On this New Year’s day, I thought I would tackle two issues. First, as I tweak the blog, I’ve added a new category called ‘Readin’ & Ritin’. Here, all thing related to reading, writing and {just to keep the rhyme} arithmetic will be filed under this heading, although I had to drop the ‘rithmetic from the category heading for space reasons.

Readin’ included reviews {I’ll be incorporating movies as well}.  Ritin’ will include anything related to writing, like my books Heaven Shining Through and Wisdom From a Father for example. Writing by others will also be included here. Rithmetic won’t be mathematical formulas {I don’t think}, but rather statistical analysis.

Which brings us to the second issue. Today, I’ll take a somewhat nostalgic look back at 2018 — statistics. As I have done before, the look will not necessarily be through my eyes but through your eyes — the readers.

With that backdrop, according to the stat tracker, I posted 107 times in 2018. Almost half of them — 51 — were Five Minute Friday submissions. I added 56 new followers, bringing the count to 751. There were 7,058 views last year from 5,179 visitors {some clicking on multiple posts} from 66 countries {I always find that amazing} from the U.S. to Serbia. Outside the United States, visitors came from Canada (178 times), India (130), United Kingdom (130), Indonesia (70), China (64) and Australia (43) among others.

June (1,011 visitors) and August (935 visitors) drew the most traffic. I penned 26 posts in November and December — 13 in each — and generally eight or nine per month (except February when I posted just five times,  July six times and August 10 times).

Based on responses, the most widely read post (147) was Heaven IS Shining Through, where I announced the novella had made it to the printer’s and the process involved, March 28, https://wisdomfromafather.com/2018/03/28/heaven-is-shining-through-2/ Next was Reviews Are In, also about Heaven Shining Through, with 123 views, May 9, https://wisdomfromafather.com/2018/05/09/reviews-are-in/ , then Another Great Day, announcing the arrival of my third great-granddaughter Harper, 92 views, https://wisdomfromafather.com/2018/08/26/another-great-day/  and Anniversary Dreams, marking my 50th anniversary with Karen and 10th without her, Aug. 31, https://wisdomfromafather.com/2018/08/31/anniversary-dreams/.

Others with above average likes and/or comments were Five Minute Friday — Burden (11/9), Five Minute Friday — Agree (2/3), Five Minute Friday — Who (10/19), and Five Minute Friday — Restore (6/16).

Well, that’s a brief look at 2018 through the rear view mirror. I had my favorites — some which made YOUR list and others I was personally pleased with. Now it’s time to look forward. Watch out 2019!

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don’t.