I only seem to get spam comments recently. I do wonder who reads this blog and what real people are behind the numbers in my statistics. Thirty-nine people have read today's instalment of The Snowman so far, and a hundred and fifteen read the first three chapters; I wonder who they are, where they are, whether they like horror, whether they're Catholics or agnostics or anything else, whether they're old and young, male or female, and so on. And the same with all my other posts. I sometimes hope to spark some discussion with them.
I used to put my email address on the bottom of my Catholic Voice columns, thinking people might have some response to make, but I only ever got one email so I stopped doing it.
So I suppose this little post is just to say, I do deeply appreciate it when people comment, even if it's to disagree with me. I like knowing I have a reader in Sacramento and one in Sardinia and one in Santry. (And, indeed, one in the Phillipines and in the UK and in Kilkenny!) I know you might not have anything to say, but if you ever do, don't be shy. Tell me about yourself! Or if you have a prayer intention you'd like me to put up, anonymously or otherwise, don't be shy about that either.
But, even if you'd rather lurk, I do appreciate you reading, and thank you.
Hi M,
ReplyDeletewell you know I read your blog (not the novels, I'm afraid, more a pressure of work thing than anything else) ... and you already know where I am & what I'm about ... I'm just in from the local hospital where a parishioner just passed away, so if you'd like to keep L in your prayers, that would be appreciated.
God bless
I certainly will, Father, and I'm so sorry to hear it. And thanks for commenting, as ever!
ReplyDeleteMaolsheachlann, You probably have more silent readers than you realise. I am a 'regular customer' of yours. Pretty much every day I check in to Irish Papist to see what you have been writing about. As to the literary element, I am more inclined to read your poetry which I usually enjoy. I am probably too prosaic to relate fully to the fiction material! As a regular reader of Catholic Voice, I can assure you that your page is one that I always read. Keep up the good work! Paul
ReplyDeleteThanks, Paul, you comment really made my day. I'm especially pleased to know that you like my poetry and that someone out there reads my Catholic Voice articles! I was feeling pretty gloomy about this when I wrote this post and your kind words make me feel a lot better. Thanks so much.
ReplyDeleteHello Maolsheachlann, a few weeks since I wrote you the latest email, and tonight has been the first time since then that I´ve spent at the blogs. Perhaps too lurking, but I was very glad to reach you by email! Interesting to find the post now about the Lewis-biography by William Griffin you´re reading. For my part it´s only about 50 pages left of Pearce´s book. Wish you a good week, may God bless you with joy!
ReplyDeleteTomas
Thank you, Tomas, and I wish the same for you! I hope you enjoyed your holiday! The Pearce book is good but it suffers from the defect of all Chesterton biographies, in my view-- too much focus on the events in his life and too little focus on his ideas. But then, I guess that's what makes it a biography.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I did enjoy it :-)
ReplyDeleteI don´t know about the other biographies, this is the first one I´ve seen, but you definitely got a point there!
I'm sorry - I have been revising for (and taking!) my finals, so I haven't had much time to comment. I'm behind with the serials, but have kept reading otherwise - it keeps me sane! Now that I am free I ought to be able to offer my tuppence-worth every so often from now on.
ReplyDeleteI should say too that the mood you have here is rather different to those of many other blogs - it is much more welcoming and comment-provoking to habitual lurkers like me.
The other thing is that I have quite often read the blog from the home-page, scrolling from top to bottom, rather than by clicking on particular articles. That might distort your statistics - even if I have read three articles, only one 'view' will be registered. Can you see how long people stay on the articles? That is surely the most important statistic of all.
Dominic, I'm sorry it took so long to publish your comment and reply to it-- I was aware from a computer for the day. I hope your finals are going well (or went well?) and have been remembering you in my prayers. And I'm very happy to have helped kept you sane!!
DeleteI really don't know how the statistics work. I think sometimes that they must be misleading. I think that's why I prize other feedback that people are actually reading!
That's absolutely no problem at all, and a perfectly good reason in any case! Thank you for the prayers and good wishes. The exams are all over now - a great relief, and no doubt also to St Joseph of Cupertino who has been kept busy, as well!
ReplyDeleteIt's true that the comment box is a marvellous thing, when you consider how much more difficult it was in the past to send your thoughts to a writer, and I suppose that's a good reason to make the effort to comment. Do you know Malcolm Saville, the children's author? In each of his books he used to exhort his young readers to write to him with their thoughts - I think, if he were alive today, that he would leap into the blogosphere.
No, I'm afraid I never heard of Malcolm Saville. I see he was prolific, though. I also like writing to authors, and the internet has made that easier. One of my favourite authors is the late Keith Waterhouse, and i was rather saddened to learn that he never (or, at least, rarely) replied to his readers. He said: "I write, they write, end of story". I do like the idea of this blog having a social club atmosphere although I would need more commenters for that to happen!
DeleteI am trying to catch up with all your stuff now so that when I write a comment on one of your articles, it will be relevant
ReplyDelete