2010 in Review and by the numbers
Number of separate hits on my blog: 23,928From: 120 Countries
Most hits: USA
Most surprising hits: Yemen (?)
(My goal to target Yemeni readers: check!)
Strangest search entries that actually led to serious time on my blog:
"Brodi Ashton Walmart Marshmallow Peeps"
"Brodi Ashton Booby Jar"
"Jacob's Abs"
"Bodyguards in Pakistan"
"Naked Mondays"
"Saggy Bladder"
Some of these make total sense. I did spend a fair amount of time blogging about Jacob's abs. (Specifically the left one, third from the top. It was beautiful.)
And I did blog once about a saggy bladder. And Naked Mondays. And I blogged extensively about my bodyguard in Pakistan.
Okay, sadly each of these makes sense.
Number of times I posted on a Tuesday: 1 (Today!)
Publishing highs:
Signing with my new agent. (Hi Michael!)
(Michael "You Could Sell his Smile on the Internet for Money" Bourret and me)
Selling my book. (Hi Kristin!)
Number of Book Launches I attended: a plethora
Authors at those book launches:
Bree Despain (The Lost Saint- party tonight!)
Ally Condie (Matched)
James Dashner (The Scorch Trials)
Matt Kirby (The Clockwork Three)
Kiersten White (Paranormalcy)
Sarah Williams (Palace Beautiful)
Kami Garcia and Margie Stohl (Beautiful Darkness)
Number of quarters I owe to the booby jar (as a penalty for using the word "booby"): 486
Number of posts about my secret lover Rafa: 10
He's not impressed.
Number of conferences I attended:3
(Emily, Bree, Brodi and Sydney Salter at the SCBWI conference in L.A.)
Number of times I danced the Love Shack with M.T. Anderson: once (I'm sure he'll be blogging about it too, in his own "year in review")
Number of rejections I received throughout the year: 486 (at least, it felt like that)
Number of times I thought getting published was just a pipe dream: loads
Number of times I wondered what, exactly, is a pipe dream: once (like right now. What does that mean? anyone? Does it mean my dream was stuck in a pipe, right next to a hairball?)
Number of days my book was on submission to editors before we got an offer: 2
Number of times I was pretending to take notes in church, when really I was writing my book: 52. (There are 52 Sundays in a year, right?)
Number of Thursdays spent writing at Borders with Bree Despain and Emily Wing Smith: 40
Number of times in any given day Sam and I just look at each other and say, "I can't believe the book is going to be an actual book.": at least 3
Number of times in any given day I declare my undying love for my agent: at least 3
Number of times Sam rolls his eyes at me: countless
Number of times I'm grateful for blog readers who've stuck with me for another year: let me count the ways.
I'm taking the rest of the week off. See you next year!!
