Welcome back to “Keeping-You-In-The-Loop Wednesday,” as opposed to Mondays, when I actually publish brand-new stories. My Wednesday post is more casual, aimed at measuring the progress of this journey we began together back in March.
That progress to date may be summed up with a phrase we used when I was growing up: Hopelessly lost, but making good time.
I have mentioned that Substack, my publishing platform, provides me with incredibly detailed information about my readership. Tomorrow is the four-month anniversary of “5 a.m. Stories,” and just a couple of days ago I ticked over the 22,000 pageview milestone!
This means my stories have been read – or at least opened – more than 22,000 times! Yes, it is as if every single person in Shelbyville, Indiana, has read one of my stories! That would make Shelbyville an amazing and quite wacky place, indeed.
I did not see this coming last March 20 when I did my first post, that’s for sure.
According to Substack this special line was crossed on Monday, when a retired schoolteacher in Prescott, Arizona, opened “A Moving Story.” She smiled, poured herself a dry martini, telephoned her two granddaughters to check in and then made paella. Who knew Substack could monitor all that?
Meanwhile, in international news, Substack tells me I now have subscribers in an array of countries, among them India, Brazil and Australia. I don’t have a globe handy but I believe those places are fairly close to each other, so I’m planning a get-together for the readers to meet each other. The bus tickets are on me!
I’ll get back to you when I cross the 25,000 pageview mark. I hope by then I’ll have subscribers in South Dakota and Estonia.
Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to publishing next Monday’s story. Here’s a hint: It involves presidential barf, $14 hotdogs and family planning in Japan.
Seriously. You’re in for a treat, Shelbyville! Please line up in alphabetical order. Hey! No cutting in line!
Congrats Bob. Like your Arizona reader, Randall and Isabel usually mix up a martini before they sit down on the patio to read your story to each other. Randall thinks you're getting close, but not quite there, in matching his wit and humor.
So, a family in Japan is planning to sell hotdogs to politicians at an inflated cost for a hotdog eating contest? Sounds too normal, Bob.