Most Popular Posts of 2022

I'm often pleasantly surprised to see, in my blogger stats, that people visit some of my older posts, some that I, myself, have totally forgotten about. With more than 2,400 posts over 11 years, I'm bound to forget a few of them.

I get that people delve into past posts. When I check out someone's blog, I don't just read the most-current entry: I'll often look at previous post to see how the writer has evolved.

Folks, a lot of you dug into my past over the year. So much so that at one point, I was inspired to re-create similar posts. Thank you to all of my readers. You're what keeps me going.

As with last year, I kept an eye on the posts that were the most popular over the year and in 2022, I got quite the shock. Some of the most popular posts weren't even written in 2022.

If you've read these posts before, I hope you enjoyed them. If you haven't, maybe take a look now. Here are the 10 most-visited posts of this year.

10. Low-Key Olivia: Yup, people liked the photos of Olivia Preston. And who can blame them? She's certainly captivating. And even though I limit the number of NSFW posts on my blog, they do seem to attract an audience. Olivia is one of my favourite models to work with: besides being drop-dead gorgeous, she's easy to work with and self-directs. And because we keep a conversation going throughout our time together, I've found her to be witty and engaging, with her smarts and humour. I can't wait to work with her again.

9. The Storm: It's no surprise that this post made the top 10 for 2022. The derecho that swept through Ontario and caused such widespread destruction was one of the biggest natural disasters to hit our region. And the video that we caught while we were experiencing it from within our vehicle doesn't do the storm justice.

8. Missing Studio Photography: Speaking of Olivia, folks also liked the post that I published in the same week, where I lamented the fact that the pandemic has kept me outside of the studio and has not only kept me from intimate photo shoots with my group, it's kept me from practicing shooting with studio lights, a skill that I have far from mastered. The photos of Olivia in this post didn't hurt, either.

7. One Last Time?: A few years ago, I had the privilege of visiting my old elementary school, as it was closing its doors, possibly for good (as a public school, anyway). But earlier this year, when I had the opportunity to revisit the school one more time to receive a booster shot for the COVID-19 vaccine, I couldn't resist another trip down memory lane. Whether other readers once attended Century Public School, in Nepean, or just liked a blog post that reminisced, this post was one of the most popular of 2022.

6. Closet Culling: Well, who doesn't like to see a cute kid in a brightly coloured dress? And while I'm glad that no one bemoaned cultural appropriation for my daughter wearing a Korean hanbok—a dress that a Korea friend passed on to DW and was delighted to see it fit our kid so well—I'm pleased to see that you enjoyed this post as much as you did.

5. No One But Ourselves to Blame: Of course, COVID is still a hot topic and the pandemic is still raging, nearly three years after it came to North America. When DW and I returned from our Portugal trip with the virus, I was very hard on myself, and many readers were sympathetic and wonderful to me on social media, immediately following the publishing of this post. Thank you for making me feel better, even though the virus made me feel like crap.

4. The Last of the Cold War: Written nearly 11 years ago, this Photo Friday post about my trip to Berlin, in 1988, had a revival this year. Whether it was sought out because of some of my Friday Fiction posts that centred around that time and place made readers curious enough to seek this post out (how many of you click any of the labels in my posts to go to other posts?). Whatever the reason, this was my third most-popular posts of 2022. Like my Grinch story and like the next two posts, the most popular published pieces weren't written this year (spoiler!). 

3. Me, The Grinch: Year after year, this post has continued to be popular, but for some reason, the version that I posted in 2016 seems to be the one that draws the most readers, even after I revamped the story, last year (the related link for this entry goes to the 2021 version). And once this post appears in the Popular This Month list (in the right-hand margin), the number of views tends to explode (perhaps readers are drawn to The Grinch?). I suppose Christmas is one of the most popular seasons of the year, and people like to read a holiday story that offers hope. Thanks for making this post so popular.

2. Revisiting a Popular Post: This post's popularity in 2022 surprised me, seeing that I originally wrote it in June of 2011 and re-posted it as a backup plan in August of 2013. The original post was a two-parter, whereas the repeat post, in 2013, had no continuation. Yet, it's the 2013 post that made a comeback in 2022 and became the second-most visited post. You should really visit Mind Flood and Mind Flood, Part Two to get the whole story.

1. The Secret Santa: Not only was my story of a good Samaritan the most popular post of 2022, it has now become the most popular post of all time, with the year-old post garnering more than 6,000 views in less than 48 hours over the Easter weekend, all because of my sharing the good deed of a grocery store manager, which reminded me of the time I also committed a random act of kindness. The Twitter thread that I wrote went viral, being shared hundreds-upon-hundreds of times by followers and strangers. In the thread, I ended with a link to The Secret Santa, and people visited the post in droves.

I found it truly overwhelming. It inspired me to write another post, Easter Surprise, in the same vein as The Secret Santa. I don't plan to turn my Easter story into an annual post, like my Christmas story, so I don't expect it to have the same visits.

Thank you to everyone who has visited my blog over 2022 and the previous years. Because of your support, I feel inspired to keep The Brown Knowser going for some time yet. I hope 2023 brings fresh ideas that will keep you coming back for more.

Cheers!