I’ve been thinking; yes, thinking.

First, I must say I’m happy I began this blog. This blog has been everything I never imagined. I’m serious, when I started I never imagined how far this blog would come or what it would become. And in an important way, this blog has been part of my inworld identity.

All these gadgets and badges are at bottom of right hand column.

I’ve worked to improve this blog over the years. I’ve diversified the content, joined social networks, measured traffic and added features.

In measurable terms, traffic has increased. Based on Alexa ratings, this blog rates in the upper 4% (est.) of all websites on Earth (~156,000,000). That’s a 30% improvement this year (but top SL sites are upper 1%).

Otoh, this is a Personal Blog, a quirky category, but even outranks many fashion blogs.

So, all things considered, it’s nice to even show up in Alexa ratings at all (many don’t).

Another thing, this blog has regular readers from all over the world! Many readers end up here through random searches or from social networks, but there are consistent returnees from many nations & regions.

Before you think I’m overly impressed with myself, let me say I’ve checked out many blogs in the past year and know the real top SL blogs.

SL is a relatively small universe, but most top SL blogs have hundreds, even thousands, of regular daily readers. All have a constant stream of reader comments. Also, most of the top bloggers are very prolific on social networks. Some top bloggers are professional writers or software developers in real life. In short, top SL blogs deserve their top ratings because their authors work hard.

Nonetheless, while this is not a “top blog”, I’m happy with what I’ve achieved. I marvel that a Google search of “Yordie Sands” returns many pages of links (18 pages this morning). I have worked hard on my blog, but not too hard, and it has been mostly fun. Thank yous to readers who’ve actually put me on the map.

So, why am I saying all this?

For over a month I’ve been fiddling with the content of this blog, taking personal material out, trying new concepts. But in the final analysis, this is a Personal Journal. Then there’s this, I’ve always thought of this blog as a living story; a story about an avatar who stars as the heroine in her own second life. And I’ve wondered if this story would just go on forever, or have an ending.

When I wrote the story The Samurai & The Geisha, I struggled to engineer an ending. It was a role play story and when I began I didn’t know what I’d discover. At a certain point, I realized that the story must have an ending. I envisioned there could be a follow-on story, but that never materialized. In fact, the ending of The Samurai story planted the seed for an ending for this blog’s story, my story.

I’ve decided to begin working on a story that draws on the life I’ve lived in public, in this journal. It will draw from the pages of this journal, but also from events I’ve never discussed before. I’ll try to bring the many loose threads that comprise this blog together into a story. Once again, I’ll abandon blogging and try to write. I’ll write from deep in my heart, with love and squalor*. The story should take between three to five chapters, and I don’t know how this will end. I’m expecting the writing of the story itself to reveal the ending, when it’s needed.

Question: does the ending of my story mean I’ll be leaving SL?
Answer: No, I don’t think so, but the blog will be closed.

Note to friends, as always I’ll be discrete (no hurt is intended). Also, some names will be changed.

*J.D. Salinger “For Esme…”