{"id":15393,"date":"2025-06-15T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/?p=15393"},"modified":"2025-09-16T07:56:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T11:56:54","slug":"8-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/8-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight Years and Here’s to Many more"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today marks eight years and 795 posts \u2014 including this one \u2014 since I started my blog. Surprisingly, this is my first non-tag blog anniversary post \u2014 I answered some questions<\/a> for my blog’s 5-year anniversary. I don’t know why I haven’t shared one before, but better late than never.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while on that track, allow me to divert for just a moment to announce that I have \u2014 finally \u2014 posted an About page<\/a>. Also, in response to a few questions, I’ve added a Ko-fi button to the left (desktop) or below (mobile device) \u2014 you may have already noticed. I don’t intend to make any changes to monetize my blog. I dislike visiting a website only to be bombarded with ads, and I won’t do that to you, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Anyway, with that digression out of the way, I want to thank everyone who reads my posts, whether you’ve been here for years, months, weeks, or if this is the first of my posts you’ve seen. I write for myself, but it’s nice to know that people enjoy what I write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evolution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the years since I started this blog, it has seen some serious evolution. I imagine few, if anyone, remember \u2014 or know \u2014 that Rachel’s Reflections started as a book blog attached to my author website. These days, it’s a jane-of-all-trades, with a major in stationery and a minor in cats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stat<\/th>Yr 1
17-18<\/th>		Yr 2
18-19<\/th>		Yr 3
19-20<\/th>		Yr 4
20-20<\/th>		Yr 5
21-22<\/th>		Yr 6
22-23<\/th>		Yr 7
23-24<\/th>		Yr 8
24-25<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Book Posts<\/td>81<\/td>58<\/td>15<\/td>6<\/td>7<\/td>20<\/td>10<\/td>2<\/td><\/tr>
Fountain Pen Posts<\/td>5<\/td>24<\/td>1<\/td>15<\/td>66<\/td>49<\/td>42<\/td>49<\/td><\/tr>
Ink Posts<\/td>1<\/td>15<\/td>27<\/td>0<\/td>36<\/td>10<\/td>29<\/td>25<\/td><\/tr>
Cat Posts<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>4<\/td>1<\/td>13<\/td>6<\/td>14<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Stats<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You may have seen one of my previous annual blog review posts<\/a>. Since I already have so many end- and start-of-year posts, in future years, this post will serve that function. Although there’s only been 6 months since my 2024 blog review post<\/a>, I do still want to take a look at some data \u2014 come on, it’s me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Posts and Views<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I recalculated my blog stats to reflect the 365 days for each year my blog has been up, rather than each calendar year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Total Views: 230,578 | Total Posts: 794 | Total Words: 615,018<\/strong>
as of 6\/14\/25, 8:52pm<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stat<\/th>Yr 1
17-18<\/th>		Yr 2
18-19<\/th>		Yr 3
19-20<\/th>		Yr 4
20-21<\/th>		Yr 5
21-22<\/th>		Yr 6
22-23<\/th>		Yr 7
23-24<\/th>		Yr 8
24-25<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Views<\/td>2,335<\/td>9,561<\/td>16,630<\/td>7,821<\/td>23,670<\/td>43,461<\/td>58,984<\/td>68,114<\/td><\/tr>
Posts<\/td>128<\/td>127<\/td>48<\/td>50<\/td>130<\/td>114<\/td>102<\/td>95<\/td><\/tr>
Words (rounded<\/em>)<\/td>92K<\/td>69.7K<\/td>30.2K<\/td>37.4K<\/td>83.6K<\/td>109.5K<\/td>97.3K<\/td>95.2K<\/td><\/tr>
Avg. Words per Post<\/td>719<\/td>549<\/td>630<\/td>749<\/td>643<\/td>961<\/td>954<\/td>1002<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Top Countries by Views<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I’m hardly surprised that the USA, UK, and Canada are the top three, and I don’t really ever expect that to change. What is interesting is how steep the drops are between the first four before dropping more evenly for the remaining 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All Time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. United States – 146,345<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. United Kingdom – 13,618<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Canada – 10,953<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Germany – 5,914<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Australia – 4,931<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. India – 4,036<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Philippines – 3,127<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Netherlands – 2,883<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Spain – 2,717<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. Singapore – 2,492<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
    \n

    2024 – 2025 (Blog Year 8)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    1. United States – 42,187<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. United Kingdom – 4,389<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Canada – 3,340<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. Germany – 1,778<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    5. Australia – 1,610<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    6. India – 1,371<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    7. Netherlands – 895<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    8. Philippines – 740<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    9. France – 725<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    10. Spain – 698<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

      Blog Posts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Top Posts by Views<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      As I mentioned at the start of the year, the Lume and Kencko reviews are skewing my numbers. But, where I was getting all sorts of weird comments on the Lume review, I’m not getting that on the Kencko review, so I’ll leave it as discoverable by search engines for now. I’m pleased to see a FIP post in both top tens, and, apparently, Plotter is still a hot topic. I find it interesting that two vintage posts are in the top ten of all time as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
      \n

      All Time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      1. Kencko, Too Good to be True?<\/a> (2022) – 7,320<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. Identifying and Dating a Vintage Esterbrook<\/a> (2019) – 4,571<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      3. Plotter Alternatives, Part 1<\/a> (2023) – 3,855<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      4. Review: Lume Deodorant<\/a> (2019) – 3,411<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      5. I Wish I’d Known This Before FIP Treatment<\/a> (2023) – 3,317<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      6. Vintage Sheaffer Research<\/a> (2022) – 2,283<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      7. Plotter Alternatives, Part 5<\/a> (2023) – 2,193<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      8. Plotter Alternatives, Part 2<\/a> (2023) – 2,084<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      9. Goodbye TWSBI<\/a> (2022) – 1,924<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      10. 25 Days of Dupes Wrap-Up<\/a> (2019) – 1,918<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
        \n

        Blog Year 8<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        1. Kencko, Too Good to be True?<\/a> (2022) – 7,073<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        2. Plotter Alternatives, Part 1<\/a> (2023) – 2,483<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        3. Plotter Alternatives, Part 5<\/a> (2023) – 1,648<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        4. Plotter Alternatives, Part 2<\/a> (2023) – 1,359<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        5. Plotter Alternatives, Part 3<\/a> (2023) – 1,317<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        6. Identifying and Dating a Vintage Esterbrook<\/a> (2019) – 1,062<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        7. I Wish I’d Known This Before FIP Treatment<\/a> (2023) – 1,015<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        8. Plotter Alternatives, Part 0<\/a> (2023) – 992<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        9. My 2024 Top Tens<\/a> (2024) – 985<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        10. Pen Porn: 2024 Pilot Shareholder Gift<\/a> (2024) – 957<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

          My Favorite Posts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

          Because there have only been 159 days between my 2024 blog review and me writing this post, I kept the favorites from that post that fell within blog year 8 (6\/15\/24 – 6\/14\/25), but filled in the empty spaces with my favorite posts since January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n