JLR turns 1 year old!

Until today, I completely overlooked the fact that the blog has turned one year old as of January 22nd! Long time readers may recall my frequent tendency to delete blogs after I get frustrated or overwhelmed, and the demise of my last blog, the Level 8 Buddhist, came as a surprise for many. To be honest, I wasn’t sure this new blog would last long, because the topics were somewhat different than those on the previous blog. My readership these days, based on WordPress stats, is about one-half to two-thirds what it used to be and hasn’t improved. I know a large reason is because I tacitly rejected the online Buddhist community and the constant bickering over dharma-lineages, precepts, politics and so on, and many readers probably either felt betrayed or that I wasn’t worth their time anymore.

However, to my own surprise, this blog has lasted a lot longer than the L8B did (the last incarnation lasted 8 months, the previous version 7 months), and I expect to keep going without tiring. I guess I can attribute this to two factors:

  • Writing about what I love, not what might draw lots of readers from a given community, even if it’s a big one.
  • Keeping to a reasonable fixed, schedule, rather than forcing myself to keep churning out more and more to stay competitive.
  • Staying away from too many rants or angsty posts I would be embarrassed by later. In other words, trying to be a bit more professional.

For those of you who have stayed on to read after the L8B was gone, or are new readers within the last year: thank you!

Your comments, links and just general interest really kept me going, even when I thought I should just give up. I sincerely hope the blog has been useful or interesting, and here’s toward a second year!

The Management



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5 Comments on “JLR turns 1 year old!”

  1. arunlikhati says:

    I enjoy this new blog a lot and I encourage you to keep on going. Your posts are very unique and informative, and your writing even feels more free. I tend to comment less here than I did on your last blog, but I routinely read your posts on Google Reader. Just wanted to let you know, this blog is great–Keep up the good work!

  2. Tornadoes28 says:

    Congrats. It is definitely better to write about something that interests you and not worry about readership.

  3. Doug says:

    Hi guys,

    Arun: I really appreciated the input, and it’s good to know the content is still relevant to people. That was one thing I feared quite a bit after making “the switch”. ;)

    Tornado: Amen to that, my friend!

  4. Kendall says:

    I don’t comment much, but generally do read all your posts. I’ve just been behind these days as you can tell by how late this response is. Actually, I had read it a week ago, but my work place blogs WordPress blogs, so I couldn’t comment when I was reading it through Google Reader. Just wanted to make sure I did comment so you know we’re still here and think you’re doing fine on the blog. I haven’t been keeping up with my blog. Just too many projects. Anyways, keep it up.

  5. Doug says:

    Hi Kendall, good to hear from you! I think of you often when I write certain Japanese-language posts, so I hope they are useful. :)

    Don’t feel about the readership. I know how it feels to get caught up in work and such and fall behind. No worries.

    Take it easy


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