What about this?

David M. Schwartz, the author of popular children’s books, once told me, “There are numbers in stories and stories in numbers.” Over the years I have come to appreciate how numbers tell stories. So what kind of story do the numbers 1, 149, 433, 680, and 16,584 reveal? They tell an immensely satisfying story about this blog.

One year ago What About This? or W.A.T? was born. In many ways its creation was similar to having another child. Creating a platform for my creative endeavors and helpful ideas was a notion conceived in my head and thanks to my husband’s technical assistance, delivered into existence. Akin to nurturing a child, a blog requires constant tending. For blogs to grow and develop, they need to be continuously fed ideas and thoughts. For them to thrive, they need love and the constant support of others.

Like a child, W.A.T? has experienced growing pains, but has also reached some incredible milestones. For someone who did not consider herself a writer and who never wrote on a regular basis, I’ve managed to find enough words to write 149 posts thus far. The diversity of topics that’s been covered on W.A.T.? is well represented by the number 680 – the current count for the number of tags (searchable topics) I have entered. Because W.A.T? is not a typical blog, in the sense that the subject matter cannot be categorized under one main subject heading, it may never reach astronomical readership numbers that pure food blogs, pure craft blogs, pure gardening blogs, etc. can reach. Life cannot be put into neat little categories, so I’ll never be able to restrict myself to writing about one subject matter.

As my baby grew, amazing things occurred. On January 21st of this year as I reviewed W.A.T?’s daily stats, I could not believe my eyes. The computer graph, representing the number of views for the day, had spiked to a high of 433! That number represented evidence that people were starting to discover What About This? It was also proof that my husband was not sitting at his computer all day long, clicking on my site multiple times just to make me happy!

What’s a birthday without gifts? W.A.T? has presented me with many unexpected gifts. I would sincerely like to thank all who have either just dropped by for an occasional visit or who have loyally followed my journey throughout the year. Your visits to my blog have been gifts of joy to me. As of this minute, What About This? has been viewed over 16,584 times, a number that has far exceeded my dreams. When first starting this blog, I had no expectations whatsoever. I assumed I would always have at least one reader – my husband – so any number above one would be a bonus! In addition, researching topics, photographing subjects, reflecting on my life and feelings have helped me to grow intellectually and emotionally. Readers’ comments about posts have validated my feelings and lifted my spirits. Unanticipated links to people, some newly made connections and some re-connections, have made my life fuller. I am so appreciative of all of these gifts.

To celebrate this special occasion, I’m posting another challenging Mystery Photo Contest! Get the scoop on the contest and read about the prize in an upcoming post. Stay tuned!

“Sharing and encouraging joy in life” is my tag line for What About This? Stay with me as I continue my journey and help me spread the joy by sharing What About This? The best is yet to come!