500 Hubs, 200,000 Views and Other Milestones: What Do They All Mean?

I recently passed some nice, round numbers on HubPages.

For those of you interested in numbers, here they are:

• 500 days on HubPages
• 500 Hubs
• 43,000 comments
• 200,000 views
• 1,500 followers

What does it all means?

I don’t have a clue, but I do have some observations, so read on as I unload my mind of random thoughts.

500 Hubs in 500 days! Well, let’s start there, shall we? Am I a prolific writer? Yes! Am I a good writer? The jury is still out on that verdict, but this is my goal and one I am constantly trying to attain. Sheer numbers do not make one a good writer. Quality is the only benchmark for that claim to fame, and I’m not nearly as good a writer as I want to be. So I keep working and perfecting my craft. I would expect that to be the goal of every writer, from the personal essayists like me to the technical, SEO writers who scour the internet with perfect phrases designed to attract more views and earn more money.

Why do I write so much? Well, I’ll let you in on a secret. I feel the ebb of life flowing away from me. I am sixty-four years of age, and if I live a normal lifespan, I only have fifteen years remaining on this planet. I don’t have the luxury of seemingly countless years to mess around with my craft. I have a deadline to meet and that deadline is determined by the vibrancy of my body and my personal health.

How much longer will my mind remain sharp? How much longer will my health remain good and allow me to write freely? These are thoughts only someone of my age is aware of, and at times it weighs heavily on me and at all times it spurs me on to write as much as possible in the time I have remaining.

You see, I want to be the best writer that I can possibly be, and I can’t become that writer unless I write and write often. I’m running out of time and I still have a great many things to say.

Yep, over 200,000 views of my Hubs. I like that number and I am gratified by it….but I need to keep it in perspective. I have a friend by the name of Stephanie who has over five million views, so I remember her any old time my head swells and I think I’m the greatest thing since sliced bread.

200,000 views is a nice figure considering I don’t write SEO articles. I haven’t used the Keyword tool in over a month now. Quite frankly I am tired of keywords and SEO, so I have decided to kick them to the curb and just concentrate on the quality of my writing.

I am very grateful for the number of views that I have received. Each and every day I can count on over 500 people taking the time from their busy lives to read something that I have written. That is a warm and fuzzy feeling for a writer, and I appreciate greatly every person who has done that since I joined.

Now we are into the part of writing that I love. Comments signal interaction between a writer and his audience, and quite frankly that, to me, is what writing is all about. I write to make an impact on the lives of people, and comments tell me that I have achieved that goal.

As an added bonus, friendships and relationships are formed through comments. I see so many new writers join HubPages and then never comment on the Hubs of others, and I think they are sadly missing the boat. Writing is not something done in a vacuum. Writing is, or in my opinion should be, a give and take between writer and reader. When we write we are communicating. We are delivering a message. We are attempting to reach our readers on some level and move them in some way. Comments give us feedback and allow us to discover whether we have reached our goal.

If I did not receive the amount of comments that I receive daily, I would consider it a failure on my part. I have been here long enough and written enough that I should produce quality hubs every time that I write. If my comments should ever suddenly dry up then I will need to look at the quality of my product.

Yes, 1,510 is a large number, but I know writers on HP with three times that number. Besides, that number of followers is a bit misleading, is it not? I do not see that many followers daily. Truthfully there are quite a few of them who I never see. They joined HP, felt the need to increase their numbers, randomly followed other writers, and then did nothing as a follow-up. Again, I find that sad and a bit manipulative. What the point of that practice is will forever be a mystery to me.

If I had to pick a number that represents my faithful followers, it would be 100. So please, do not read too much into that 1,510 number. It means very little.

My goals remain constant day in and day out. I want to be the best writer that I can be. I have received accolades, and they are nice, but they are not my focus. I will never receive the Hub of the Day so that certainly isn’t a concern for me. If there are other awards out there that I have not won, I will win them or I won’t, and either way I will sleep well at night.

Aside from being the best writer that I can be, I want to help as many writers as I can. A couple months ago I started concentrating on writing Hubs that help writers to improve their craft. I even started a blog dedicated to the art of writing called Artistry With Words. I gain nothing from doing that; I simply believe in this community and I want to give back to it because it has been so giving and gracious to me.

My final goal is to form more meaningful relationships with Hubbers. I have found true friendship here at HubPages. I know people in all fifty states and 100 countries, and we have formed a bond that means the world to me. I want to increase that number and continue to bridge the gaps formed by nationalities and cultures.

They are what they are. HP is a money-making machine. They are geared towards advertising and increasing their profits, and they encourage writers to perfect the art of SEO and thus earn them more money. There is nothing wrong with that if that is what you want.

HubPages is sorely lacking in its encouragement of writers who write solely for the love of writing. They spend very little time applauding the poets on this site. They spend very little time applauding those who write essays. In fact, and this is just my opinion, they really could care less about supporting those writers who are trying to perfect the art of writing.

That is the reality of HubPages and one I am fine with. I am here to build my platform, perfect my craft and form relationships. For those interested in money, I still make the same amount today as I did five-hundred days ago, about one dollar per day. I suspect I will never find riches on this site, but what I have found is infinitely more important to me.

I have found a community of writers who have been supportive beyond my wildest dreams. I have formed a kinship with like-minded people who follow the same dreams that I follow. I have found encouragement and comradeship, and I have been given gifts that make me a rich man in ways that are so much more important than monetary payouts by Google Adsense.

So I thank HubPages and its staff. In particular, I thank Simone, who has never failed to quickly answer any questions I have had…..honestly, I don’t even know the names of anyone else on the staff, so it’s a little silly for me to thank anyone other than Simone.

My most important thank you, though, is reserved to those wonderful Hubbers who have followed me, and continue to follow me, and who have made me feel welcomed and loved. I hope to one day give to you all that you have given to me.

What’s up from here? I’ll continue to write for HP. I have no reason to stop and I have many, many reasons to continue. You see, I have more people to meet and I have a craft that is pitifully in need of perfecting. The writer’s quest never ends. The day I believe I am the best writer I can be is the day I need to be fitted for a straight jacket and introduced to my new padded room. J

2013 William D. Holland (aka billybuc)