2016 – the year that was!

Tumba-bloody-Rumba was the winner as the most viewed post on my blog in 2016.  Did you see it?

In looking back at my blog stats for 2016 I have been very surprised about what featured in my top 10 based on views.  Posts on local government issues, travels, photo challenges and ongoing issues with my forced redundancy collected the top votes based on the stats.  My running posts didn’t feature too much this year, probably because I haven’t been running or posting regularly enough – that will change this year with all the extra time I’ll have on my hands!

The number of people following my blog, liking and commenting have increased significantly from 2015 and I’m grateful if only one person reads my blog 🙂  I have interacted more with other bloggers this year and have enjoyed following a vast variety of blogs.

2016 was a very hard year for me. It was a year of conflict with local council amalgamations and being made redundant from a job I loved doing for over 20 years.  I made myself a little bit sick with all the stress and am still a tiny bit bitter and twisted.  I fought both these issues with all my might but to no avail.  I used my blog as a sounding board throughout the year and appreciated the support I was given by people who only know me through my blog.  So it’s understandable that my most viewed posts were generally around these issues. I’m not normally a political person but I went out with all guns blazing, protesting, writing letters to ministers, editors and politicians and being interviewed on local TV so often that inmates kept telling me I was a TV star!

I am concerned at the changes ahead for me as in being ‘retired’ but have had lots of support and ideas for what to do and I know I will bounce back once I settle down.  My husband is retiring (his choice) later this month after 39 years of high school teaching and we will be able to do lots of things together.  I know it will work out, I do, but yet it still irks me that I had to finish my career this way – with a heavy heart and heavy pockets!  There were other family issues going on throughout this time and so all in all it wasn’t the best of years.  But I am determined to make the most of what life has thrown at me!  Yes I know, every cloud has a silver lining!!!

If you missed my some of top posts here they are again:

1. Tumba-Bloody-Rumba! I wrote this post in February 2016 in response to the forced council amalgamations.  The post outlines our actions and hopes for the future.  Unfortunately the merger went ahead regardless.  I think it was shared around our town and so had a lot of views as a result.

2. My It’s all about me page – this page gives people an overview of me and what I’m all about on my blog.  It’s good to see that readers are checking out my page before deciding if they want to follow my blog or not. I update this page every few months and always at the start of the year.

3. Travel Blog New Zealand #4 We travelled to New Zealand with good friends in November 2016 and undertook a cycling tour of the Central Otago Rail Trail.  It was a great experience and just what was needed.  The degree of cycling was just right, not too hard and not too easy, and we had a lot of fun along the way. I wrote a blog whenever I had the chance (and wifi) and covered every day of the trip.  I shared the posts with the travel company and they in turn shared it with their Facebook followers. A few of my other NZ posts featured in my most viewed for the year so I’m thankful for the exposure.  I would highly recommend visiting New Zealand and we will definitely return.

4. Shock and grief 2 years on – This post was an update on my most popular post in 2014 – how time passes when someone close to us dies and the way we all grieve is different and must be respected.

5. How many different versions of me are there? – This was a post written in 2014 as part of a writing prompt, so I’m not really sure why it has had a lot of traffic this year!

6. The Hills are alive with optimism – in January 2016 I shared this photo of the hill in our town with a brief overview of the ongoing battle to retain our shire as a separate entity.  The optimism was there but unfortunately we were still amalgamated despite our dedicated battle.  I must say it is still an ongoing battle!

7. Education beats crime – This was written in June 2016 and we were into protesting about the proposed changes every way we could. Working in a correctional centre is difficult at the best of times but finding out in May that we would be out of a job by December made it extra hard for all of us. On top of that it was one of our wettest winters which just added to the miserableness.

8. Sweet Curves – I love this photo of my friend’s baby back in June 2016 – her chubby cheeks were also a hit with other bloggers as part of the Weekly Photo Challenge (the prompt was curves) and as usual I took a different slant with my post!

9. Harmony – another weekly photo challenge with a heartfelt personal poem from March 2016.

10. Bring on 2017 – This was a weekly photo challenge with the prompt of New Horizons.  I used the prompt to  share my thoughts for 2017 with the prospect of starting again having been made redundant.  It was quite a hard time to go through and writing and sharing my thoughts helped.

My 2015 summary Drum Roll please…and the winner is was also a very popular post. 

All of my Weekly Photo Challenge posts have been popular too throughout the year with many views recorded. I enjoy these prompts and often have to think long and hard before posting.  I like the creative challenge that it presents and seeing how others interpret the prompts. I also enjoyed dabbling in the weekly Magnetic Poetry Saturday Challenge and was very pleased with some of my poetic creations.

It just goes to show personal stories and things I feel strongly about are what attracts readers to my blog.

The other interesting stat is that unlike last year, most of my views came from my home country of Australia, followed by US, UK, India, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, UAE, Netherlands and Philippines.

I have a few blogging friends from around the world who regularly leave comments and I thank them for their ongoing support – Miriam, Louise, Desley, Joanne, Annie and Su – there are many more who leave me comments but these are my top 5 commenters. I really appreciate every comment and always  try to respond in a timely fashion.

I have enjoyed compiling this summary on a hot summer’s day. Let me know what your fave post was for the year,  I’d love to know what you think.

Thanks to everyone who has ever visited my blog, viewed my posts or left me a comment, I really appreciate it.

Happy New Year!

Debbie 🙂