Hmmm, is six years enough or should I soldier on spinning metaphors?
Six years ago, I launched this blog with the help of a tech savvy friend. At the time, the purpose was straightforward. I had just self-published my novel and needed a way to gain exposure for myself as a writer. But along the way, somewhat to my surprise, the novel faded into the background and Metaphors of Life Journal took on a life of its’ own.
Now, some 330+ posts and over 439,000 visitors later, in a reflective state of mind, I find myself pausing to contemplate: What has kept me churning out posts week after week? Some weeks it is extremely difficult to hit upon a topic worth writing about. So what (aside from a sight tendency to be obsessive-compulsive) has kept me going?
I look to the five top posts, by number of visitors, for an answer.
Perhaps prophetically, my very post – The E Principle – sits atop that list with 79,600 views. Realizing that I had far more e-friends than face-to-face friends, I pondered what the e-volution of our world might mean. Would the e-gocentric personality come to be favoured by the principle of natural selection?
Number two, at 72,100 views, When I Grow Old and Wear the Bottom of My Trousers Rolled, endures as a top five post. Borrowing a line from T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock, I wondered what memories would be preserved as “Memory Time Capsules” in my faltering mind as my life wound down. I’ve done several sequels to that popular post.
Social Media: The 200-Tentacled Octopus, with 53,000 views, holds on at number three. In it, I wrestled with the question: Is social media a new paradigm in social relationships or the threshold where we lose ourselves in technology? Yes, another go at the e-Principle theme.
On Canada Day in 2012, I posed the question: Where would you find the longest coastline in the world, the largest amount of fresh water in the world and the longest bridge in the world? The answer, of course, is Canada. Canadian patriotism has kept Canada: The True North Strong and Free firmly in the number four position with 28,000 views.
It amuses me that Passport Photo: No Frowns, No Smiles, No Upside-down Crowns hangs in there at number five with over 22,000 views. It was a lighthearted post poking fun at the rigid specifications for photos on Canadian passports. I wonder if it got me on a CSIS watch list?
The answer to the question of why I keep going may be the sheer number of views of these top five posts. (Yes, I’m aware that as many as half of the views were likely search engine spiders.) It fascinates me that I am connecting with so many people whom I will never meet and, perhaps, making them pause just for a moment to think a bit deeper about life and the sum of its’ parts.
The driving force of my blog is looking at life through the lens of metaphor. It helps me find some much needed perspective on life’s mysteries. Hopefully it does the same for you as our world continues to e-volve in fascinating and sometimes perplexing ways.
~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog.
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Tags: metaphor · Metaphors of Life Journal · Michael Robert Dyet · mysteries of life · social mediaNo Comments