My 20 Most Viewed Blog Posts of 2019

I was surprised to see that I've written 66 posts on this blog over the course of 2019; yes, I spend most of my time at my laptop!

It's always interesting to note which ones receive the most views; the most popular are usually those that contain advice for writers, though I'm pleased that many fellow Walking Dead addicts are stopping by—and interest in my own books when they're released is so appreciated, too! 

Mostly, though, it's just good to know that you're not talking to thin air, so if you're reading this now: thank you!  Here are the twenty most viewed of this year's crop, in ascending order (ie, number one got the most!).

If there is one you would like to take a look at, please click the title :)

20: Review: The Walking Dead S10x05 WHAT IT ALWAYS IS

19: Review: The Walking Dead S9x16 THE STORM

18: On Being Sixty

...as I was, this year.  Totally ridiculous, of course ;)

17. The Park on the 28th: June

 From September 2018 - August 2019, on the 28th of each month, I took pictures in the park where I go for my walks to track the changing seasons.

16. A Sonnet Written By My Mother in 1946

My mother died in April this year, aged 93;
I am sure she would have been amazed to see that 905 people 
took a look at a poem she wrote over 70 years ago :)

15. Blackthorn is Live!

My 20th book, published in November this year :)

14. Your First Novel Is Ready To Go: Five Things To Consider
~ Writing Advice ~

13. Lately I've Been Watching....

One of my irregular series of TV and film reviews, with trailers

12. A Thank You Letter From Judith Grimes (The Walking Dead)

11. Eat Your Profiteroles With Confidence

 A bit of fun, from back in April!

I love a Top Ten countdown!
Here are the ten most viewed, in reverse order: 

10. Review: The Walking Dead S9x15: THE CALM BEFORE

9.  Lately I've Been Watching....

Another of the most popular posts in my TV reviews series

8.  All of a sudden - nothing happened. My review of The Hot Zone
~ TV Review ~

7.  The Park on the 28th: March

6.  3 Misconceptions That Can Hinder New Writers
~ Writing Advice ~

5. 6 Ways To Create Characters That Readers Care About
~ Writing Advice ~

4.  The Park on the 28th: January

3.  A Few Dos and Don't For Writers New To Twitter
~ Writing Advice ~

2.  Hope is Live!

My 19th book, published in May this year :)

1.  Stacks of Useful Articles For Writers
~ Writing Advice ~

This is an ongoing project; I add new posts as I find them, under headings such as 'publishing' and 'social media', so it's easy to find what you're looking for.  

I'm so pleased that this has proved so successful - it's had 3923 views so far, and I hope it's helped writers new and old, everywhere!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog; happy new year and new decade, and I hope you will return!

 

The Park on the 28th ~ a recap, and why I started it.

My Park on the 28th series on this blog has been so popular over the last year (thank you if you've enjoyed looking at it!), and as I have now completed a year's worth of photos, I thought I'd do a recap of the 12 posts (links to all of them, further down), and have a word about why I started it.

Last year, on the 28th of September, I went for my usual walk and took some photos because it was such a beautiful day.  I'd gone out because it was the first anniversary of my father's death, and I wanted to think about him.  

September 28th, 2018

It was when I was posting the photos on my blog that I had the idea of taking similar pictures on the 28th of each month.

Dad loved walks amongst trees and green; in 1971, he and some friends started up a walking group called The Strollers, and he would stroll along country lanes and across fields with them most weeks, year in, year out; in fact he last went out with them two days before he died!  

Dad was the last surviving original member, and my Park on the 28th series is a kind of tribute to him, because he would have loved looking at it.... but this is not intended to be a sad post - it's been two years now, and we all go through it.

Dad (on left) with some of his Strollers chums, probably about 15 years ago

A tree is planted for each Stroller when he goes off to 

walk the great country lane in the sky :)

My brother helping to put the tree and its frame together ~ 
was pouring with rain that day!  Julia with umbrella, me with camera😉

Six months ago, a few hours after I'd completed my 'Park' post for the 28th of March, I had a phone call from the nursing home where my mother had lived for the past 6 years, to say that she'd died.  

She'd had Alzheimer's for 10 years, and since a stroke early in the year she'd become unable to acknowledge anyone or feed herself.  We knew she was fading, but the end came quite suddenly.  We'd thought we might get a chance to see her again; my sister was actually just getting ready to make the journey when we got the call.  

March 28th, 2019

She died exactly 18 months after Dad, on a Thursday, too, so the 28th has, in a way, become my day to go for a walk and think about Mum and Dad.  Not in a morose way, necessarily; just to think about them.  I still don't believe they're dead - I hear that acceptance comes much later.

Mum with Julia and me in 1987

I loved doing this series—if you would like to look at any of them again, please click the month above the photo; looking down the changes in these single pictures over the months is a quick overview! Thank you for enjoying my walks with me over the past year. 😎

September 

October 

November 

December 

January 

February 

 

March 

 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

Thank you again, for your interest in this project :)

The Park on the 28th: August - late summer

On the 28th of each month, I take photos in the park where I go for my regular walks.  I take many in roughly the same places each month, so that we can observe the changes in season - the trees, the plants, the flowers, the weather, and the light in the sky.

August has always been special for me because it's my birthday month, but I've always loved the lazy, hazy feel it has, a step away from reality; I imagine this is a hangover from years gone by, when August meant sandy beaches and the sea, or walking down to the fair on a weekday afternoon to meet some boy, instead of being at school, or, later, drinking too much in sunny pub gardens, knowing that in another month's time it would be too cold to do so.  The whole month still has that dreamlike quality.

I actually took these on the 27th, not the 28th, because I suspected that circumstances would prevent me from taking them today - and as it happened, I'm glad, because the lovely weather of the weekend broke last night.  I could feel autumn in the air; yesterday the early morning had that dampness about it that wasn't there earlier in the month.

I've now done all twelve posts; you can click on the month, below, if you would like to see the previous ones - and next month I intend to do a recap, with a note about why I started this series. 😎

Previous months:
July 
June 
May 
April 
March 
February 
January 
December 
November 
October 
September 

Underneath the foliage in the foreground is the stump of the tree 

that fell over in a storm last year - see October's post in the link above :)

The Flowers are dying now.....

The leaves are turning....

....and starting to fall

Definite touch of autumn about these two pictures!