2009 on Art Predator: The Blog That Was
What do I mean, the blog that was? Well, 2009 is over and https://artpredator.wordpress.com will be over soon also!
No, I am NOT leaving blogging. And I am not abandoning you, dear reader!
After all, this has been one bang up year! I mean, gosh, I went to PORTUGAL as a blogger thanks to Enoforum Wines and Jo Diaz at WineBlog.org! That’s absolutely the best thing that’s happened to me as a blogger if you don’t count all the wonderful people I’ve met via blogging like Jo Diaz and other wine bloggers and people I haven’t met yet in real life but know on-line like Australian poet Paul Squires aka Ginga Tao and Indian poet Gautami who conducts the Monday Poetry Train and so many more…
Over the course of the past year, I posted at least once a day (except for December when I took some time off!) ranging from 30-47 posts a month. Around the first of the week I typically posted about literary arts, on Mondays I almost always posted poetry, Wednesdays I often posted about wine, and near the First Friday I wrote about arts, cycling and environmental activism. I tried to keep up on interesting astronomical and astrological events as well as political ones. Quite the eclectic mix, if I may say so myself!
Overall, in 2009, among other activities I
–blogged about Macworld in January (7,128 page views) on a press pass,
–submitted a video application to blog about the Great Barrier Reef in February (8,282 page views),
–kept rolling in March (10,986) and April (9,071) including a trip to Yosemite
–attended WordCamp SF in May (9,571),
–submitted a video application to blog as the Murphy-Goode Lifestyle correspondent in June (9,370)
–attended the Wine Bloggers Conference in July (7,548),
–helped people prepare for Burning Man in August (12,970) ,
–went to Burning Man for the 17th time in September (16,701) and blogged about tastings I held there with wines from Michel-Schlumberger, Twisted Oak, Bonny Doon, and Vino V (watch for another blog post about this escapade soon!)
–attended the European Wine Bloggers Conference in Portugal in October (15,161) thanks to Enoforum,
–blogged about the Alentejo region of Portugal in November (9,459),
–and kept on keeping on in December (11,356)!
All that adds up to 127,603 page views for 2009 after 41,936 stats for 2008 which shows some wonderful growth as far as I’m concerned. And this doesn’t include RSS page views or subscribers.
Some of the most highly viewed posts connected with the zeitgeist and hundreds or thousands of people read them, like my Burning Man posts last August or my winter solstice activities post. Other posts, for example, most of my Monday poetry posts, only have a few dozen page views. That doesn’t mean I’ll stop posting poetry or only write about Burning Man!
In 2010 you can expect Art Predator to continue on in the same eclectic vein as always: art, poetry, politics, wine, environmental activism, adventures, crazy bike rides…
What will change then? My address! Sometime in January, as a birthday present to myself, I will switch over to http://artpredator.com.
Yes, you will still be able to find me here. But you will also be able to find me THERE. But not yet! At least not now as I post this on the day after New Year’s Day.
So, here’s a toast (with a nicely balanced brut J cuvee 20–a not sweet, fresh crisp gently bubbling Sonoma County sparkler from the Russian River Valley!) to the New Year, a new blog URL and YOU! (Because without YOU, it would get rather boring just sitting here writing to myself…!)
And here’s what you’ve been reading–The Top 15 posts from the last 30 days and the top 15 posts from 2009:
art predator 
Hey Gwen- looking forward to another year of your eclectic posts. Your blog is all I need to know about everything worth knowing about! I was so lucky to sit next to you at WBC09! Thanks again for the postcard and stickers from Burning Man. Happy New Year.
Thanks, Marcy! (I actually mentioned you on a similar post on Wine Predator–still need to link to your blog tho! Will do it now!)
It was great meeting you and I look forward to connecting with you more in 2010! we have a spare room if you want to come south to visit sometime!
Onwards and upwards! (and occasionally sideways just for fun). What a year it was and what a year it will be. Life is an amazing adventure and one best shared with friends, like you, AP.
I love that you’ve got an independent move coming up. I, too, mark Enoforum’s trip as a major gift this past year. My extra gift along the way was that you took the heat off me being a finickie foodie. (Yes!) I did, however, get to enjoy my favorite foods tasting ever so better than what they do in the US… Can anyone say genetically engineered, boys and girls? Thank God that Portugal hasn’t gone that route. It proves what foods are SUPPOSED to taste like. We need to have that; meanwhile, your palate is amazing!
Thanks, Paul! It’s been great being on-line pals with you too. What a year it’s been, eh?
Jo, at least you didn’t turn up your nose or make fun of my adventurous palate! And yes, I agree–in Portugal, the food tastes “real”! Local, sustainable, amazing! Thanks again to you and Enoforum Wines for taking me along!