When I was young I hated statistics. I am not a numbers person. I don’t track things (ok I track the weather and the amount of snow but that is different.). I usually don’t even keep score when playing a game. A game like Words with Friends I like to just get words on the board. I often forget to even look at the score. In college I struggled through the required Statistic class and couldn’t wait to get out the door after the final exam. I did not care what I got as a grade just let me past the dumb thing.
Well, now decades later I still am not a stats person but for some reason last night I found myself wondering how many of these crazy posts have I written over the years and when did I start writing here. I knew it was shortly before I retired.
I have personal paper journals going back further for sure but they have always been a hit or miss thing with me. So it is interesting to me that I have kept this blogging going for so long and on a pretty regular bases. (Thanks Two Writing teachers – having this group of writers has helped I am sure of it.)
Here is what I have found in the stats, the hidden info on my blog!
I have a total of 723 post as of this point. I started writing this blog in 2014 – 10 years ago. When you think about it that is a lot of words sent out into the world.
If I wrote about 300 words a post that is about 216,900 words. Plus I always added a photo or two. So there are at least 723 images there as well.
Wow – Stats can tell you a lot about what you have been doing over the years! Now I guess there is some valve in these stats – even if it is just fun to impress myself on how much I have written over the years.
So do I dare dig into my past content? What did I say in all those posts? What was I writing about 10 years ago? Who was I at that point in my life? The content is where the real stuff is for me.
I do wish I had been doing this writing long before that. It would have captured so much of my life that has slipped away unrecorded. I don’t know – maybe that is a good thing all that is gone.
I fluctuate back and forth about personal history. I get recording, knowing and understanding the past events of the world. I just wonder what is the value for me of holding on to past events of my life. Would it be of value to be able to go back and read what I was thinking when I was 10 or 15 or 45 or 63 (oh, wait I think I have thoughts from when I was 63.)?
Well, not today but as some point I will sit down with old blog posts and old journals and see what I wrote. Maybe then I can decide it keeping these old thoughts are of value to me or just oddly interesting to read. I don’t even what to go into whether I was my children to read my personal journals. Blog posts are public and they may have been reading them all along.
Oh what a can of worms writing can be? Helpful in the moment to process, interesting to help others reflect, funny, odd and deeply meaningful at times.
What do the stats say about your on-line writing?
Words from JL 
I had many of the same thoughts as I was deciding to jump back into this SOL Challenge this year. I have decided to keep it all – for now – but to make sure I never write when I am mad – and to exclude images of my grandchildren,,,for now…
Joanne, digging into the past is fun for sure. I wrote a post in 2014 about frustration and today I have similar emotions. Years pass on but thoughts hopefully evolve into something else. Reflection is the key.
I’ve had my blog since 2012. At first I was adding categories but somewhere along the way I stopped. I think about going back through to do it, but it would take a long time. I do go back and read old posts sometimes. I have been going through poems as I need to choose some to submit when I go to Highlights Foundation’s Poetry for Kids workshop in April.
I hope you do find the time to go back and revisit old posts. I love going back and rereading old posts. Especially slices.
I am so happy to be a part of your history as an avid reader of your posts. These are impressive statistics, and your topic is a great reminder that little things add up, be it pennies, pounds, or posts!
I’ve been here since 2012. I like to go back sometimes and read previous posts. I like seeing who commented. Some of us have been here for a long time! I also did NOT like my statistics class in graduate school.