Top 10 Posts — and Most Commented — for 2019

Since I started this blog eleven years ago, I’ve had over 2.8 million visitors. About 18,650 follow WordDreams and have contributed over 44,292 comments (about 680 a month) on the 1,750 articles I’ve posted. I have several columns:

• writer’s tips (sign up by clicking here)
• book reviews (usually Fridays)
• tech tips for writers (occasional)
• How I’m Doing (on my latest WIP, right now it’s Against All Odds)

I also participate in three blog hops:

• #IWSG
• #AuthorToolboxBloghop
• #AtoZ (sporadically)

In between, I write what’s on my mind, but always about the art of writing.

If I didn’t look at the statistics on my blog, I would guess that the most read posts were about how to market what you write, but that’s not true. The series I wrote a couple of years ago on Genre Writing Tips was so popular I used that theme for my A to Z Challenge–for three years (there are a ton of genres). Then there is a series I call Descriptors–sixty-nine collections on how to describe a variety of stuff you include in your stories.

What a surprise to find out what you-all actually are reading. I am thankful for the WordPress statistics section. Here they are–my top 10 posts and commented-on posts of 2019:

Top Ten Hits

If I remove the description articles (which blew away the competition in number of readers–see below for those rankings), here are the top ten:

1. 103 Most Beautiful Words? You Decide
2. 6 Tips for Western Fiction Writers
3. How to Write
4. Why Self-Publishing is Right for Me
5. 11 Bits of Wisdom I Learned From a Computer
6. Join me to launch Survival of the Fittest
7. 12 Survival Tips for Writers
8. Join me for The Quest for Home #BookBlast
9. 2 More How-to-Write Books
10. Have children? Here are two great books

Two of these were from blog hops I participate in–#AuthorToolboxBlogHop and #IWSG. These blog hops do so much to encourage visitors, camaraderie among writers, and excellence. If you’re looking for new online writer friends, start with these blog hops.

Here are the top ten description articles:

1. 65 Ways to Describe Sight and Eyes in Your Writing
2. 72 Ways to Describe Sound
3. 51 Great Similes to Spark Imagination
4. How to Show (Not Tell) Emotion–E to O
5. How to Describe Nature
6. 24 Ways to Describe Pain
7. 57 Ways to Describe Talking in a Novel
8. How to Describe a Landscape
9. 29 Ways to Describe a Headache
10. How to Describe a Fight

Top 10 Most Commented

When readers take time to leave a comment and/or click through to a link I include in a post, it means they trust me, are engaged, and find what they’re reading valuable–want to extend it. Since I started my blog, I’ve received 44,292 comments. Why? I’m not sure. I will say I enjoy my readers. I always respond and am inspired to visit their blogs. The perspective I get from their vast range of experience is like nothing else in life. I live in a bubble and you-all invite me out of it.

The articles that inspire this kind of activity from readers are special to me. I learn a lot by noticing what contributed to the WordDreams community. Here they are–the ten most commented articles I shared in 2019:

1. #IWSG Does Your Writing Surprise You? (145)
2. Book Review: The Gate (141)
3. 3 More Home Runs (140)
4. Born in a Treacherous Time Receives an Award (133)
5. Book Launch–Born in a Treacherous Time (131)
6. 19 Self-editing Tips (129)
7. 65 Ways to Describe Sight and Eyes in Your Writing (127)
8. How do you create readers for life? (124)
9. I’ll be busy in November for #NaNoWriMo (123)
10. Image Copyright Do’s and Don’ts (123)

What were the most-commented posts on your blog? Do they reflect the goal set for your writing or were you surprised?

Oh–one more thing. I don’t have enough social media followers. If you would follow me, I’ll follow you back! Here’re my handles:

Twitter: @worddreams

Instagram: JacquiMurrayWriter

LinkedIn: Jacqui Murray

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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy, the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers, and the Man vs. Nature saga. She is also the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, blog webmaster, an Amazon Vine Voice,  a columnist for NEA Today, and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. Look for her next prehistoric fiction, Against All Odds, Summer 2020. You can find her tech ed books at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning