Complex Numbers

Lies, Damned Lies, and...

PROMPT September 4th

Did you know that WDC keeps track of everyone who views your items? To have a look at your blog’s statistics, open your blog, click the gear icon in the top right, and then click “Statistics.” You can do this for your blog or any other item in your portfolio!

In your blog entry today, share anything interesting you found while exploring your blog’s statistics. What is the profile of your average reader? Do you consider your readership when composing a blog entry? Everyone has an “ideal reader,” as Stephen King says. Who is your ideal reader?

Admittedly, I used to obsess about item stats. I quit doing that a while ago. So I went ahead and checked the current info.

Turns out my "average" reader is a rich married woman. Well, what good does that do? I want to meet rich single women. Or poor single women. Or, well, any woman who is single, really. I'm so alone.

Do I consider my readership? I suppose, in a way, though not by the demographics. Mostly I post stuff that interests me. If it interests someone else, too, great - I mean, that's the point, right? Read if you're interested; skim or ignore if you're not. I do take previous comments into account when writing blog entries, sometimes. Trying to be everything to everyone would be exhausting, and it'd never work. I'm well aware that most people (in general, as well as on this site) aren't as into math and science as I am. That's okay. Everyone has their own interests; these days, I blog mostly to practice writing. "Write every day" doesn't mean it always has to be fiction.

When I do write fiction, though, 90% of the time it's not a particular demographic I'm aiming for. No, I think that some of the greatest works of literature were not written for random people, or a particular group of people, but for one specific person. Somehow, they still end up with mass appeal. So I write for one specific person. Who that is shall remain a mystery, but you know who you are.

The other 10% of the time, I write primarily for myself.

Trying to consider reader demographics is, for me, difficult. I don't know what people want; I just know what I want to say, or at least have a general idea about it. This often doesn't mesh with what people want. I don't have the slightest idea what makes something the perenially popular "young adult" targeted story, or for that matter anything else. Nor do I know how to make my writing interesting, but I'm hoping that with continued practice and self-education, I can gain some insight into that.

I don't know if I'd still write blog entries if no one read them. I like to think that I would, but I do appreciate the conversational aspect of blogging. And for the record, I don't get angry if someone disagrees with me; I'm a grown-ass adult^{[citation needed]} and I can take it. I do get angry if I'm misunderstood - not at the person who did the misunderstanding, but at myself for not being more clear. Writers should always strive for clarity, I think; when I read something that seems deliberately obtuse or convoluted, I don't read it for long.