Celebrating the Fourth Anniversary of Wordwalk
Celebrating the Fourth Anniversary of Wordwalk
by Alice Jane-Marie Massa
On the Saturday afternoon of January 19, 2013, I initiated my blog Wordwalk–thanks to the help of my friend Jenna. In these past four years, through some of the happiest of times and the saddest of times, I managed to craft 205 postings on this blog. Actually, this post is 206. Writing this weekly blog has allowed me to achieve greater discipline with my writing, to save some family memories, to share some family recipes, to honor my past and present guide dogs, to impart my enjoyment of poetry, and to comment on current events. Of course, by collecting all of these posts, I was more easily able to put together my first book The Christmas Carriage and Other Writings of the Holiday Season. The official announcement of my 101-page book on the first of December brought forth (perhaps, through my new author’s web page) the largest number of monthly views on Wordwalk–461, which was a significant increase over the autumnal months’ views in the two-hundred range. I was very pleased to discover that the 274 views of November, 2016, dramatically increased to 461 for the next month of December. Previously, the month with the highest number of views was April of this past year with 389.
My sincere thanks to all of my Wordwalk readers who have helped make possible the following summary of views on my Word Press blog.
2013: 2115 views
2014: 2333views (The best month of this year was November with 305 views.)
2015: 3036 views (The highest number of views was recorded in May–375.)
2016: 2936 views
Although a total of 10,543 views (as of January 18, 2017) for Wordwalk does not compare with the “high-traffic” blogs, I am grateful that my writing has the exposure that it now has.
Next, I give my heartfelt thanks to those readers who regularly comment on Wordwalk. I happily send special thanks to those of you who sometimes comment on this blog. Also, I am grateful for the many personal e-mails which I have received from so many readers about my posts. Thinking of even more feedback which has come my way, I am glad to hear from a few people by phone.
Throughout these four years, I have appreciated the support and encouragement of Behind Our Eyes, an international organization of writers with disabilities.
Since July, I have received more support and encouragement from my new small-group critique sessions. Thanks to Leonard, Abbie, Brad, and Valerie.
As in the past four years, the fifth year of Wordwalk will continue to present a variety of topics and, hopefully, some pleasant surprises.
Looking ahead to this new year of 2017, I am sharing with you my top seventeen titles of blog posts which have received the most views in these past four years. By examining the pieces in first, second, third, and seventeenth place, I assume that a number of students, some teachers, and/or various budding poets continue to use my posts about pi poems as a help in writing the piems. Naturally, I am most especially pleased to find my writings about my guide dogs in this “best of all time” list. Having some family and Indiana pieces in the list also warms my heart.
- How to Write a Pi Poem (April 30, 2014)
- How to Write a Pi Poem for Pi Day (February 18, 2015)
- How to Write a Pi Poem for Pi Day, 2016 (March 2, 2016)
- Recipe: Cherry Holiday Squares (February 22, 2013)
- Poetry without Pawprints (April 6, 2016)
- The Store My Grandfather Built (October 12, 2016)
- A Guide Dog’s Prayer to Saint Francis (October 7, 2015 and October 5, 2016)
- Swimming Lessons and Other Life Lessons (July 11, 2015)
- Recipe with Memory Piece: The Wassail Years (December 4, 2013)
- The Heart of My Guide Dog Zoe (March 30, 2016)
- Welcoming Willow (June 29, 2016)
- Profile
- Remembrances of Zoe at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (April 27, 2016)
- Thanksgiving Greetings! (November 23, 2016)
- Closing a House in the Heartland (February 24, 2016)
- Three Wishes for Leader Dog Willow’s Birthday (October 19, 2016)
- How to Write a Pi Poem–Past the First Zero of Pi (March 9, 2016)
Cheers to all of my readers of Wordwalk
and of my book The Christmas Carriage and Other Writings of the Holiday Season!
author’s web page: http://www.dvorkin.com/alicemassa/
Happy reading in 2017!
Alice and Leader Dog Willow
January 18, 2017, Wednesday
alice13wordwalk 
Alice–Congratulations on the 4-year success of your blog! My only regret is I didn’t sign up to get the postings automatically sooner than I did, but I’ve been catching up with the archives. This blog has been on my Thursday “must read” list since I usually am at the computer mornings only. An unexpected bonus has been reading the comments of your other readers and reading some of their own postings. You address categories that interest me greatly, including your family history, your “guide dog” posts, and I’m liking poems more than in the past–a sad but honest confession. So keep up the good work, and keep feeding those of us who truly believe in life-long education.–Sue
Sue–Many, many thanks for your comments! In addition to appreciating your reading posts in the archives of my blog, I am glad to hear that you have explored the postings of some of my writer friends. Also, I am always quite pleased to hear that my poetry has appealed to someone who earlier had not been a big fan of poetry.
Take care and enjoy the weekend–Alice and Willow
Congratulations on the fourth anniversary, Alice! I am so happy that so many people read your work and enjoy it as much as I do! ~ Jenna
Congratulations, Alice, on another very successful year on your Blog! I look forward to reading your post every Wednesday. Thank you for sharing your creative talent with us.
Love, Mary
Happy Anniversary, Alice, and congratulations on your writing successes! May we continue to enjoy your gifts of expression for many years to come!
Love, Carole
Carole–Thank you!
Take care! Alice and Willow