Saturday Evening Post

Exciting. Frenzied. Thrilling. These are the palpable words to describe this week. Being associated with such dynamic people makes this nothing like a job. Grab a cuppa. Snuggle in. The moon is rising earlier than expected. Let’s talk.

Numbers

15,000 is a popular number this week. Remember the yearly goal of 15,000 comments? At the time of this writing (just after Friday Follies went live), there are 15,733 comments on M3. In all the excitement these last two weeks, I completely forgot to check on it. We have officially blown it out of the water despite concerns just two months ago we would not hit it before 01NOV12.

The other 15,000 was not an official goal, but helps with the follow up to the numbers and rankings SEP from two weeks ago. You have all seen the flag box titled Patriots and Ex-Pats. In 2012, M3 has acquired over 15,000 American visitors. This was very unexpected. 1,000 new Americans came to M3 since the Alexa and Google post. Please accept my sincere thanks for all of the G+ shares and tweets. They have made all the difference.

500,000 is the next number to report. Even with a post failure, M3 reached the official halfway point on the Million Word Meter on Thursday. For everyone who thinks seeing it move is taking forever, remember the math: 1% = 10,000 words. For the handful of original M3 Readers (who have been here for all of the posts), at the close of this post, you will have read the equivalent of ten 330-page books on M3.

Despite some roller coaster dips in traffic (namely a 30% drop in traffic on weekends), traffic is climbing slightly. Next week, WordPress hits will top 100,000. (Remember, traffic from G+ and other sources are not counted.) Independent counters have us this week at 130,000. Hits including bots (which completely explains the Indian ranking) is nearly 360,000. How do less than 1,000 of them do that? Internet must be far faster there than here. Ugh.

AOL and Bing have finally become regular referrers to M3. This is compliments of some of the newer M3 Readers. Perhaps, we can coax a few of them out into the comments. There are two or three I may resort to shaming on social media to get their participation. (If I am talking about you, you are blushing.)

Friday Follies has been so brimming full we have not had a spam report (and only one honorable mention) in more than two months. Since the move, there have been almost 8,000 spam comments caught in the wiggler net. A little over 200 of them have gotten through to annoy me. I am overjoyed with how well the non-spambot tick box works.

Upgrades

I have been quiet about furniture rearranging with the sole exception of the Flash in the Pan page. It lives on the lower menu bar right beside Friday Follies. Four other bloggers are in on the challenge. One of the books being offered free in the Redmund launch will be a compilation of all of the Flash in the Pan entries. The deadline to make the first edition is 30SEP12.

Have you tried flash? Give it a whirl. Some of the authors in the FTP are trying their hand at flash fiction for the first time. Look at the poll…everyone says it is fun to read. All of the words available through the end of the run are listed on the page.

The Trophy Room got a face lift. There are some awards which I need to hand out, but those will probably wait at least a week.

Welcome Home! also got a face lift. For those of you who know the basics, the updates have been moved to their own page. WH will give you the newest update date. If you have not read the M3 news, that is where to find it.

This is the last week for the Networked Blogs widget. It will be moving next week to a new home in the Green Room. If you have not been to the Green Room to meet the new bloggers, you have votes to cast. When the next update to the Green Room is done, the Alumni Club will get its new members and an overhaul. (Writes note to self to schedule a nap for Thursday.)

The overhaul of the Coffee Shoppe has been postponed. On the launch of Redmund, the Library will be moving to the new site. The Coffee Shoppe will remain for weekly features. The executive decision was ratified: No working twice.

The new poll will go up tomorrow. It is not the normal modus operandum; however, you will play a part in deciding the navigability of M3’s new look.

Redmund & Books

Tentatively, there are slots for 7 more books for the launch. I am fortunate to already be laying out the first book. I am getting excited. This weekend will be reading the manuscripts to see who will be paired for editing.

All facets of Mantra for a Muse are on track. I now only await the Library of Congress certification to laying out the cover. I need it before I can determine the final thickness of the book, which drastically affects the size and bleed of the cover. I may as well add here… I love the cover.

The trailer is complete! Have you seen it? What? What do you mean you have not seen it? Oh, right. You are not on even one of my social media. Hmm. What is up with that, exactly? Oh, fine. We will wait for you.

No, I am not excited at all. Can’t you tell by how fast I am typing?

Right Turn, Clyde!

Right turn, Clyde.

After the beating in the Friday Follies last night, Clyde only has a few points to cover:

1. Never believe the bad ink. More often than not, it can be traced to stupidity or jealousy.

2. Suck the marrow out of every moment. Live right now. (Borrowed from Mantra…in the book.)

3. Shake the lantern. When you are not so sure you have what it takes to get through the next five minutes, shake the lantern and listen to Mantra sing. It is worth being still to recharge your creative spirit and your heart.

Have a beautiful rest of the weekend.

Until next time,

~~~~~~~~~~

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