20,000 Hits In The Blogosphere!

      Spring has officially begun! Now its almost one and a half years, since the inception of this blog and it gives me tremendous joy to announce that it has crossed the milestone of 20,000 hits in the blogosphere. To celebrate this milestone and the onset of spring, here is a painting of Dogwood flowers.

   Dogwoods

      Now is a good time to reflect back on this journey. The primary purpose of this blog was to share with a global audience the creative joy I have experienced by painting, writing, gardening etc. Then I thought why not create a buzz about my unpublished book here. So I introduced it here. Well, one cannot predict where this blog will take me (e.g. a book deal , a movie, a contract to make paintings etc), but what I know for sure is that the possibilities are limitless! Blogging fills my mind with uncontainable enthusiasm. May be I should put a bumper sticker on my car that reads, LOVE TO BLOG.

      In today’s world of over-scheduled life, blogging offers a great tool; to create a web based digital society, where you can share your interests with like-minded people. With just a click on a link, the blogger can connect with anyone, be it an individual, a business, an industry etc. As you run through life, one tends to book mark things you want to do, but have no time for. Some of these for me were:

• To document flowers and leaves by each season.
• To write about many issues, subjects and share it with the world.
• To stretch the boundaries of my mind by exchanging ideas with people from other professions.

      By blogging just once a week or so, I was able to accomplish all three. As far as what it has led to, here are a few highlights:

• An article I wrote was published in BEE.
• Another article on elections can be found here as well. It was also bookmarked by two agencies on best political blogs.
• A book review I wrote was bookmarked by best web blog review.
• Many of the posts which contain my paintings have been highlighted by WordPress as a ‘featured blog’!

      On a lighter note, companies based in North America have offered me money to review their web sites, the products they sell (e.g. furniture) and want me to place links to their site, on this blog. Needless to say, due to lack of time, I have politely declined these offers. Thanks to this blog, now I know that there are many books hidden in my mind! They too shall find a release once the first one is published. It’s only a matter of timing and match-making. As for the blog, here are the top ten posts, which made it easy to reach the milestone of 20,000 hits:

• 1.  Democratic race in red and yellow colors – 595 hits!
• 2. From mother India to Indra Nooyi – 579 hits
• 3. The lifecycle of a Sun flower – 428 hits
• 4. Reflections of  life – 354 hits ……..its from the book
• 5. From Vermeer to Banana leaves – 342 hits
• 6. Concept for a nature inspired stadium – 325 hits………one of my favorites!
• 7. Creating spring with the colors of winter – 319 hits
• 8. Sun dappled paintings by mother nature – 318 hits
• 9. Synopsis of the book – 296 hits
• 10. Architecture – 284 hits

         As I wrap up this milestone post, I would like to thank all the viewers for visiting this blog regularly and leaving kind words of appreciation. A friend of mine checks this blog, just to read the comments you leave here! Thank you all, once again for your time. While the blog gains momentum, keep visiting, spread the word and spread the joy!

Ratna

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BLOG STATS : 20,026 HITS!

FYI: Last year on this blog, around this time you read, Watercolors in the sky

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Bloom where you are planted.

- Bible