5K

5,000...

There are certain numbers that are important to us: 42, 666, Pi, Euler's constant, Halle Berry's measurements. There are numbers that we memorize and keep close to our thoughts: phone numbers, pin numbers, Halle Berry's measurements.

I do not make much of this, except to say that I should thank you all for giving me the chance to celebrate crossing this milestone. With many of the other pages I have written for, I had no idea how many of you actually read my work. There were subscribers and the occasional comment, but nothing really solid to think over and consider. Numbers do not seem real sometimes, unless they can be attached to something that seems less than ephemeral (cf. Ms. Berry comments).

But this matters to me. I have over three hundred pieces here and I am finally communicating with a group of writers who seem to understand what my work is all about. No real wins yet, but I have made the Leaderboard and received twenty Top Story citations.

So why do I feel like I should be doing better work with this page?

Well, I have changed.

What do I mean about this?

I noticed. That is about it. I have passed 1000, 2000 or even 500 reads without taking any notice. It does make me wonder about what we are all doing to ourselves with this page and the constant referral to reads, hearts and stats about money and documents. I try to write without worrying too much about who reads my pieces and how often they show their appreciation by giving me a comment or clicking on that heart. All of this is appreciated (I always take the time to respond with a thank you or a comment that I feel explains something that may not have been clear in my piece). But I do wonder…

Also, what kind of schedule should I keep to hit that magic number of 10K? That number of reads is not impossible, but I know that it is an investment of time that will require some very strict scheduling. Autumn is approaching, and this is the moment when I have often found it hard to add consistently to the page. And as far as a Top Story contender, I may have to put that to one side for a while. With all the work done over the spring and summer, a part of mind tells me that I should learn to take the colder months off.

But I know myself too well…

I will keep this going. My sense is that I have finally found a way to get my work read and appreciated by a pretty good group of fellow writers and certain members of my family and workplace who care about what I have to say about random things. My real dream is to get a collection of my work together – more likely than a real novel right now – and see if anyone is willing to publish it. I already have a collection of short stories saved and printed out (what to do; what to do), and I think that I should be shopping it around somewhere somehow. I think that having this many reads online might be a great advert for my very rookie career.

I thank you all for this.

I await the key info on Ms. Berry.

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Thank you for reading!

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You can find more poems, stories, and articles by Kendall Defoe on my Vocal profile. I complain, argue, provoke and create...just like everybody else.

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