………Blogging requires persistence, timeliness and a flair for writing. As I approach my 700th blog on this site, since July 4, 2009, I have my favorites and I must admit, a few that are mediocre. As I work to meet a deadline I sometimes post a blog with a grammatical or syntax error. That is to be expected. I catch many of them. When you consider 700 blogs at approximately 400 words each, the is a lot of writing; 280,000 words.

………Each month things get progressively better. Last month I had 14,700 visitors. That number was significantly higher than for the month of September and continues the trend that I have been seeing since inception. I have surpassed 40,000 visitors total during the four month period. At the same I have had nearly 145,000 page loads. In any language, that is a lot of page loads for a small blog like mine. As time goes on and the word spreads and I continue to blog and offer additional choices, things expand even more. I am working toward surpassing the 100,000 visitor mark, after that I am looking to attract 25,000 visitors for a month.

………Ultimately, I look to put together a successful blog that is able to attract 1 million visitors a year, just over 80,000 visitors per month. My audience is International. My numbers indicate that between 10% and 15% of my readers are from Russia and / or Japan. The rest are mostly from the U.S. I have a reasonable but relatively small following locally. Most of those read my old blog in the World. I have not continued with my World blog for a few reasons. Time is the first consideration but they have some screwy notions of blogging. My blog is not subject to nor should it be subject to the silliness of their censors. I use appropriate language and my thoughts are mine.

………When they suspended my blog because i was running for a School Board position, I moved to start my own blog on the net. Since that time my numbers have swollen and I actually attract more readers and page loads than the entire host of World bloggers (community & their employees). On Halloween, I experienced my first 1,000 visitor day. That was a benchmark that I had not really thought about but given the early success of the blog, it was not surprising. I look forward to the month where I average close to or more than 1,000 visitors per day.

………I try to keep a decent mix of things on my blogs. I do local customer service shout outs as experienced by me. When I have a really bad experience like at the Leavenworth Safeway, I write those up as well. I like to share some very simple food / snack related dishes, etc. I am a Conservative and all of my blogs are written exclusively by me and copyrighted. You may post a blog as long as it includes ChuckSlowe.com as the originator. If you quote from my blog you should include it in quotation marks and list my site as the source. I am not a make it up as I go along blogger. I don’t exercise opinion as an emotionally driven source. I have my opinions but when I make an accusation, I have made every attempt to get the facts straight. Two of my blogs have already seen the light of day in a court proceeding.

………I am passionate about intelligence and diligence. I am not from the school that promotes the slap on the back and a hearty hello, just before the knife goes deep into the tissue. When I come after you, if I do come after you, it will be face to face and not at midnight, behind a crate, in the dead of night. You may hate me but it will not be because I was disingenuous like you may tend to be, at times. I am honest and forthright and that will scare some of the locals. If I have an ax to grind, it is only because you or someone else made it necessary. Intimidation is a commonly accepted social grace in parts of this community. I have never embraced that as an even tolerable tool of engagement. If I have to sacrifice a bit of likability for others to thrive in this community, then so be it! I have tangled with more important people, over the years, and have won more than my share of those engagements. I like to think that is in part due to the fact that my intentions are and always will be honorable. That is more than I can say for all too many of those in our local community. Don’t just feel bad, get over it and turn yourself around. Act like someone is watching!