{"id":3244,"date":"2015-02-15T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-15T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/?p=3244"},"modified":"2015-02-15T09:42:21","modified_gmt":"2015-02-15T17:42:21","slug":"3244","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/blogging\/3244\/","title":{"rendered":"One Hundred Posts and Counting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\"Celebration\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Today I\u2019m celebrating my 100th<\/sup><\/strong> blog post!<\/strong> Hurray! It\u2019s taken me a year and a half to do it, but here I am, at milepost one hundred.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not a blogger, you may wonder why anyone would want to be one. I can\u2019t speak for all bloggers, but in the beginning my motivation was simple. The \u201cexperts\u201d said that if you were going to publish a book, you must have an online presence. A \u201cplatform\u201d they call it. You needed a website, a blog, and author pages on Facebook and Goodreads. They also suggested a Twitter account, but I passed on that one.<\/p>\n

My original idea for this blog was to concentrate on topics related to my novel, Tiger Tail Soup.<\/em> Hence the name of my blog, \u201cBehind the Story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"junk<\/a>Now, looking back at the list of my first ninety-nine posts, I see that I did follow my original intention. I wrote about bound feet<\/a>, live-in maids<\/a>, Chinese food<\/a>, oolong tea<\/a>, resistance fighters and collaborators<\/a>, tigers<\/a>, the Chinese cheongsam<\/a>, war<\/a>, the history of Gulangyu<\/a>, the Chinese civil service exams<\/a>, and my family\u2019s 1983 visit<\/a> to the island where my novel is set.<\/p>\n

\"hot<\/a>I also wrote posts on a variety of other topics, everything from Hawaiian plants<\/a> to batik painting<\/a> and from taking a hot air balloon ride<\/a> to how I became a writer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here are the top seven posts in order of popularity:<\/p>\n

\"Eugene<\/a><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cA Foreign Ghost in a Wartime Cemetery<\/a>\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. \u201cMy Interracial Marriage<\/a>\u201d<\/li>\n
  3. \u201cHow I Met My Chinese Husband, Parts 1<\/a> and 2<\/a>\u201d<\/li>\n
  4. \u201cChinese Poetry Comes to Dinner<\/a>\u201d<\/li>\n
  5. \u201cManila\u2019s Chinese Cemetery<\/a>\u201d<\/li>\n
  6. \u201cStorytellers and Writers<\/a>\u201d<\/li>\n
  7. \u201cFame and Invisibility<\/a>.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The blogging software I use, keeps track of the number of visitors to my blog. They also classify them by country. So far, I\u2019ve received visitors from 116 countries. The top three countries are exactly the ones I would have expected: The United States, then Canada, and then Great Britain. Number four is the Philippines and then Australia, Taiwan, and Indonesia. Not really surprising since I know people from those countries. But who would have predicted that people from Qatar, Ghana, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Palestine would find their way to my blog?<\/p>\n

    Today I\u2019m celebrating my first 100 blogs, but I\u2019m also celebrating all the friends I\u2019ve made along the way. I started out following other blogs to learn how it\u2019s done. (And I still have a lot to learn.) But in the process, I\u2019ve become acquainted with some wonderful, smart, and interesting people. Lately I find myself quoting my blogger friends in conversation. They may live on the other side of the country or the other side of the world, but I know them because I keep up with their comings and goings through their blogs.<\/p>\n

    A big thank you to each of the visitors to my blog. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my posts.<\/p>\n

    Next week I get started on my next hundred posts, beginning with \u201cThe Great Tiger Hunter of Fujian.\u201d<\/p>\n

    If you haven\u2019t already signed up to receive a reminder of new posts, you can subscribe at the top right-hand side of this page.<\/p>\n

    \"my<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0 Today I\u2019m celebrating my 100th blog post! Hurray! It\u2019s taken me a year and a half to do it, but here I am, at milepost one hundred. If you\u2019re not a blogger, you may wonder why anyone would want to be one. I can\u2019t speak for all bloggers, but in the beginning my motivation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[317],"tags":[688,932,925],"class_list":["post-3244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogging","tag-behind-the-story","tag-blogging","tag-tiger-tail-soup"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s3Kn1e-3244","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2492,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/writing\/check-this-out-tiger-tail-soup-on-el-space-the-blog-of-l-marie\/","url_meta":{"origin":3244,"position":0},"title":"Check This Out: Tiger Tail Soup on El Space–The Blog of L. Marie","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"September 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I'm delighted to be the guest blogger on El Space--The Blog of L. Marie. (The smiling photo above is of me, not my hostess on El Space.) L. Marie is a writer of fantasy for children and teens. On her blog, she comments on movies, animation and the writing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "blogging"","block_context":{"text":"blogging","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Me 001","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Me-001-e1409003218757.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6076,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/tiger-tail-soup\/can-you-count-online-friends-as-friends\/","url_meta":{"origin":3244,"position":1},"title":"Are Online Friends Really Friends?","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"July 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Most of the bloggers listed in the blogroll on your right are people I\u2019ve never met in the flesh. We\u2019ve never hugged or shared a cup of coffee. And yet, through our blogs, we know each other pretty well. And we care about each other, I think. So yes,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "blogging"","block_context":{"text":"blogging","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/IMG_0516-e1410210840600.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/IMG_0516-e1410210840600.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/IMG_0516-e1410210840600.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3009,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/tiger-tail-soup\/a-technical-glitch-to-christmas-shopping-made-easy\/","url_meta":{"origin":3244,"position":2},"title":"A Technical Glitch to “Christmas Shopping Made Easy”","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"December 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm sorry to the subscribers to my blog. When I hit subscribe today for my post, \"Christmas Shopping Made Easy,\" WordPress sent you something else. This is what I meant to have sent: Christmas Shopping Made Easy This year I finished my Christmas shopping early. Hurray! I\u2019m so proud of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "blogging"","block_context":{"text":"blogging","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Christmas, 2013","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_0766-e1417724996250.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4412,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/tiger-tail-soup\/4412\/","url_meta":{"origin":3244,"position":3},"title":"Twelve Authors and Their Books","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"November 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I\u2019m teaming up with eleven other authors for an ebook sale. For the next ten days you\u2019ll be able to load up your Kindle, Nook, iPad or phone with some new reading material for less than you\u2019d spend on a trip to Starbucks. This is how it works. 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If you haven\u2019t visited her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Vanuatu"","block_context":{"text":"Vanuatu","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/vanuatu\/vanuatu-vanuatu\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"myhongkonghusband","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/myhongkonghusband.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2264,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/tiger-tail-soup\/favorite-excerpts-from-author-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":3244,"position":5},"title":"Some News about My Novel and More Short Excerpts","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"August 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Tiger Tail Soup: A novel of China at war by Nicki Chen For a long time I've been promising that Tiger Tail Soup would soon be available as an ebook. Now at last it is. For those of you who like to read on your Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "China"","block_context":{"text":"China","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/china\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo courtesy of Wootang01","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/3503514763_0b9ee8b500_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3244"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3281,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244\/revisions\/3281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}