Last Post

No, I am not closing down the blog. Instead, I am referring to the last thing I posted, the piece titled "Fleahop, Alabama." The response to that one has left me stunned. Let me explain.

I started this blog in July 2012, and I have posted 1,017 times. When I go in as the blog owner, I don't see what you see when you go to EndangeredSwimmer. My screen shows a listing my my posts, when they were posted, and how many times the post has been viewed. For years my average views were around 20 to 40. Slowly, I have acquired a few readers and now the average post gets looked at around 125 times. I count a big post, a successful post, one that rings the bell, so to speak, as one getting 400 or more views. Enter the Fleahop writing.

I published Fleahop Thursday night (Feb. 8) and just before I went to bed, the numbers on my side showed 450. I was out of pocked all day Friday, so when I checked on it Friday night, I was stunned to see the number at 5,143. Before then, I had had only two posts to go over 1,000 with the record being 1,508. The record, I felt, deserved that number because it was one of the best things I had ever written, it was about an important subject (my mother), and lots of people knew about her passing.

I just thought I was shocked Friday night. I was stunned Saturday morning when I saw the total was now up the 6,200. What!?!?!?!?! I watched it throughout the day and it rose to over 7,000 by bedtime. What the heck?

You guessed it. Sunday morning I checked it, and it was at 8,000+. All day it continued to rise, and as of bedtime Sunday night it was over 9,000. Right now, Monday morning in class, Wednesday afternoon, the total sits at 9,361 the total sits at 9,984. I can't explain this, but that won't stop me from trying.

First, the thumbnail of the Claud Feahop Rd may have helped a lot. I suppose inhabitants of Fleahop don't often see the name of their community in print. Not only that, but people in the area all know Fleahop and naturally would be interested in what some stranger was writing about their part of the world. Furthermore, the story isn't a bad one although I think it is far from the best thing I ever wrote. It was just good enough to get 52 57 shares on Facebook in the first few days. Maybe everyone who read it wanted other people they knew to read it too. That's all I can figure. When I was there in 2016, I wrote a piece called "Claud, Alabama and Pashmahuna." That writing, which is every bit as good as the one in question, only received 239 views. Go figure.

I may not understand, but I am delighted that people are enjoying the Fleahop writing. Maybe I can come back sometimes and write something else. In the meantime, if you could get me 16 more views, I will feel almost like a real writer.