“From The Back Pew” considers the whole world — its history as well as its present — as fodder for gossip, inspiration, insight, and humor. Commentary and reportage may vary from an incident during NY’s Fashion Week to the issues of Methodism in Africa or a wandering polar bear in Canada. Our vision: a world house of love and laughter where each person, unique and respected, has hope and opportunity.
I am a writer, an editor, and a public speaker; the blog (this is one of two: a second, which is a website without comments, is “I Want To Be 60″) was begun to promote my most recent book (“When I Grow Up I Want To Be 60,” Penguin/Perigee/2006).
I’m a storyteller and often, in the wide ranging things I read, I find stories or pieces of stories that I want to share. All of my posts are stories; I never post “open threads” or one-liners without context. Regardless of length, I like an arc. I am an essayist; I write an award-winning newspaper column. It’s all about story-telling.
My original website is 19 months old; “From The Back Pew” is about 6 months.
Varies considerably depending on the topic and how off-beat it is. The highest number of unique visitors I’ve had in one day has been 392; the lowest has been 3. The average is about 60.
No. My website has a shopping cart feature through which I am able to sell my books — and that doesn’t work for me at all. The traffic isn’t high enough to make it worthwhile. I consider growing readership a sign of success — and that’s the only gauge I have that what I am doing is interesting or worthwhile to others.
Ornery women and the men who love them. I’m only half-kidding. Because the magazines I have edited and the books I have written were all directed at a female audience, I was surprised (and pleased) to find that at least half of my regular readers are men. I’ll revise my answer:
The kind of person who would be interested in my blog is the kind of person who still delights in creepy stories about Richard Nixon. Someone who remembers what a Harvey Wallbanger cake was … and is horrified she actually served one to company. Someone who loves her work, paying and unpaying, and who, though wiser and sadder, has never lost the ideals of the ’60s .. who still hopes for love and peace and freedom for everyone.
More than I should. The least I spend is 2 hours a day and often it’s more like 4. This is instead of what I am supposed to be doing to earn a living (since I never put anything aside, I can never retire).
It’s smart and funny and fresh every day. It’s politically unpredictable but ethically consistent — and it’s full of unusual, interesting, international links. (I do a lot of homework.)
I do not consider myself in a position to give advice on blogging; I am a novice myself. And the beauty of blogging is that, with a few exceptions for the barest of civilities, there are no rules; this is a world of free expression and I love it.
This blog can be visited at http://www.wendyreidcrisp.typepad.com