Unitarian Universalism

Insert Sexy Title Here

I used to be thrilled with thirty or forty hits on my blog.  Yes, I would be bummed if it was six or seven, but I was easily satisfied at surpassing twenty and nearly orgiastic if I exceeded fifty.

Sex-Sells

 

But not since WordPress.com freshpressed one of my blog posts.  In the first week of highlighting, that post got 2,500+ hits!  With traffic hitting – and hopefully reading! – came additional attention to some of my other posts which led to my blog surpassing the 10K mark this week.

I was pleased that it was a post that explicitly referenced Unitarian Universalism.  Some of my posts don’t.  I felt like maybe there was some baby evangelicum happening: spreading the good news of the UU gospel.

Thing is: I’m pretty sure it was the title that drew them in.

Sex sells.  Kink sells.  In my defense, the post was of substance – c’mon: who would deny that raising bi visibility, a discussion of the fluidity of sexual expression, and the exploration of heterosexual privilege is serious stuff?   Yet who knows how many of those hits resulted in someone actually reading the text once they noticed there were no pics of titsnass or leather or threesomes?

It raises other questions for me.  Questions of a more personal and spiritual nature.  Questions of ego and intention.

This modicum of success with my blog brings out in me an endearing giddiness and an annoying narcissism.  My mind creates arbitrary markers of success: “This post got 50 views!”  “This post was shared on FB by ___ people!”  “UUWorld referenced one of my blogposts!” Etc. I seek confirmation and praise from my family (who are kinda done with these outbursts.)

My beloved husband, good Buddhist that he is, lovingly mocks this striving.  He reminds me that though the blog has its purpose, and in the small of our world is “important,” size doesn’t really matter.

The post just prior to this one is high on my list of personal favorites so far.  I love the setting.  I like its interfaith subject and the spirituality.  I like the writing.  I kinda ~ modestly ~ think it’s deep.  How many hits?

Exactly 38.

38I think it could speak to many people who have not yet read it.  However, the title, though apt, is clunky.  And definitely not sexy.  So it’s not so likely to get all that far.

Carey Niewhof is a Christian minister who blogs.  Quite successfully.  He recently put together a post entitled, “8 Reasons Most Churches Never Pass the 200 Attendance Mark.”  I read it, found it interesting, and even shared it with the deacons at church I serve.

It is one blogpost that almost didn’t get written – one he had thought about on and off for years and even while writing it, didn’t feel particularly jazzed by it.  He nearly gave up as he was writing it.  Still, he did finish it.  Here’s a letter about it he wrote to his subscribers (of which I am one):

I had no idea that it would become the most read post I’ve ever written. It had over 17,000 Facebook shares in the first 48 hours. (If you shared it, by the way, thank you!)

What’s strange to me is that I actually like the post I wrote yesterday on love better. It has less than 100 Facebook shares. You just can’t predict or control these things. (October 3, 2013; careynieuwhof.com)

The lesson Nieuwhof draws from this is that we – you – should do the thing you aren’t sure you should because you don’t know what will come of it and you don’t know whom it will touch.

I get that.  People have approached virtually, leaving comments on my Vanilla Partner post, letting me know that it resonated.  People have come up to me in person, coming out to me as bi sisters in the world.

There are other lessons here:

  • Write it.
  • Write it because it keeps showing up and wants ~ needs ~ to be written.
  • Write it not for the fame of a few thousand (or tens of thousands) hits or shares, but to honor that urge for something needs to be made manifest.
  • Write it whether you think it will be embraced by others or not.
  • Don’t write it with the big numbers in mind, because they might not come.
  • Don’t not write it with the small numbers in mind, because they might not come.

keep-calm-and-write-it-down

0 thoughts on “Insert Sexy Title Here


  1. As a new-ish blogger I can relate to a lot of this! There’s certainly no accounting for what’s going to catch on. Maybe some bloggers are trying to be the pop-band equivalent of a hit machine, but what for? Better to say what you have to say, and let the cards fall.

    I also check the numbers on my posts, probably more than I should, which is a bit embarrassing. But I don’t think we have to be TOO ashamed or embarrassed about enjoying moments of popularity. It’s only human. And it’s not like you’re using your popularity to do harm, like those mean kids in junior high school. We write to put some idea out into the world. So if more people read it, that’s good.

    I haven’t tried the sexy title thing yet. I’ll look for a chance :^)

  2. I was just having a variant of this conversation this morning. And the underlying, still-not-answered question (post mostly by introverts, but I wonder sometimes, myself) is: but WHY post what we write at all? Why keep a blog? And if we’re going to blog, and the point is the art itself, why watch the numbers? (besides the obvious answer, “because it’s addictive”–which it totally is. the real time suck for me with blogging isn’t the writing–it’s the mindless observing of my stats.)

    1. omg. Raising Faith: you and I are the same person. except a few years age difference in our bodies and in our children. and there’s the angle on our faith thing. but damn, I swear, we are the same person.

      1. Wait, if Raising Faith is you and Raising Faith also lives in -my- head…

        (Seriously, if there was a way to turn off the stats bar, I would need to do it.)

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