Two years ago on October 1, 2018, I posted my first “real” blog post, about my Roth IRA from residency, and last year I celebrated my first blogiversary.
After another trip around the sun, dodging coronavirus and a big C diagnosis in the family, I thought I would take the time to reflect on my progress with the blog.
Wins
Time seems to be moving very slowly this year, and–especially compared to bloggers who post about having to wait a few months before hitting thousands of page views–not much happens here at Physician in Numbers. I was pretty surprised to go over all the wins (small, but meaningful to me) over the past year.
Going by the numbers, I have:
- Written another 121 posts.
- Had 3 articles featured, one by Physician on Fire in his Sunday Best, one at Personal Finance Blogs daily feature, and one just last week at Xrayvsn in his Grand Rounds. These were total surprises, and so exciting!
- For those wondering, the featured posts were Fees Always Matter, Victory! Or On Completing a Huge Challenge, and 4 Market Crashes, 5 Lessons on Risk Tolerance. And 1 On Life.
- Landed on 3 blogrolls. Thank you Physician on Fire, Crispy Doc, and XrayVsn!
- Heard from readers who made comments (Thank you, it is so lovely to hear from readers). That’s not counting the spam comments I have blocked (I apologize if I blocked your comment and you aren’t a spammer).
- Been interviewed (x 1), this year at Practice Balance.
- Continued to comment more (I didn’t count) on other sites that I read.
Changes
Things changed when I saw that some people were coming here to read my posts. I started to feel a little more anxious about putting my thoughts out into the world, let alone worrying about typos, errors, gaffes. On the other hand, the encouragement I felt that some people might find value in what I write was heartening.
I tried very hard to stick to a three-times-a-week schedule, but gave up once the pandemic hit. I just did not have the bandwidth to write 2 new posts a week while also dealing with a transition to telemedicine, worrying about my job literally killing me, and also worrying about my spouse’s health. I would like to think that I have a little more time to put into my non-fitness related article each week, but I am pretty sure that I am still staying up late on Sundays to finish them at the last moment.
For the most part, I also stopped using my personal photos for the blog (usually the Friday posts), and switched to searching the Open Access works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I like to think that I am helping to spread culture across the interwebs, but mostly it is an excuse to look at great art for free.
What’s Next?
Though I make lists all day long (for work, for home, for blogging), I’d like to keep my goals simple:
- To continue to post regularly (possibly getting ahead a bit on finished posts) at least twice a week. I would like to have a 3rd post each week, but maybe won’t promise one right now.
- To have a good time writing.
- To provide something of value to anyone who reads here.
Bonus points for picking up new computer skills, interacting with the blogging community, or figuring out life in general.
Comments or congratulations are welcome!
Congratulations on your blogoversary! It’s a HUGE achievement that only another blogger can fully appreciate (a casual reader has no idea how much time it takes to come up with a topic, write it out, dress it up, and then publish it on a site.
I too have a 3x/wk schedule that can be quite challenging but so far have figured out a way to manage it without it being too consuming.
Appreciate the shoutout as well. 🙂
Thank you for your kind comments, today and over the past year. I think you know how much it means to hear that someone is reading what you write.