WordPressers Making a Splash: February Edition
The year 2014 started off with a bang on WordPress.com. From landing on the front page of The New York Times to riding the viral wave, our writers enjoyed a great month.
A sampling of writers on WordPress.com who made some noise last month:
Bloggers in the press, from the New York Times to Politico
Jack Monroe, the single mother blogging at A Girl Called Jack, has become an activist and voice on poverty in England. The New York Times profiled her in mid-January, while her cookbook of recipes on a budget is released on February 27. Jack’s story is inspiring, and we’re watching to see what she does next.
Jason Edward Harrington, blogger at Taking Sense Away and former TSA screener, shares stories and observations about his many years of employment at the Transportation Security Administration.
Last week, he dropped the layer of anonymity on his blog and published a piece on Politico, “Dear America, I Saw You Naked,” which introduces his story, background, and the material that will inspire his novel (which you can sample on WordPress.com, too).
Over at The New Yorker, Elias Muhanna — the assistant professor at Brown University who covers Lebanese politics, history, and culture at Qifa Nabki — wrote “Letter From Lebanon: A Bookshop Burns,” about an antiquarian bookstore in Tripoli set on fire.
Moving on to the entertainment section of the Huffington Post, Graham Milne pens a succinct, beautiful piece on Saving Mr. Banks and our complex relationships with our fathers, even long after they’re gone. The Toronto-based writer covers publishing, politics, and pop culture on his blog, and you’ll find more in his HuffPost columns.
The top reads that made waves
Who said open letters were so 2013? Nicki Daniels’ bold and humorous post, “An Open Letter to Bearded Hipsters,” caught the attention of readers:
YOU GUYS ARE RUINING MY BEARD FETISH. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve loved a man with a beard. To me, they meant strength, power, MANLINESS. Someone who could protect me. Unfortunately, you guys have turned it into a fashion statement.
It was so popular — both loved and hated — that she even published a follow-up, “I’m Sorry.”
When the newly crowned Super Bowl champions, the Seattle Seahawks, defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship, all eyes were on Richard Sherman after his post-game rant. Sherman’s column on The MMBQ with Peter King, “To Those Who Would Call Me a Thug or Worse,” got almost a million hits over two days:
To those who would call me a thug or worse because I show passion on a football field—don’t judge a person’s character by what they do between the lines. Judge a man by what he does off the field, what he does for his community, what he does for his family.
Two other popular posts in January, featured recently on Freshly Pressed, focused on the post-birth experience: Gas & Air‘s “The Truth About Maternity Leave” was a big hit in the United Kingdom in particular, and “Baby’s Hungry: A Daddy’s Perspective on Nursing (and Nursing in Public)” was a great read and interesting take from a father on breastfeeding.
WordPresser now at Longreads
Nonfiction writer, essayist, and Editors’ Picks of the Year 2013 blogger Michael Hobbes is now blogging for Longreads, which archives and highlights the best longform writing across the web. If you’re already a reader of Michael’s excellent blog, Rottin’ in Denmark, be sure to follow along at his new gig.
We’re thrilled to see our writers getting the attention they deserve — congratulations! We look forward to what’s in store for February, and welcome anyone to leave their own recent accomplishments in the comments.
- February 4, 2014
- Community, Congrats, WordPress.com, Writing
WordPress.com News 
I was really excited to see my own open letter make such an impact across the internet. Titled “A Letter to the Family of My ICU Patient,” I watched in awe as my small and humble blog stats drew in over 600K views. It was an exciting time and as wonderful comments poured in I was encouraged to keep sharing my thoughts. http://www.savortheessenceoflife.com/2014/01/12/a-letter-to-the-family-of-my-icu-patient/
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Awesome that so many WordPress bloggers are getting to spread their words to the Internet and beyond ! My own Freshly Pressed blog post ended up getting syndicated on BlogHer.
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Cool!
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Well done!
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Thank you, Yolanda!
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Brilliant stuff and kudos to those being honoured for some great writing! Happy to be back in the game.
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It really is inspiring to see well-deserved blog posts/ bloggers get wider exposure. Not that I’ve written anything of that caliber (yet), but it would be great if WordPress offered some tips on getting noticed by some of these syndicates.
My guess there’s probably a few blog posts around on the subject, and if so, if you could point them out sometime that would be wonderful.
Brie, what a fantastic article. I know an ICU nurse, and my heart goes out to all of you . . . really don’t know how you do it.
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Thanks so much!
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Wow some incredible blogs covered here. I have my own 15-seconds of fame story with being featured in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation “Canada Write” section:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/2014/01/haikus-and-prime-rib-soup-stream-of-consciousness-blogging-on-merlinspielen.html
Made me January feel so much warmer!
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Very nice to see deserving bloggers getting attention and recognition.
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Well said.
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Inspiring stuff! I hope I can grow my audience this year by developing my skills.
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I appeared on The Katie Couric Show yesterday. They found me through my blog! http://emilyjanuary.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/katie-couric-found-my-blog/
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Great story! Congrats on your appearance on the show.
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Got some great love in Parade magazine about my blog discussing wine and football. Because who DOESN’T want to know what grape Peyton Manning would be? http://parade.condenast.com/255436/allieandmeluncorked/wine-super-bowl-a-perfect-pairing/
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Awesome — thanks for sharing that link. Wine + football = what a pairing!
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I agree :)))
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I’m new to blogging. This is inspiring..
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Inspiring! Congratulations! 🙂
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Well done! Glad to see these success stories.
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I’m looking forward to reading through these posts!
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WordPress is a great host as I have seen through other blogs and my own. Normally the SEO portion of a website is dealt with by an outside company but with wordpress the tags are automatically logged by google. My own blog is doubling and tripling every year.
Thanks everyone!
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I am just getting started with my blog here on WordPress. I still have much to learn but I am very impressed with other bloggers here. Also, congrats to those bloggers making some headlines. Some very inspirational stories there.
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