Every year at this time I look back at the year’s most popular posts and review my stats. I started doing this because I figured, who’s reading my blog on New Year’s Eve anyway? Then it turned out to be a nice way to reconnect you with my favorite posts from the year.
But first, let’s look at this blog’s 2021 stats. The number of pageviews I get is a great vanity metric. I like it a lot that I got slightly more pageviews this year than last year. I wasn’t trending to that at the end of November, so I juiced my stats by sharing on a Facebook group about my hometown, some long ago posts I wrote about my hometown. That brought a couple thousand extra views and pushed the total over the top, at just over a quarter million.
I’m bummed out that comments were slightly down this year. But I’m only a little bummed because my blog still gets more comments than any other photo blogs that I know of. I do this to be in community with people like you, and your comments here are my rich reward for doing all of this writing and making all of these photographs. (That, and when you buy my books!)
Here are the five posts I liked best this year. They’re all personal essays and stories. Normally, I deeply love one or two of the essays I write each year. That’s not the case this year; I feel like my writing has been so-so in 2021. I have been in a creative slump most of the year, driven by the burnout I’ve experienced because of my incredibly demanding job. I managed these five posts that are pretty good.
- Then there was the time we were visited by Child Protective Services – This story was heavy on my mind early this year. I decided to tell it, even though it’s a very bad memory that doesn’t cast me in the best light. Readers here at the blog were largely supportive, but as I shared it around the Internet I got a lot of negative comments about it. I was even kicked off one Facebook group for memoir writers because I shared it there.
- What I want my children to know about building human connection and avoiding loneliness – I remember how challenging it was to adjust to adult life in my early 20s. I was so glad to have made good friends in those years. I shared some experience and advice with my children about it and wrote it up as this blog post.
- Trips to the store with Dad – For the third anniversary of my father’s death, I shared this childhood memory of him.
- Goodbye to 1070 AM in Indianapolis – I wrote a paean to full-service AM radio, the kind of radio that was a good friend and companion as you went about your day. I miss that kind of radio.
- The lifespan of a family photograph – An essay about saving family photographs despite the likelihood that nobody will want them after a couple of generations.
My most viewed posts from 2021 rose to the top thanks to search and heavy sharing on Facebook. Here are the top five:
- Minolta Maxxum 7000i – This is the first time ever that a camera review made the #1 slot. They seldom make the top five!
- Finding the original US 31 in northern Indiana – I’m not sure why it happened, but this was widely shared around Facebook. It’s the introductory post to a series of posts documenting a long-ago road trip down US 31 in northern Indiana.
- Nikon F50 – Look! Another camera review in the top five! It’s a banner year.
- Thursday doors: Gratz Park, Lexington, Kentucky – “Thursday doors” is a weekly feature among many bloggers, and I sometimes participate. We all share our posts with each other.
- The statues from the demolished Marion County Courthouse – You’ll find these statues in a couple locations around town. This post got shared widely on Facebook, leading to its top-five spot.
Pageviews are nice, but I write this blog to engage with you. That happens when you leave a comment! Here are 2021’s five most commented posts:
- American disunity at a critical time – I don’t go political here very often, but I did here and the conversation was intense.
- A rare luxury purchase – I bought a Nikon Df DSLR and we chatted about it at length.
- Rock shows – I shared my list of concerts I’ve been to, and you all did as well in reply.
- Three all-metal, all-manual 35mm SLRs for under $50 – We had an argument over whether I should be recommending inexpensive film cameras at all.
- Packing on the pandemic pounds – My post about the 15 pounds I gained during the pandemic sparked a conversation about everyone’s pandemic weight gain.
Thanks for reading Down the Road in 2021!
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