The Post – 2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 5,300 times in 2010. That’s about 13 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 3 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 320 posts. There was 1 picture uploaded, taking a total of 34kb.

The busiest day of the year was August 6th with 66 views. The most popular post that day was The Post – Extra! News on Preparing the Fiddler Crab Nursery.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were en.wordpress.com, google.com, search.aol.com, student-loan-consilidation.com, and mariaozawa2u.blogspot.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for pregnant crab, pregnant fiddler crab, fiddler crab babies, faith is believing when common sense tells you not to, and pregnant crabs.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

The Post – Extra! News on Preparing the Fiddler Crab Nursery February 2008
4 comments

2

The Post – Pregnant Scarlett O’Hara and the Proud Father February 2008
2 comments

3

The Post – Faith is Believing in Something When Common Sense Tells You Not To June 2008

4

The Post – How Long Do Fiddler Crabs Stay Pregnant? February 2008
1 comment

5

The Gift – A Fiddler Crab Extra!! Meet the Babies! March 2008
1 comment

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The Gift

If you want to see a good picture of a pregnant female fiddler crab, here’s a picture from the Carolina Coastal Discovery Marine Education Program. This is about what Scarlett O’Hara looks like. If you want to learn more about the education program just click on the Carolina Coastal link above.

The Post – As Promised, What Photography Teaches You About Writing

As I mentioned earlier, photographing fiddler crabs helped me to “be one with them.” Armed with the heart of a crab, maybe I can get that across in the book.

In a broader sense, there are some similarities between the arts of photography and writing:

1) Narrow the topic:

The viewfinder of a camera sets the limits on how much you can fit in the picture. A photo is a one-moment slice of an event. You can’t show everything, so you have to choose. What will you focus on?

Good writing, especially essays and short pieces, needs limits too. Start with too broad a topic and the piece runs too long, lacks focus and depth, and leaves the reader wondering it’s about. You can’t say everything, so you have to choose what you will say. Choose a specific slant and give the reader depth for that one topic.

2) Composition – Create the Scene:

Part of the art in a good photograph is its composition. What did you include and why? How did you choose to portray it? What angle was it shot from? Lighting? Shadows? Contrast?

In a good story, “show don’t tell” is done with scenes. You’re the director. How will you set it up? Who will be in it and who will be left out? Why? What will they say and do? What are they holding? Wearing? Where are they? Is it frigid or tropical? Are they scared or serene?

3) Detail is the life of the creation:

The camera’s eye doesn’t miss much and often sees more details than the photographer did when taking the shot. The details that show up in the picture bring it alive, especially in things like still life and macro photography. The details ARE the photo.

In writing, specifics are the spice that creates the picture. Something doesn’t smell good, it has a licorice herbal aroma that wafts through the sunlit cottage and makes you salivate with anticipation. Something doesn’t feel rough and hurt you, it has a gritty surface that grinds against the tender flesh of your palm until it strips the skin raw and bloody. Specifics create the image.

4) Deliver the vision:

You can see the image you want in your mind’s eye, but if you can’t work the camera, all you’ll get is a dark blur. Master the technology.

The most amazing story may run through your mind. Yet if what appears on paper lacks organization, moves too slowly, leaves out needed plot points, has poor sentence structure, bloated dialogue, or no sensory details, no one will get it. Master your craft.

5) Know what you want to say:

A photograph may be wordless, but it will still speak to the viewer if the photographer knows what he’s looking for.

In writing, you may have a 500-page novel but you still need to be able to sum it up in a line or two. If you can’t do that, you don’t know what your story is about.

In the future, 10 or so things an oil painting taught me about the writing process. Stay tuned.

The Post – and finally, Admiral Byrd

To round out the fiddler crab trio in our household, I give you the sole male in the tank, Admiral Byrd. He is fearless, commands the tank, explored every inch of it the moment he first entered the tank, and so he deserved a name fitting for a courageous explorer.

The first picture shows Admiral Byrd under less than optimal circumstances. In one of the first blogs about the crabs I mentioned the problem of getting the salinity level right in the water. Being brackish water crabs, they like lower salinity. Not knowing this, I had made the water the same as regular sea water. That drove Admiral Byrd literally out of the water, up the gravel hill, and as seen here, climbing the walls of the tank to get out. I quickly diluted the water, thus calming him down and convincing him to stay.

The second picture seems to sum up Admiral Byrd’s standard pose: “Stand back! I have a claw and I’m not afraid to use it!”

The third picture shows Admiral Byrd trying to get closer to the ladies by nestling in against the live rock while they were sleeping inside. (He was too big to fit inside). I guess he figured if he slept outside their front door, they’d have to run into him sooner or later. Admiral Byrd may be brave, but he is not too smart. The ladies just exited the live rock by the side entrance.

The last shows dinnertime. Admiral Byrd is chewing on a shrimp pellet clasped in his smaller front claw.

That’s the crew.

In another post, I will talk about a couple of ways this photo project helps my writing.