Going a little off topic but hey it’s my blog. Anyway, I’m 45 posts in and I feel it’s time to request constructive criticism, to question the Blog, to evaluate it, to figure out what works, what doesn’t and for that, I need YOUR input. I would really appreciate a comment or two – don’t be shy.
You may ask why am I doing this at posting 45, I plan my posts in advance, I try to pair related posts and have topics planned all the way into August 2022, so now is where this topic hits. I considered making this posting number 42 (as it is the meaning of life) but I wanted to coordinate the Esterbrook Pastel refurbishment with the how to start a pen collection.
Some fun statistics about the blog: this is the 45th post, to which I’ve made 26 revisions. Overall, the blog contains nearly 27k words. My posts have been shared on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Tumblr and Pinterest. The average post takes me upwards of 10 hours to research, write, edit, etc before it is published. My posts have been visited by +620 visitors from 23 countries excluding the US, generating +1000 views, 81% of my viewership comes from Facebook and I have 16 followers. The surprising thing, the blog is about pens!
“What am I doing? Why am I doing this? Is it worth doing?”
Momsotherside.com
I have NO interest in becoming an “influencer” or receiving free “stuff” nor do I judge my success or failure by “likes” and “followers,” this isn’t about inflating my ego. The blog is all about creating content that I hope others can use or find interesting. When I told my daughter I was blogging she told friends and they all got a good laugh. Was it because the “old guy” is blogging or the content or both? Can’t tell you how happy I was to hear this…..really. There are millions of blogs focusing on book reviews, movie reviews, food, travel, or feelings. Which is great and some I follow, but I was looking for an outlet for my experiences, maybe I could help others, and hope someone may learn from my mistakes. So I started creating content that bucks the trend. In an era when everything is disposable, I’m refurbishing pens that would otherwise end up in a landfill. There are no special skills necessary, so hey look the old guy is doing it.
“Tell a good story.”
Spike Lee
How many people do you know have or can create home DIY nickel electroplating? Better yet, how many do you know would try, including construction of a project box (I so miss Radio Shack). Actually, I found building the box and doing the electroplating was a blast and I wanted to tell someone, hence the genesis of the blog. Also, I am a bit sentimental, when I write with these vintage pens I try to appreciate the stories these pens might tell if they could talk, or the history they’ve seen, or the joy and the heartbreak they’ve realized on paper. Some pens are personalized, naturally, I research the owner and include their story in the blog. “I’m just trying to tell a good story and make thought-provoking” content.
“You have to create content that they want to read.“
New-lune.com
Personally, I find it challenging to read long blog postings, I usually skim them more often then not and I should know better as I am quite the wind bag. Early on, my typical post was +800 words so I decided to limit the future posts to 600ish words. To accomplish this I’ve split topics into multiple posts and I’ve added more pictures (worth a thousand words).
“A Penny for your Thoughts”
Sir Thomas More (1535)
Please feel free to comment on the following:
- Are the posts still too wordy?
- Is the style ok, I prefer conversational like I am speaking directly to you
- Is the content ok?
- How about the theme, is that ok?
- Any thoughts, likes or dislikes.
Chronicles of a Fountain Pen 
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