!
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Thanks.
If I do ever figure out how to easily look at “Liked” posts, I’ll let you know…
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I only know how to pull up most views at this point. But I am terrible for following stats 😝
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It’s hard to believe half of 2018 is over already. Time is really flying this year.
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It is crazy, isn’t it? Even though it is mid-summer, things are moving so fast that I feel like if I blink, it’ll be time to start pulling out the winter gear. Bleh!
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I guess you’d actually have to scroll through all your posts in the “My Stats > Blog Posts” page and see which one has the highest likes. 🤣 I’m going to assume that you like the numbers you have so far this year, especially blogging wise, compared to your pre-Wordpress days? 😀 Amazing book/word count so far though. I wish I could read as many novels. A good chunk of my book count are comic books/graphic novels/mangas nowadays!
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I think that suggestion IS the only way, but for a whole years worth, that just seems like a LOT of work. I’m not THAT curious 😀
I am very pleased with my WP numbers. I am now reaching numbers that equaled my hey-day at Booklikes, but booklikes was a very disparate group of people, half of whom followed me simply because there weren’t a lot of choices when it came to active bloggers.
Here, people follow me because they WANT to. Or at least, that is what I hope, ha!
I think part of my numbers is that I’m now 40 and am pretty much established in life. I’m where I want to be for work and romance, church has settled down and we’re both decent medically.
Throw any of those things under a bus though and bam, I’d be flailing like a whale, or you know what I mean.
As for manga, heck, back in 07, 08 or 09, I read something like 300 volumes in one year? Pretty much went through my libraries stock 🙂 But once again, that was because work had nose-dived and I had the time.
Give yourself another decade and then see what your numbers look like. Maybe you’ll be a famous whateveryoudo and not have time for books and you’ll think nostalgically of these as the halcyon days 😉
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Nice!! It looks like you’ve bounced back brilliantly from the slower start you mentioned at the beginning of the year. Your stats are like double of mine haha.
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Yeah, things have settled down for church so I’m raring to go.
As for stats, I spend an LOT of time interacting with the people I follow. I think that pays dividends eventually. But it also means I have to limit who I follow to under 60 people. Sometimes I chafe at that…
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Looks like you’re on target for your book reading which is always a good thing. I get twitchy when I fall behind!
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Thankfully, ever since I made the move over to WordPress from Booklikes, my goals have been more unofficial and in my head than some banner like on GR.
It is nice, because I know that twitchy feeling too 🙂
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Considering you’re an attentive reader with great insights you share with the world – it’s really impressive, congrats!
Also – wow, 98 was exactly my entire 2017…
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Thank you 😀 I have to admit, I’m not above loving words of affirmation when they come my way.
I ‘ve been in the 100+ a year club for quite a while now. It is kind of my “norm”. When it falls below 150, then I know life has gotten busy and usually not in a good way.
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A highly respectable club I vow to re-join in 2018 😉
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You can do it!!!
pssst, comic books work wonders for those number 😉
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I tend to read a lot of them each December, for some reason 😀
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Ah ha, you CHEATER!!!!!!!!!!!
😉
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Wow, those are impressive stats! And I couldn’t pick between those book covers, either. I like them both.
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They really represent such different aspects of Fantasy that it IS hard to choose 🙂
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