Friday, March 23, 2012

Clearly I Need To Get More Tattoos

Today marks the one-year anniversary of my first ever blog post. It was a poem i wrote for class; i edited it and posted it as the introduction for who i am and why i do what i do.

The year has gone by quickly. April was when i started dating John and moved into my first real apartment, May was my college graduation, August was when i started my first grown-up job, September was when i started grad school, October was when my brother was wounded, February was my first "real" Valentine's day and my first venture into vegetarianism AND the time i met Mark Oshiro AND the day that my brother's leg was amputated, and my first year of blogging closed out with a continuation of reasons that i should live with my boyfriend, reflections on my brother, and a very strange piece of short creative non-fiction i wrote in my sophomore year of college.

I have to be honest: i'm still not totally sure what this blog is. It's probably most honest to call it a diary (or LiveJournal, if you're Benji and want to make fun of me).

My confusion is shared by my readers, as evidenced by some of my search terms. The most popular search term of all time is "never settle tattoo", which makes sense, since my most popular blog post of all time is the one where i talk about getting a tattoo that says 'never settle'. My second most popular search term is "Diana Lark", which means that i'm famous because people are actually searching for me by name. Right? Third is "awasiwi odinak", which was the title of this post about how i like nature and travel and walking and such. For those of you who may have Googled this term looking for a definition, i got the phrase from the TV show The West Wing. According to them, it means either 'beyond the village' or 'far from the things of man'. My fourth most popular term is represented by several variations of "world's happiest turtle". My favorite variation is "picture turtle eating a strawberry you'll never experience this joy". That seems awfully threatening to me. (Is threatening the word i want?) Anyway, if you want to know the kind of joy you're missing out on, the picture is at the top of this post.

As of this moment, i have gotten just over 2,000 pageviews. Total. In one year. My boyfriend keeps getting excited about my blog stats and telling me that i will be a famous blogger, and doesn't really listen when i tell him that many bloggers who are not really "famous" generally get several hundred pageviews a day. My record is 284 in one month. Furthermore, most bloggers are only famous to other bloggers. We're a weird bunch.

Anyway, i'm glad to see you all here. For those of you who are looking for more tattoos, rest assured that i am working on it. In fact, i've gotten another tattoo and just haven't written about it yet. For those looking for Diana Lark, you've come to the right place. For those looking to get away from it all, maybe start by turning off your computer and going outside? And for those looking for cute turtles eating strawberries, ME TOO. They are absurdly precious, aren't they?

2 comments:

  1. Some of us Lark fans subscribed to your blog and so get it through an RSS reader, in which case we won't register in your hit count. Just sayin'. Keep on writing, girlfriend, I'm reading it all. Love hearing what's on your mind. Don't care that you wander all over the place.

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  2. Lack of comments doesn't mean lack of readers. Lack of readers doesn't mean bad writing.

    You have to answer the question all bloggers face... "why am I writing this blog?"
    1. Because I like to write - and thus you are.
    2. You want to be famous - get a marketing plan started and get your name and URL out there. Comment on a lot of other blogs, get a Facebook and twitter going, give stuff away.
    3. You want comments - end with questions, be polarizing.
    4. You want love and adoration and attention - get a puppy (because turtle kisses are scary)

    I love your writing and the day I am included in your blog roll will be awesome.

    Your biggest fan, err minion.

    WG
    http://itsmynd.com

    Always include your URL in your comments so people can easily click from your witty awesome comment to more witty awesome content.

    Unsolicited free advice ending :)

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