Ron Silliman hits 400,000 hits. which is just bobbled numbers in one sense, since it is not that big a deal that people agree with me, that Ron is worth reading. a lot of his numbered points don't apply to aught but he. amongst bloggers, I don't think many see unrequested books coming in the mail much (I don't know why Gary Sullivan sent me his comic Elsewhere, my one blog-related freebie, tho I am pleased that he did), or getting publication solicitations greater than can be met, or major spikes in reading invitations or much of anything that might harbour under the aegis of 'career'. not that I begrudge this of Ron. I have been reading, at times struggling with, often learning from, Ron Silliman's work for 25+ years, he is an important writer to me. certainly I appreciate this free and plentiful access to 'him'. I am not competing with him, tho, and not because my numbers don't add up. I am satisfied that my blog does what it can, what I can. I do agree with his sense, tho I don't get a lot of input, that this public presentation (writing on a blog), focuses my thinking and asserts an intrinsic muscle for me as a writer. and I would say that this is the case of many others who write on blogs as well. I recognize my own spikiness, which is to say, I'll always be at the edge of the social sphere of blogs. but I see my writing grow as it goes out there. I also see that blogs aren't for every writer, as computers aren't, as we all have our different ways and paths. commenters to Ron's blog sometimes sound like saps because their awe shows (or their anti-awe, same diff). I mean, there's this popular brand called Ron Silliman, to which all must react. a significant diletante (did I misspell that word again?) percentage amongst Ron's 400,000 hamburgers can be readily discounted. which only means that I don't need the numbers to factor Ron Silliman's worth to me. by the numbers, my blog is insignificant to the max. but it aint. my blog is seriously what it is, just as is Ron Silliman's, and down the list. I think that it is crucial that I say this, that every po-blogger say this. and you yahoos in the collective readership should say it too.