Along with millions of other Americans, I am inundated with debt.
And I joined a subset of those millions of Americans in trying to clear some debt this year as a new year’s resolution in 2023.
Now, the nature of waiting tables as my primary source of income means that I get paid immediately after work. Thus, I drain my bank account to near-zero several times a week, choosing one lucky creditor overlord to appease before bed. A romantic relationship, isn’t it?
So when I rolled out of bed around 11AM some day last week, I was surprised to find I had overdrawn my primary checking account by $25. I’ve been a lot better about keeping track of my automatic payments lately.
I opened the banking app (which did not recognize my face, as 20% of it was still obscured by the pillow) to find that the annual domain name payment for this website had gone through. Thus, I made a Year in Review post to see where I’ve been, where I’m at, and where I want to go with this creative project.
In one year I wrote 25 blog posts, with two more nearly-completed drafts coming soon.
I wrote 36,399 words for this website.
There were 282 unique visitors to the website who accumulated 947 blog post views. There were 640 site sessions.
Nearly all of my readership is from the US, but somehow there are 10 unique visits from the Netherlands?
And I learned a lot about building a website (thank you, Wix).
Those 25 blog posts included:
6 about Portland public parks
5 about fatherhood
3 social sciences essays
3 pop culture analysis pieces
2 introductory blog posts
2 travel wish list posts
2 mostly true stories
2 advice guides
A YEAR IN REVIEW:
My first observation is that, as expected, I started off this project with much zeal and pace (22 of these blog posts were written in the first 6 months).
We all kind of knew this would happen though. I mean, the first blog post is just a list of half-started projects. Maybe my hobby is just starting new hobbies?
I started the blog in March, I decided to move from Oregon to California in April, executed the move in May, my son was born in August, my mother died in September, and her funeral service was in October. And of course, the November/December holiday cycle hit. At the time, it just felt like life. But as I’ve reflected upon it, I’m not upset that I didn’t write more. I’m actually pretty impressed that I got anything done at all.
Observation 2, the blog is kind of all over the place. I don’t read a lot of personal blogs, but those that I have seem to have a hyper-focus on a singular topic: cooking, parenting, Orange County travel, etc.
So is this a “personal blog?” If it is, it lacks the focus often associated with these types of projects.
Now, the fatherhood posts have been the most-read by a mile. I think I’ll need to dedicate more time to those, because it scratches both the itch of gaining a viewership (see “scientific rationality”) as well as the itch of saving these reflections for posterity.
But I refuse to be pigeonholed to talking only about fatherhood! (in spite of the fact that those posts have done 10x more views than some others on this website). When you're just creating art for the views/profit, it's going to influence the art you create. So I'll continue to focus on writing what fulfills me creatively-emotionally-spiritually.
So maybe a rebrand to make this a “long form media network” might be in the works (though such ambitions are, well, ambitious). I want to write more about sociology/philosophy/government in Year Two. I want to explore writing fiction. I want to bring in guest writers. And I want this website to host a podcast library.
And maybe these things materialize, maybe they don’t.
A final observation was that not every post is very good, if I’m being honest. I re-read all 25 posts here as part of the Year in Review. The realization that I was pumping out content for content’s sake at the beginning was a tough pill to swallow. I hope my gusto was met well by the readers, but I realize not every post here is a banger. I’ve got my favorites, and I’m not going to delete the “bad” ones. But that just means there’s room for improvement. Quality over quantity moving forward.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN YEAR 2
Merch is coming!
Well, rather, merch is in the works. I recently added a message on the bottom of every page of the website saying that Oversharing will always remain ad-free. If I want this to be monetized (who wouldn’t wanna make a couple of bucks), I wanna create some optional avenues for folks to contribute. The "Shop" tab is on the to-do list.
Allison and I have been sitting on 100 blank tote bags from the Planted Ladies, LLC days that we can do something with. I’ve got a couple decent Canon photo printers laying around, and my sisters gifted me some postcard paper and vinyl sticker paper for Christmas. We’ve been brainstorming for months, and we want to approach this with a full DIY attitude.
There’s also a Patreon page floating around the internet, thank you to my one Patron. There’s a goal to relaunch that and get some exclusive content going there.
And the guest contributors are coming to the blog. There's already one on the Q2 calendar, a film and music buddy of mine.
Shoot me an email if you're interested in becoming a writing contributor to the website.
More to come soon, y'all.
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