Welcome to A Lesbian and Her Laptop’s very first yearly review! So long 2019!

Stats and progress

2019 brought the strongest growth for AL&HL since its launch in 2017 with five times the number of views from the previous year, at over 15,000. I also put a lot more work into the blog this year, with over 100 posts and the most consistent post schedule of all time with at least one blog per week for 34 consecutive weeks. The blog’s views peaked during Pride month at 2.7k views and drew in 266 followers for the year. Remember, the best way to help AL&HL grow is by simply sharing the content you love!

Top 3 posts of 2019

With 100+ posts, AL&HL had a lot of content for the year, but here are some of the most well-received. The top viewed post was “Am I a Predator? Inside the mind of a touch-starved queer woman,” which struck well with readers during its publication in August. As my most-shared blog post of all time, I was very humbled and proud of the piece resonating with queer women across the world.

Secondly, a combined total of “How I Met My Girlfriend” posts makes up the second most-viewed blog. This years’ posts in the series ranged from the start of 2019’s trip to Paris and Prague during my time visiting my girlfriend in the UK to her visit here with me in the US for the holidays. More posts will be added to the series soon!

The third most-viewed post was “6 Ways to Better Reassure Someone with BPD.” This is yet another humbling moment, as I wrote this post with purpose of helping others in similar situations to my own (finding ways to make a relationship with someone with BPD successful, enjoyable, and healthy). With this post being in the top 3, it seems my work on that post fulfilled an unmet need. I hope to create more content related to helping and engaging with those with BPD or who have loved ones with BPD. However, this topic does take the most energy and time, so they will likely continue to be as infrequent as 2019’s BPD-themed posts.

Other notable posts of 2019

2019 was full of great content, so here’s some other posts worth highlighting. I published a lengthy series on my personal identity journey, from not straight to asexual to bisexual to queer to lesbian. It’s worth the read and highlight because so many anonymous people have asked about how to tell if they are bisexual or a lesbian; my answer is to read other people’s experiences and see if they resonate. So, that one is how I realized I’m a lesbian, not bisexual.

In April, I published a “How to Make the Distance Work” series to hit the big topics when it comes to long-distance relationships, as these questions come my way often. I also worked with a handful of lesbians during this month to publish a lesbian visibility series, “Lesbians and Their Laptops.” During Bi Awareness Week, I worked more closely with several bisexual writers for a similar guest-post series, “Bisexuals and Their Laptops.” I plan to make these types of guest-posts series more regular, more intense, and more of an opportunity for queer writers to publish their works and experiences.

AL&HL Makes Money!

A lot of this year’s growth is due to the monetary support of readers via Ko-Fi and Patreon. Regular donations of all amounts on both platforms allowed me to focus more of my time to creating content for the blog, which turned into more readers, more followers, and more support. Now when people ask about what I’m doing with my life, I add blogging to the list!

This year’s donations paid for an upgraded WordPress package, which included my very own domain, easily-accessible PayPal donation buttons, better themes, and qualification to run ads on the blog. So far, I don’t have enough views to generate any money through WordPress’s ad program, but I’m hoping 2020 is the year to start!

Money raised through Ko-Fi also paid for a laptop replacement! After using my mid-2012 MacBook for 6 years (the last year of which faced incredibly slow run-time, color wheels for simply typing, unprompted resets, etc.). I am extremely grateful and relieved to announce that I am currently typing my last blog post on my old laptop. My new laptop just delivered to my house yesterday, where it awaits my return for setup. I am so, unbelievably grateful to be doing work that I love. I hope one day this can be more of a career and less of a hobby, and this year certainly brought me closer to that dream.

AL&HL’s Patreon currently has 8 patrons, totaling $20 a month. I know I say this in every monthly review, but I cannot stress enough how relieving it is to have a monthly number coming my way. With freelance jobs and project-by-project gigs, paychecks are irregular, so having a number to count on every month feels so secure, even at small amounts. Extra thank you to all of my patrons! Consider becoming a patron for just $1/month to gain access to monthly bonus “How I Met My Girlfriend” posts (including test-posts to include in the book) and updates, polls, and other content related to my blog-to-book project.

Personal updates

Hello, I am writing to you from Florida! As a Michigan native and resident, escaping to my aunt’s home in Florida for a little new year’s vacation has done wonders for my mind, soul, and skin. I started adding to my 2020 bullet journal today, which you can keep up with on my bullet journal Instagram account.

Some small accomplishments of 2019 unrelated to AL&HL:

• Grew sweet potatoes.
• Used CBD products to manage anxiety.
• Crocheted a lesbian blanket.
• Completely rearranged and re-organized my room, Marie Kondo style.
• Traveled to Prague and Paris.
• Met my Russian Twitter friend, Dasha.
• Read 11 books.
• Started my blog-to-book project after thinking about it for a year.
• Secured my first writing gig on UpWork.
• Generally happier??? Don’t know how, just am.

AL&HL goals for 2020

I am truly in awe of how far the blog has come this year. I am so grateful to every person who has read, liked, commented, shared, retweeted, donated, and reached out to me to tell me what a post meant to them. You all made this possible.

With that, I’m hoping to continue AL&HL’s growth into this new year. Here are the main goals for 2020:

1. Reach 500 followers through WordPress.
2. 3k followers on Twitter. (High Twitter count = better publishing chances for the book.)
3. At least 3 blogs per month.
4. At least 1k views per month.
5. 15 patrons.
6. Reach another Ko-Fi goal.
7. Have another post be as popular as “Am I a Predator?”
8. As always, help queer people feel heard, understood, and reassured.

Thank you for everyone who made 2019 a good year for A Lesbian and Her Laptop! Let me know which posts stood out for you or which you enjoyed the most this year, so I can keep creating the content you love most!