The Commentariat Weighs In

Somebody wrote this ...

Read Birdsong....Sebastian Faulks...whew. And how many readers do you think you lost while you were in your prolonged brain cramp.... Fortunately I'm back but only by accident.

Which is certainly a fair question.

My answer is this:  I don't care.  At a certain point I realized I was paying way too much attention to how many visitors I had on a daily basis.  It started to rule my life.  I had little techniques for timing posts to maximize readership; I checked the stats three or four times a day; my average number of daily posts went way up; I reflected on search engine optimization ...

Crikeys, it was a disaster.

So now I don't give a shit how many readers I have.  You build it; they come.   Or not.  That said, I was averaging 10,000 visits before my so-called brain cramp and now I'm getting about half that.

And since the phrase "brain cramp" has come up, I'd like to say I don't think I get enough credit for the job I did closing down The Year of Magical Painting, even if it didn't stay closed.  The introduction of both the talking dog and the screen play format?  Xerxes' growing sense of betrayal?  The Sopranos-style ending?  The long dark pause then the cut to Sweet Virginia?

Dude.

The whole thing started one day when I had corned beef hash for breakfast and I reflected on how much it looked like dog food.  At which point the end became inevitable.  Because this is, after all, a tragedy.

Anyway, the word masterful jumps to mind, and it would have been nice if somebody had written in and said so.  Or words to that effect.  Or some fucking thanks for seven and a half years of grinding out the highest grade of artisanal sausage (no fennel).  Name another blog that gives you half as much quality shit as this one.

To the commentator, however, I'll say these two things:

1 -- I'll check out Birdsong.  Thanks for the tip.
2 -- I'm glad you're back, even if it is only by accident.

Tomorrow I'll have more on why I came back.