From the Parapet Turns Five

On 11/09/22 this blog turned five. It’s apt time for reflection. In the past five years, I have written 173 posts averaging 579 words each.

My ‘top posts’ surpsingly have not changed since 2019; even the order is the same!

1. The Caliphate of Cordoba
2. Clairvius Narcisse and the Zombies of Haiti
3. The Moor’s Last Sigh
4. The Historical Babylon
5. Green Eyed Devils

Best posts (in my opinion):

• Fuegians
• Uttermost Part of the World
• Cartoon History of the Universe
• Magic and Religion
• The Epic of Gilgamesh

From the Parapet is a labour of love, hence my  disregard for search engine optimisation or advertising. Regular viewers will notice my pace has slowed. With the demands of every day life being greater than when I started, one post (even a short one) per week is no longer tenable. I’m sure other bloggers will understand.

I’ve also ‘gone off’ politics so to speak. Not that I don’t care – but there are plenty better writers offering news and insights in the political sphere, and frankly I am no longer as invested. There has been much happening – COVID 19 and the war in Ukraine for to name two, but I’ve found infatuation with political and social issues a draining, and often divisive affair. I also discussed the ‘Evergreen issue’ back in 2018 and the fact political posts get less hits.

If I do write about current events, it will likely be something which is not recieving sufficient mainstream coverage – such as the womens’ protests in Iran or Azerbaijan’s recent invasion of Armenia. For now I’ll keep reading, but let others write.

Problems:

• Typos in published posts. Spellchecking, reading aloud and routine checks help.
• Link rot. This one is frustrating. Google images are sometimes deleted, leaving only  thumbnails where there were once visuals. Solution? Including less images to begin with, and routine checks for now.

What else could I change?

• The blog’s name. I like ‘From the Parapet’, but it’s not unique. Even googling the  name will not render results until the second page. A name not found elsewhere might prove a better fit, or at least be easier to find.
• Focus. A broad sweep keeps me coming back, but as other bloggers will tell you a niche is crucial. It’s worth considering.

From hereon, I will also ‘like’ posts that are over two year’s old, all correct and free from rotten links.

See Also:

• From the Parapet Turns One
• From the Parapet Turns Two

From the Parapet Turns Two

A year ago I hoped would still be blogging now and here we are. Time flies. From the Parapet is now two and in that time I have written 86 posts averaging at 600 words – 52,010 in total.  Followers and views have increased at a slow, but somewhat steady pace.

Some highlights:

• being cited by Rationalwiki
• getting two posts to #4 on google
• finishing National Novel Writing Month (not strictly blog-related, but announcing it helped)

My most viewed posts are similar to last year’s:

1. The Caliphate of Cordoba
2. Green Eyed Devils
3. The Moor’s Last Sigh
4. The Laotian Civil War
5. The Historical Context of Cheddar Man

Laos and Cheddar Man have replaced Babylon and Haitian zombies.  What does the list have in common? They are not my best but they are evergreen (5/5), over a year old (5/5), historical (4/5) and about Spain (2/5). Most importantly, they rank high on Google, my main referrer.

In September 2018 my monthly views doubled. From there they plateaued. They jumped in March 2019, then fell in June when Google rejigged its search algorithms.  Since then, my posts have slowly returned to their places on Google.

I love writing, but a blog gobbles up time. I don’t know how people can post every day. Nevertheless, to watch your blog slowly build is satisfying. I find curating small pieces weekly more effective and gratifying than spewing out rambling drafts. I believe my writing has improved, if only because earlier posts make me cringe. As such, I will rewrite one from 2017 to gauge how my style has changed.

July’s experiment was sticking to one topic: the Eurasian steppe. I could do this again; sometimes I try but then a news item steals my attention, and the next post is something completely different.  Other topics, like ancient migrations or hunter-gatherer societies, have sprawled across the year. I might do a month on Greater Iran, or little known cultures before the year’s end, but we’ll see.

There are over 75 million WordPress blogs. Saturated is an understatement. How can you make yours stand out?  I try to write the blog I would want to read. Anything else would be inauthentic.

So how to increase exposure? Some ideas:

• writing guest posts
• writing for an established website (eg. Ancient History.com)
• making YouTube videos (a bit of a departure, but could be fun.)

I have faith ‘From the Parapet’ will turn three. Until then there is no shortage of possible topics – see you in the new decade!

See Also:

• From the Parapet Turns One
• How Nanowrimo Went
• Rewriting ‘The Historical Babylon’
• Steppe People
  • The Tarim Mummies
  • The Xiongnu
  • Turkic Migrations
  • Crimean Tatars
• Greater Iran
  • Cyrus the Great
  • Mani of Babylonia
  • Peoples of Afghanistan
  • The Sassanian Empire

How Nanowrimo Went

Nanowrimo 2018 was a success! Over November I wrote a 50,000 word first draft of a YA novel, while working full time and maintaining a modest social life. The project consumed my spare time, and my blogging, but it was worthwhile. I wrote more in the past 30 days than I did in the past year.

My advice:

1. Write every day. 1,700 words a day is not difficult but the more you skip the more you will have to catch up. Once you get into a steady rhythm, writing will seem effortless. Try and get as much as you can done on the weekend, if possible.
2. Don’t look back. You have all the time in the world to revise your words after November. For now focus on getting words on the page – that’s what a first draft is all about. Remember no one has to read your original Nanowrimo submission. Save agonising over sentence flow or the the perfect verb for December.
3. Plan in October. When I attempted Nanowrimo in 2016 I had a vague idea of my story at best. After only the first few chapters I hit a wall, with no clue how to keep the plot rolling. This time I familiarised myself with the three act structure prior to Nanowrimo, and wrote a page long plot outline and profiles on all my major characters. It was all subject to change, sure, but the rough notion of where my story was going kept me to the end.
4. Set aside time. I cannot stress this enough. On good days I was writing 1000 words an hour, but this was rare. Know yourself and your habits. If you are prone to procrastination then allow three hours a day to reach your target word counts. Stop when you feel you have written enough.

I don’t plan to read my ‘novel’ until January. This will allow me to view it with an objective eye and better revise and recraft my 50,000 words into something I can show others. In the meantime, I will focus my creative energy on art and this blog. To my regular readers, thank you for your patience.

All in all, I am proud of what I accomplished. It’s not a masterpiece, or even a published book, sure, but it’s a start!  If you have ever wanted to pen a novel, but struggle with procrastination or writer’s block, I recommend giving Nanowrimo a try. Stick to it and it may surprise you what you can achieve.

See Also:

• Nanowrimo 2018
• My 2018 Blogging Goals

From the Parapet Turns One

I started this blog one year ago. This unfortunate date, I must add, was not by design but an unobserved coincidence – shame on me! I shan’t venture into cliché territory and say I’m honored or amazed at how far I’ve come, but I will settle on happily chuffed.

When it comes to creative projects, I rarely finish anything. A weekly blog however, provides enough gratification to keep me going, so for that I’m glad. One post a week is not a lofty goal, but it sure adds up over a year.

I don’t blog to make money. Sure, a little revenue would be nice, but if that were my aim, I would have given up long ago. For me, this blog serves as a way to write regularly and record topics of interest. Hence I avoid clickbait or a specific ‘niche’. Developing a skill takes work. 10,000 hours and all that. This blog ensures my writing is held accountable.

My audience isn’t big, but grows every month. I still use the free version of WordPress which, though not allowing in depth analytics or SEO, will tell you your number of readers and where from where in the world they come.

WordPress ‘likes’ are a bad gauge of interest. They only tell you what WordPress users like and most of my views come from Google, not the WordPress Reader. My most ‘liked’ post, for example – ‘2018 Blogging Goals’ – is not even in the top ten for most viewed. It’s only liked most because it’s about blogging – a topic WordPress users are interested in by default.

Most of my readers are from the United States, followed by the UK and Australia. I also get a fair smattering of views from around the world, as you can see from the map above. This month I’ve had 77 from Ecuador alone!

My most popular posts:

1. The Caliphate of Cordoba
2. Clairvius Narcisse and the Zombies of Haiti
3. The Moor’s Last Sigh
4. The Historical Babylon
5. Green Eyed Devils

Originally I assumed my political posts would be the most popular. My real life circles prefer such discussions to history, after all, and political commentary on WordPress and Youtube is thriving . For this blog it’s not the case. My history posts get far more hits.

Maybe the market is saturated; maybe my political views are too vanilla. Successful youtubers and bloggers present controversial and/or nuanced opinions – that’s what makes them interesting. Now I understand  regurgitating news reports without a clear bias lacks appeal. If people want a pseudo objective  take on current events, they will read the news.

Political posts aren’t evergreen, historical ones are. My post on the Battle for Idlib, for example, will only be relevant for a couple of weeks at most. After this the news report will be dated and irrelevant. Posts on the past, however, stay the same, and are far more likely to be searched on Google months later.

Blogging is a fulfilling hobby and I would urge anyone who is interested to give it a go. I’ve still got a lot to learn, but am happy with my progress so far. Hopefully I’ll still be posting one year from now!

See Also:

• My first post
• My 2018 Blogging Goals

My 2018 Blogging Goals

On the 2^nd day of 2018 I sit at my desk wishing I began this blog at the start of last year, or perhaps waited to the start of this one, so on January 1^st I could look back over a year of content, and easily count how long I’ve been blogging in the future. But it’s not the case; I’ve been going only five months.

Nevertheless, the New Year is a time for reflection in all aspects of life, so today I set straight my blogging goals for 2018.

1. Posting once a week: From now on, I will publish new post every Monday. If I wish to follow up with a smaller one, such as a song review, I will do it on the Thursday.
2. Diversifying: Aside from the usual history and current events I intend to write about culture this year too and perhaps the odd personal anecdote. This is my first blog after all and by not sticking to one, specific topic, I hope to find my voice, what I enjoy writing most and what my audience likes to read.
3. Style Guide: One will be made at some point this year.
4. Nanowrimo: I started National Novel Writing Month in 2016, but followed the example of my two friends and dropped out only 18,000 words in. This November, I’ll see the 50,000 through.
5. Diligence: For reasons mentioned below, my New Year’s resolution is to stick this blog out to  the end of year at least, whether anyone reads it or not.

I have written both fact and fiction in my free time, on or off, since I was nine. Completing a finished product was always my demon. Now I think of it, that was one of the best aspects of school: accountability to teachers and deadlines. I actually finished things, whether I enjoyed the process or not!

Since then I have started a hundred projects and finished none, save for a shabby first draft I wrote as a teenager. No more.

These are my blog goals for this year! Are you a blogger? Do you have any questions or advice to offer? Let me know in the comments below!