You came from far and wide, according to the WordPress statistics. The top five countries viewing the blog were: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, India and, for reasons which escape me, Palestinian Territories. Australia was a close sixth.

Speaking of sixth, 2021 wraps up year number six for this website. The content is still free, with no paywalls, subscriptions or tip jars. Everything is done for the love of writing, and referrals come from those who appreciate it. Other than Facebook, Twitter and WordPress Reader, the top five referrers were Samjoko Magazine, Sandra Seamans, Christopher Fielden, 805 Lit and Reddit PubTips. Many, many others contributed to the increased amount of views this year. Thank you.

My writer’s ego wanted to believe everyone came to read about the stories I got published, but most traffic came primarily to view The Short List, which now features nearly 1,800 entries. There were 258 additions to the list this year, an average of 21 new publications per month.

For those not familiar with this resource, it is for writers of flash fiction and short prose. The list is organized by word count, providing links to submission guidelines and potential publication. The top five publication links that were clicked this year: Black Hare Press, City River Tree, Unstamatic, The Centrifictionist and Flash Frontier.

For all the publications added to The Short List, many also fall off. A record is kept of defunct journals as a memorial to their efforts to publish writers’ words. And I also get a kick from some of their names—“Malevolent Soap,” how great a name is that?

Here’s to a Happy New Year and for more words in print in 2022. Please be safe.