As 2013 Lurches Out the Door…

Rock in the middle of the road. Copyright by WyoJones. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

One of my daughters posted a challenge on FaceBook to do my New Year’s resolutions in one word. I couldn’t think of anything, until I looked back and realized it was actually easy. My word is: hope. (I will add that my other daughter reminded me that I can sum up 2013 with one word, too: gratitude. At the end of this year we are still here, still standing – for the most part – with many blessings to count against the hard stuff we faced this year in the midst of good stuff.)

The hubs photo kind of sums up last year for me. I’d just start to get some speed up and yeah, rock in the road. And yet here we are, despite the rocks and obstacles. The end of the year. I notice a lot of bloggers are doing a “best of” round up. That sounded fun.

So here’s my top five most popular blog posts, going from 5 to number 1:

1. Weight Shaming – I was bit surprised this wasn’t #1, because it resulted in my best day ever for views.

2. What I Never Knew About Getting Older – Again, a bit of surprise it beat out Weight Shaming, since the post bumped it off the best views for a single day.

3. Dedicated or Demented. Why I Create Worksheets for Authors – This was a guest post that I won, that’s right, I won something last year! It continues to get trickle in traffic that has pushed it onto the top five list. And it’s a great post. Her blog is on my “must read” list.

4. Pauline’s Scenic Route to Halloween – Technically, this post shouldn’t make the list, since I wrote it in 2012, but it seems to have received a lot of visits this year, so score! Not sure what it says about me or my visitors, but it does feature an awesome photo by the hubs.

And here it is, my #1 visited blog post for 2014!

1. On My Classic Bookshelf – This is another “sleeper” from 2013 that keeps on getting views, apparently enough to push it past all contenders. This gives me another reason to hope that people are still reading and loving books as much as I love them.

I thought I’d also highlight a couple of my favorite posts from 2013:

1. Why I Don’t Go to McD’s in my PJ’s

2. Why I Love Being a Grandma – (yup, I became a grandma in 2013!!!)

And the post wherein I learned one should take care when talking about the Klingons:

Tribbles Aren’t Trouble if You’re not a Klingon – (see the comments where I get schooled by one)

I also had a landmark (for me) guest blogging gig at {grow} where I blogged about what keeps us from making our mark. {grow} is another one of my must read blog stops.

So yeah, it’s been a year (now it’s almost over) that I can look back on with gratitude. I’m thankful for the people in my life, for family and friends ,and for readers who still love books and read them with passion. I’m thankful to make it to 2014 (going out on a limb here that I will!) and that I have new challenges ahead.

So my thanks to everyone who has visited this blog, to those who have commented enough to encourage me to keep going (hmmm, so does that mean the people who don’t are trying to discourage me? grin), and for life and love. I’m also thankful to AnaBanana for providing her wonderful products and gift baskets to the people who visit my blog. I’m looking forward to another year, filled with friends, family, books and gift baskets!

Perilously yours,

“Pauline Baird Jones bursts onto the scene with an irresistibly fun-filled voice . . ..” Word Museum

What happens when a twenty-first century woman on a mission to change the past meets a thoroughly 1940s man trying to stay alive in the hellish skies over war-torn Europe?

When you’re looking for fun stuff for that new tablet or ereader, I hope you’ll check out my books on Amazon. They are available in digital AND audio!