Friday, December 31, 2021

2021 Blogging Year in Review

(A hat tip to Mali, whose post "2016: Looking back on the blog" has inspired me to do the same for the past several years. Also to Mel, whose Crème de la Crème lists from 2007 to 2012 prompted me & other bloggers to review our posts from the year past & pick out our favourites to share.  (There was a list in 2006 too, but that was before I started my blog.)  If the Crème de la Crème list still existed, one of these posts would probably be the one I would have submitted. :) ) 

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2021 has been my BEST blogging year ever -- in terms of quantity, if not quality (lol) -- I passed the 200 posts mark in mid-December (and, a few days later, 2,000 posts since I began blogging in October 2007!), and will wind up the year with 213 posts (including this one).  :) That's an average of almost 18 posts per month (!) -- or a post every 1-2 days.  My least-chatty month was June, when I posted 10 times;  my most verbose was May, with 24 posts. Not bad, after 14 years of blogging!  (By comparison, my next-most prolific blogging year was last year, with 197 posts, and then 13 years ago in 2008 -- my first full year of blogging -- when I logged 172 posts.) 

I don't check my blog stats very often, but I had a look at the ones for the past 12 months, and (as of Dec. 29th, anyway), I had 184,000+ views and 601 comments this year! The top-viewed posts of 2021  (that were written/posted IN 2021 -- most of them earlier in the year, which makes sense...) were (also as of Dec. 29th): 

In addition to posts about or related to childless/free issues or other adoption/loss/infertility issues, I tried to do a "Right now" or "The Current" post at the beginning of each month, and participated in 51 #MicroblogMondays (that's pretty much all of them this year, isn't it??).  I reviewed all 59 books that I read in 2021, and wrote about news items (usually ALI-related) that piqued my interest. I also wrote a lot about other things going on in my life, including aging, retirement, being an auntie & great-auntie, and condo living. There were lots of "odds & ends" posts, as well as lists of recent "small pleasures & annoying things."  And, needless to say, the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic (now in its second year) provided PLENTY of fodder for blogging!! 

Here are a few of my favourite/noteworthy posts from 2021, or ones that say "2021" to me -- in more or less chronological order (from oldest/earliest in 2021 to most recent): 

January: 
  • 60 (!) -- Reflections on my (gulp!) 60th (!) birthday, and on milestone birthdays of my past. 
  • #MicroblogMondays: "I have kids!!" -- A Capitol Police officer, being beaten by the insurrectionist mob on Jan. 6th, pleaded "I have kids!" -- and survived. Which made me wonder -- what would happen to childless me in a similar situation? 
  • "If they die, it isn't as bad" -- "They" being health care workers without children --  according to the child of a COVID ward doctor in Britain. I wasn't sure which was worse, the child's comment, or the parent's response (or lack thereof...!). 
  • Of COVID & coffee -- Reflections on different attitudes and ways of living through a pandemic. 
February: 
March: 
April: 
May: 
  • Crazy or grieving? (Mary Todd Lincoln was "one of us") -- A news story about a new museum exhibit on Mary Todd Lincoln and grief and how it was (and continues to be) misunderstood. 
  • Childless mother -- In which I examine being in the weird position of having a foot in two camps: both childless woman and bereaved mother. 
  • A few words of advice -- What "words of wisdom" (?!) I would offer anyone contemplating leaving infertility treatment for a permanently childless life.
June: 
July: 
August: 
September: 
October: 
November: 
December: 

2 comments:

  1. Congratulations on a fruitful year! I love the "year in review" posts. And you have so many great posts. 💜

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  2. Wow, over 200 posts! That's very impressive. Take a bow! (I managed only 117 combined).

    I'll go back and reread some of these posts. A look at your list though does agree that they sum up 2021 very well!

    I'm glad you still do this!

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