With well over two hundred and fifty posts this year, I've managed to set a new batting average of .698 for 2013. Almost 70% of the days this year with a post. Highest average since the blog began in 2002.
And what have I learned this year, based on my readership stats?
It's all about the love.
The hottest post of the year, by far, was "Love: A Finale," back on May 16. As much about Star Trek: Into Darkness as Sherlock and Elementary, that combo pack won 2013.
In a very impressive second place came "And sometimes, after a case, they cuddle . . ." on April 21. Starting talking slash fanfic and you tend to draw a crowd.
Third place, curiously, goes to "Mrs. Hudson arrives," the April 7 write-up of the only episode of Elementary to show their cleaning lady. One critic recently suggested that I bash-blog about Elementary to get more readers, but Miss Hudson appeared in my favorite episode of the first season, and the one I was most positive about. (And as any web-Sherlockian of experience knows, it's Sherlock and the Baker Street Babes bump that will get you readers. And I'd fanboy about those two topics even if it got me nada.)
Love, sex, and liking seemed to be the top three draws in a year that surely had everything. Or at least a lot of everything. For instance . . . .
My nearest and dearest Baker Street Irregular passed on. A former BSJ editor got a taste of fangirl wrath. Our local Sherlockian society, the Hansoms of John Clayton, had a new beginning. The "Free Sherlock" court case got filed and finished. 221B Con made a splash with more Sherlock Holmes fans than I've ever seen gathered in one place, by a multiplier of three. A winery got upset with me. Holmes slept with Moriarty and Irene Adler, at the same time. The Armchair Baskerville Tour had an online sequel. The podcast I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere used a blog on the movie Bad Grandpa for its closing reading. There was a previously unheard-of thing called a Sherlock Holmes "minisode." If this blog ever got boring in 2013, the fault certainly has to rest with the writer, because there sure was a lot of excitement to be found in the Sherlockian world, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Where do we go in 2014 after all that? Upward, I hope.
The early run of Sherlock season three is apt to start the year off with the sort of peak that could leave a lot of folk with a bad case of post-excitement-drop come February, the gloomiest month of the year. We don't get the highs of January without a little low to follow; it's just the price one pays. But then? Inspirations planted in the darker days of winter will start to pop as sprouts come spring. And from then, the cycle should really kick into gear.
We're going to have a little fun, we are. Because in the end, in 2014 it's still going to be all about the love. Of Sherlock. Of Watson. And of this little Game we play in their wake.
Happy New Year, my friends.
Where do we go in 2014 after all that? Upward, I hope.
The early run of Sherlock season three is apt to start the year off with the sort of peak that could leave a lot of folk with a bad case of post-excitement-drop come February, the gloomiest month of the year. We don't get the highs of January without a little low to follow; it's just the price one pays. But then? Inspirations planted in the darker days of winter will start to pop as sprouts come spring. And from then, the cycle should really kick into gear.
We're going to have a little fun, we are. Because in the end, in 2014 it's still going to be all about the love. Of Sherlock. Of Watson. And of this little Game we play in their wake.
Happy New Year, my friends.
And a very happy new year to you, too! *toasts*
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to lots of new blogs next year.
Brad
ReplyDeleteA winery did not get upset with you . . . A wine merchant simply explained politely where you were mistaken. In fact, we quickly sold out of the vintage and donated $1,000 of the proceeds to Sherlockian institutions and donated many bottles for scion auctions (BSI, etc.), thereby meeting our goal of breaking even and doing something worthwhile.
And, for 2014, we have in oak barrels as I write, the great dark beast of a Zinfandel, The Hound of the Baskervilles. Again, only 200 bottles to be released, first come, first satisfied. All for good works. Nicely legal, and great fun and for the betterment of our beloved hobby. Please visit our website.
Our very warm wishes for the New Year and for health, happiness and prosperity,
Vamberry
(AKA Don Libey)
Sorry, Don, as with the many mistaken places I find myself these days, I seem to have lumped your more gentlemanly response in with some of the less polite reactions that were coming in at that time, many of which were killed off by the comment moderator and unseen by the world at large. Happy to say the larger issue of the Doyle Estate Ltd. decreasing your possible donation amount is now settled, and that won't be an issue again.
DeleteBrad
DeleteNo lumping felt here . . . I do believe you (and others) will find that prior licensees of the Doyle Estate remain obligated under the terms of the license regardless of the court's ruling; I suspect the last word has yet to be written on the subject, at least pending an appeal process.
All that as it may be, the overarching reality is that we, and 150 or so Sherlockians, were able to have a good time and find a way to benefit the evergreen scholarship and memory of 1895.
By the way, you're not mistaken or cantankerous, as you so frequently refer to yourself; you are, in truth, stimulating, interesting, insightful, and you produce a blog with the stuff of good dialogue . . . That is quite an accomplishment.
And now, in my other role as Buttons of The John H Watson Society (now with 135 members from nine countries), it is time for me to celebrate the New Year with a meat pie and a pint or two, and to write a diabolical tangle of questions for our Weekly Quiz. Please join us and enjoy the fun: www.johnhwatsonsociety.com
Best
Vamberry and Buttons
AKA Don Libey
Brad, congratulations on the fine run for 2013. We were delighted to have you as a guest on IHOSE for episode 56 and continue to enjoy your near-daily posts of your always intriguing thoughts. Keep up the great work in 2014!
ReplyDelete